Charlie’s White Paper

This year I am serving as the Chair of AOCM, the Association of Ordinands and Candidates for Ministry. It’s the students union of vicars-in-training. Given my personal experience of Anglicanism you may think it strange for me to get so involved. Let me explain…

Looking at the Church of England, I often feel discouraged. The history of the denomination has followed the same lines as that of many human institutions: good intentions thwarted by deliberate sin and foolish mistakes, great men and complete horrors committing both heroic acts and terrible traversties, human weakness reveal divine power.

I’m left cynical by any claims of ownership, like “the Church of England is at root a church of the Reformation and belongs to those who keep reforming” or “the Church of England is at its heart defined by the Act of Uniformity and, as such, is a institution of compromise”. The Church of England is, as all human institutions, under the authority of God and his king. But even more, it claims the name of Christ and therefore belongs to the Lord Jesus.

So no matter what your theological persuasion, the Church of England must do what Jesus says. The difficult bit is working out what that is and how we can do it best. AOCM is another part of the whole, and that’s how I see my role as its current chair.

So, as a student’s union, we will protect the individual and try to make sure that no one gets lost in the system. But unlike many university student unions, we will not push an agenda further than being part of the whole as we all seek to do what Jesus has said.

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AOCM represents all those training in Church of England colleges and courses for ministry. We aim to support students as they prepare to serve God’s church. If you’re interested, the new website is now online at www.aocm.org.uk.