Students

I have just spent a week with 30 student ministers/priests who are training with the North East Institute for Theological Education. They are second-career people who have discovered a call to pastoral ministry later in life. These are people who have faced divorce, children, cancer, the loss of loved ones, financial worry, aging, and the many other difficult life experiences that we all encounter. And I am convinced that they are better ministers for this.

They are also people who know how to laugh, to exploit Yorkshire humour to the full, to sink a Guiness, and to sing Rugby songs on the bus on the way home from the pub. They are not snobs, and do not have time for intellectual pretentiousness. They are people who care passionately about serving God, and who are willing to work for a world of justice and love.

I am privileged to have been let into their world. I enjoyed the time spent with them - except for them singing “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” over my head. Their earthy humour, and ability to grasp life with enthusiasm has been an inspiration.

I shall pray for them as they prepare for their ordination.