Regent's Now Magazine 2019 WEB

REGENT’S NOW STUDENTS
Neil Jones
News from the Ministerial Community
2018-19 was an interesting year for the ministerial
cohort. Having said goodbye to the third years, we
were anticipating a new group of freshers; but we were
surprised to learn that there had been no applications
received and, therefore, that there would be no first year
ministerials! This didn’t interfere with our experience
in College, however, and for those who were to carry on
with their formation, it was a good year of training.
Before we returned to the College from the summer
vacation, a number of us, along with Dr Myra Blyth, Dr
Matthew Mills and Dr Eleanor McLaughlin, went on a
ten-day trip to Romania to experience Baptist ministry
in a different context. We met some wonderful people,
saw some amazing sights (the Carpathian Mountains in
Transylvania were just stunning – especially for the two
of us who braved a 7am run!), were left in awe of some
of the architecture, and were truly moved by the living
conditions of some communities in the Ferentari borough
of Bucharest. The highlight for many of us, however,
was working with the Roma Gypsy folk, predominantly
children, at ‘Project Ruth’ in Bucharest and at a small
church in the suburbs. We also had the privilege of
meeting His Grace Ieronim of Sinaia, Assistant Bishop
to the Patriarch, at the Patriarchal Palace in Bucharest;
he is one of the most senior bishops in the Romanian
Orthodox Church. We were grateful to Myra for using
her experience and network from days working with
the World Council of Churches to arrange the visit,
since historically there has not been a good relationship
between the Orthodox and Baptist churches in Romania.
Our special thanks for the success of this trip must go
to Dr Sorin Badragan, an alumnus of Regent’s and, as a
senior member of the Baptist Faculty of Theology at the
University of Bucharest, also our generous host.
in College and the rest of the week being a blend of reading and essaywriting
and our church-based placements; each student has their own
unique experience of ministry. The days in College consist of prayers or
chapel at the beginning and end of each day, classes, tutorials and prayer
groups. The prayer groups are an important time for us to share with one
another in a confidential environment, and many students will testify
to how essential they can be to maintain good mental, emotional and
spiritual health. At the end of term, we had our Christingle service led
by the third years, followed by Carols in the Quad with the Salvation
Army band.
Following this, it seemed like no time at all until we
were back in College for the first block week of the year.
Block weeks are a chance for us to delve deeply into a
specific topic for a number of days and our subject for
this week was ‘justice’. We learnt about racial, immigrant
and refugee, disability and gender justice. This was a
challenging time for all attendees. As part of the block
week, we also spent time socialising with each other and
the tutors. Sadly, owing to the lack of first-year students,
the legendary annual skittles competition could not take
place; it did return with a vengeance in 2019! The term
then progressed with the usual pattern of Tuesdays spent
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