WHERE ARE THE VOICES OF YOUNG WOMEN TO BE
HEARD IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND?
In this edition of Ichthus, we hear from
contributor John Griffiths, Preacher & Author.
Winning Sermon of the Year if the 2018 final
is anything to go by. Lydia Lee and Rebecca
Coatsworth were winner and runner up
respectively as four finalists preached on
the theme of Be Set Free in front of a panel
of four judges and an audience of well over
100 at the London School of Theology. What
raises eyebrows is that the four finalists were
all women and that three of them come from
Anglican churches. Even more surprising is their ages. Esther Longe is a
Methodist deacon with some 20 years’ experience as a preacher.
There are good reasons for this. It takes three years nationally accredited
training to train preachers now. And the demands of the training mean that
the system is tilted towards the retired and semi-retired.
There is also the suggestion that untrained preachers will be a liability and
will lead congregations into error. But then young women shouldn’t be able
to win preaching competitions from a blind selection. Perhaps it’s time for a
rethink about who should be preaching and whether the current training is
relevant. We can of course put this result down to an anomaly. But the BBC
doesn’t think so as they plan to feature the Sermon of the Year on their peak
time The One Show. Jesus said you can’t put new wine in old wineskins. If all
the Church of England has in its pulpits is old wineskins - where is the new
wine to be poured? ■
But the other finalists were under 30 and the youngest, Corinne Broughton
aged 19 was only preaching her third sermon ever. These finalists fall outside
the current training and licensing structures for preaching put in place by the
Church of England. How has this surprising result come about?
By inviting the submission of sermons from all sorts of people from all over
the country. The shortlist is made without reviewing the gender, age and
denomination of the preacher. This is a valid blind test. 46% of entries were
from women, 54% were from men, about 20% were sufficiently inspired by the
competition to write their first ever sermon for the Sermon of the Year. Entries
came from as far apart as the city of Edinburgh and deepest Cornwall, and
from Cardiff in the west to London in the east. About 30% were from ordained
preachers across denominations.
For the last 30 years the top orchestras around the world have taken to
auditioning musicians behind a screen. Because less than 1% of women taking
part in open auditions were winning places within the orchestra. However
following blind auditions the ratios have changed dramatically. In the US the
proportion of women in orchestras has passed 30%. This blind test of preaching
raises some important questions about the present structures of preparing
and licensing preachers. The Church of England’s ordained preachers have
an average age in their mid 50s. The average age of lay ministers is rising into
the 60s. So if local churches play by the rules you are very unlikely to hear a
preacher under the age of 30 in a Church of England pulpit. Ever. Much less a
woman.
4 LWPT
From L-R: Louisa Lockwood (Preach), Rebecca Coatsworth (runner up), Esther Longe (finalist), Corinne Broughton
(finalist), Lydia Lee (winner) Amelia Gosal (LWPT) and Rochelle Owusu- Antwi (LWPT/Preach)