Learning from Langland: theo-poetic resources for the post-Hind ...

in the conception of ministry is leading to a change in training, or whether a change in
training is engendering a new idea of ministry.’ 37 What is clear is that a combination of
factors has been at work to encourage – and in some case, to force – changing models of
ministry within the Church of England. These include the impact of reports such as
Mission-shaped Church (2004) which calls for an agenda of mission rather than
maintenance; a reduction in stipendiary clergy due to financial constraints and the
amalgamation of parishes into multi-parish benefices spread over sizeable geographical
areas; and a shift towards a theology of the shared ministry of all the baptised rather than
the ordained minister being the focus of ministry in a parish or community. All of these
developments have led to a process of re-definition as to the role of the ordained, and thus
to a re-evaluation of the purpose and structure of theological training. Pre-Hind, training
institutions seeking re-validation from the Ministry Division had to provide a rationale for
their course in response to three questions designed to ensure that training is designed to
meet the challenges of the contemporary church and its context. 38 The situation which
formed the backdrop to the publication of Hind One was characterised by rapid change in
patterns of ministry, increasing anxiety about declining numbers of churchgoers, and
financial pressure – a situation which remains very similar in the post-Hind landscape.
The Hind settlement: ‘learning Church’
Hind says very little in direct response to these factors, but they are nonetheless significant
in understanding the importance of re-thinking the aims and practical provision of
theological education. The idea of a learning Church is what Hind offers as its contribution:
37 Towler and Coxon, op. cit., p. 121.
38 The three questions cover the mission of God in the world; the kind of ministers needed
to help enable this mission; and thus the kind of training required to equip such ministers.
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