The Discernment Process- What is it? - By Andrew Barkley

As many of you may know, last year, I was an intern here at St Paul’s. During that year, I felt that I was being called to ordained ministry. I spoke to the clergy team and this was the start of me beginning the discernment process. I am now the ministry assistant and still exploring my calling to ordination and continuing on the discernment process. I thought it would be good to write a brief explanation of how the process begins.

It begins with a feeling of calling from God to go into ordination. This was probably the scariest part for me as I had never wanted to be a minister and it is very different to anything I had done before.

The next stage is talking about this calling to your church clergy team who will then put you in touch with the diocese vocations team. You are invited for an informal chat with them so they can get to know you before the paperwork starts. Following the meeting, you are asked to complete a form, detailing your faith, your past work, your experiences and why you feel called to the church. The diocese then ask for references in order to know you better. There is no time limit on the paperwork though and the diocese team are happy to help in any way.

Once the paperwork is completed, you are paired with an Assistant Diocese Discernment Officer (ADDO). They walk on this journey with you, helping you to explore the calling of ordained ministry and looking at whether you and the vocation are right for each other. My ADDO is Father Blair Radford who is a vicar for two parishes in Barnsley. We began meeting in May this year and meet regularly. There are formal parts of the relationship, where I am asked to complete pieces of work for him to evaluate as well as being asked set questions. However, we also pray together and I am encouraged by him to explore and question at each step.

Once the ADDO decides you are ready, you are invited to meet with the Bishop who speaks with you more about the calling and what it means to you. My meeting with Bishop Arun is scheduled in for the middle of October.

If the Bishop is happy with the work you have completed with your ADDO and believes it is right for you to continue exploring ordination, you are then invited to the stage one panel. This is the first national part of the discernment process. It involves a day of online interviews, each on different areas of ministry, faith and calling. All people looking to become ordained in the Church of England must complete this. Although no

official date has been booked in for my stage 1 panel, I am on track to attend mine by the end of 2026.

If the panel at Stage one are happy for you to continue to exploring your calling, it is back to your diocese to complete more work before the “traffic light” interviews, the psychological assessment and the stage 2 panel. This all involves a lot more paperwork and meetings. I will write more information on them once I have completed my stage one panel.

If you have any questions about the process, I am more than happy to talk about it with you. If you are feeling as though you may be called to ordination, please talk to someone you trust and the clergy team.