Every baptized Christian is called to a life of ministry within the Church of God.
Ordained ministry within the Church is a special calling which brings with it both great privileges, great opportunities and great fulfilment.
The process of discernment in matters of vocation to the ordained ministry is shared between the individual who may feel called to ordained ministry and the Church, which must affirm that process at every step.
The first step in affirmation takes place in the context of selection for training.
A heavy responsibility is placed on those responsible for selection, the outcome of which is a judgment as to whether a person should enter a programme of training for ministry. Thereafter there are further opportunities to confirm that judgment during training, and after the training course has been completed successfully. After ordination there will be other occasions upon which discernment as to the direction that an individual’s ministry might take.
The Church of Ireland is an episcopal church and has always placed strong emphasis on the responsibility of its bishops for all matters to do with selection, training, ordination and deployment.
These are responsibilities the bishops take most seriously.
An information booklet designed to assist those whose call to ordained ministry is being examined and tested in the context of suitability for training is available for download here.
There is a slightly different process for Ordained Local Ministry, and an information booklet about this is available to download here.