The Church needs more working-class leaders

I have never received a standing ovation before.

I didn’t expect that my first one would come at the Church of England General Synod. But that is exactly what happened after I addressed the gathered archbishops, bishops, clergy and laity in London recently, on the subject of working-class priests.

I’d like to think it wasn’t just light relief, wedged in between the sobering debates about safeguarding on one side and dry discussions on church processes on the other. Maybe – hopefully - I had struck a chord about how and who we recruit to work in our churches.

One-size-fits-all

The crux of my address, and the private members motion that I raised alongside it, was to challenge the Church of England - and indeed all churches in the UK – to consider whether a one-size-fits-all approach to learning really works when training for ministry. It is not always in the interest of the church, or the individual.

More working-class ministers would bring a much-needed injection of talent and enthusiasm

My argument comes from my own experience, I left school at 15 years old and had no qualifications. I went on to have fabulous career in retail management with Argos, but the fact that my academic portfolio was as empty as some of our struggling churches became a huge stumbling block on my pathway to ordination.

And so, at Synod, I presented my call for a radical change. There is a rich harvest of talent and skills in our working-class communities that, as yet, have been seriously underrepresented in the Church.

I shared some real-life stories of people who experienced similar challenges when entering the ministerial pathway. Lee, from Liverpool, was asked who his “favourite artist” was. Lee replied: “Eminem.” The ministerial advisor, who was expecting a classier response such as Rembrandt or Van Gogh, had no idea who Eminem was. The exchange left them both thoroughly confused.

Better for everyone

But why do our churches need working-class leaders? Is this just another attempt to improve our diversity levels and look a little better in the eyes of the world? Well, that could be a fair critique, but I do truly believe that more working-class ministers would bring a much-needed injection of talent and enthusiasm and offer something different to the academic degree model that exists in many church denominations.

The fact that my academic portfolio was as empty as some of our churches became a huge stumbling block

And just in case anyone is thinking: Hang on a minute, I’m working class and I’ve got a degree, what on earth is Fr Alex going on about? I’d just like to add that of course many working-class people are academic and do have degrees, and that’s wonderful. But many, like me, have travelled a different route to where they are today.

Many perhaps went straight into work, learnt practical skills and became car mechanics, bakers, plumbers or seamstresses. Some may have had excellent careers outside of academic attainment.

Ultimately, I would love to see churches offer a number of work-streams for ministerial training. This does not mean doing away with the academic pathway for classroom-based learning, but there are also other ways: perhaps opening up the possibility of an apprenticeship type model. Or offering context-based learning, where experience from the ‘real world’ is soaked up and nurtured to create culturally aware people fit for church ministry.

Planning for change

When I stood at the platform, I asked the General Synod to consider tasking the ministry division of the CofE with discussing how that might work and report back in a year with a clear plan of action.

I was unsure how this idea would be received. After all, the CofE isn’t particularly regarded as an instrument of change! However, you can imagine my delight when people stood to their feet in approval and passed my motion with 100 per cent support.

Of course, the proof will be in the pudding. I am eagerly looking forward to discovering what the ministry division come up with. But in the meantime, I pray that, if nothing else, it has encouraged working class Christians who doubt their ability to serve their church, to confidently remind them that: YES YOU CAN!!