Hold the front page

To be honest I'm not a regular subscriber to the Church Times for a variety of reasons which I won't bore you with now, however,  this morning's front page made me feel as depressed as a Brazilian football fan at about 9:29 pm last Tuesday.

I'm not sure who decided to run with this picture but as someone who has a role in fostering vocations in the Church of England I fear the front page has made my job even harder. What message does the picture convey? Ministry in the C of E is for white, middle aged people who like to bounce like Tigger while managing to look slightly awkward about it? Strange, because in the Diocese of Chelmsford two weekends ago we held three ordination services at Chelmsford Cathedral with 32 people being deaconed. Something of the diversity of the diocese was represented in age, ethnicity and gender amongst both candidates and congregations, though we've still a long way to go. Don't get me wrong, God calls white, middle aged people to ministry and I'm one of them, though I was ordained in my mid-twenties, but they aren't the only people he calls. It is said that a picture paints a thousand words and unfortunately most of the words that came into my mind when I saw this front page are unpublishable.

Anyway, if you feel you are hearing even an echo of a whisper that God may be calling you to ministry, to use +Stephen Cottrell's phrase, why not have a chat with your local minister or check out Call Waiting.