Young priests represent a quarter of all new clergy in C of E

From the Church of England:

Latest statistics released by the Church of England show that the number of young people (under 30s) now make up a quarter of all people accepted for training for the Church of England ministry.  Figures show for 2014 show that 116 young people under 30 were accepted for training.

This is the highest number of young people accepted for ordination training in the past 25 years.

Young ordinand, who six years ago was a soldier serving in Iraq, describes her journey to ordination in a Church of England blog: “I’d hit rock bottom and feeling I had nowhere else to turn decided to shout out to God whilst on a helicopter in the way to the Iranian border,”.

Last weekend more than 50 prospective young ordinands gathered at an event – Step Forward – held by the Archbishop of York at his home in Bishopthorpe.  The group of young people from across England heard from current trainees and staff members from Cranmer Hall, Durham, and audio reflections from some of those young people are available on the Church of England’s latest podcast.