Who are we?

Growing Faith is the movement that exists to put children, young people and families instinctively at the heart of all the mission and ministry of the Church by changing the culture of the Church of England.

We recognise the important role of school and college chaplains in supporting children and young people, serving their educational communities and connecting the worlds of school, home and church.

Our Discovering Chaplaincy Course Aims

This 'Discovering Chaplaincy Course' is our contribution to:

encourage more people to consider the vocation of school & college chaplaincy,
ensure that people exploring chaplaincy are informed, guided and inspired,
enable individuals to have a solid foundational understanding of chaplaincy,
understand chaplaincy through the unique lens of 'Growing Faith'.

Read the information brochure here for more details and dates here.

Who is it for?

This course is for individuals who are exploring a vocation into school and/or college chaplaincy in the near or distant future.

Participants might be:

starting some form of chaplaincy ministry with children and young people, or
wanting to find out more about chaplaincy and what it involves, or
exploring chaplaincy opportunities as part of a voluntary or paid role, or
involved in a school or college already but wanting to create a chaplaincy project.

This course has been useful to those inside and outside of the Church of England, and for those exploring work with both Church schools and community schools and colleges.

Previous participants have included teachers, youth workers, governors, senior leaders, para-church employees, local volunteers and individuals from a wide variety of other roles.

If you are unsure whether this course is for you, or you have any questions, please contact joshua.hunt@churchofengland.org

What the Course Involves

Self Paced Learning

Content for the course is all found on our online learning platform, and participants work through this at their own pace and in their own time. Content includes research reports, news articles, theological reflections and includes text, images, videos and interactive elements.

Group Sessions

As well as the online launch, there are two scheduled Group Sessions held online via Zoom- these are designed to allow participants to review the learning from the course, hear from guest speakers and discuss the learning in breakout rooms.

Course Celebration

The course ends with an in-person celebration at Church House in Westminster, London. This is an important part of the course where participants will share their learning with others. A certificate will be presented to mark completion of the course.

We will provide refreshments and lunch, but are unable to pay for travel expenses to and from London. We start mid-morning and finish mid-afternoon to accommodate travel and recognise this event as part of the course, as opposed to an optional extra.

Chaplaincy Visit

We ask all participants to arrange a visit to a chaplaincy setting at some point during the course. This is a great opportunity to see a chaplaincy in action and will allow participants to link their learning to chaplaincy practice.

Chaplaincy Mentoring

We can provide participants with the opportunity to have a mentor drawn from our network of established and experienced chaplains. This is not compulsory, but some participants have found this a useful opportunity to reflect with an experienced chaplain.

Course Cost

The course cost is £60 + VAT per person. This includes access to all course materials and the celebration event.

How to Apply

Please complete this form to apply for a place on the course. Places are limited and completing this form does not guarantee that you have been given a place.

There are multiple cohorts of Discovering Chaplaincy running throughout the year. Please ensure you are applying for the correct cohort and that you can make all the dates for the course sessions and the celebration before applying.

All dates are listed on the course information booklet here.

On applying for a place, we ask that you give contact details for someone in leadership in your church community/diocese/para-church organisation or charity who can support you in this journey, and confirm that you are exploring educational chaplaincy in some shape or form.

Application

Supporter Details

This should be somebody in leadership in your church community or diocese who can support your application- confirming that you are exploring school and/or college chaplaincy, and encouraging you along this journey.

You should inform them that you have completed this application and that you have given their name and email address as a supporter.

Supporter's First and Last Name

Supporter's Email Address

Their Role

Payment

Complete this section with the details of who will be paying for the course. We will issue an invoice for the course fee of £60 + VAT.

Name of organisation / person to be invoiced

Address of organisation or individual

Email where invoice is to be sent

Telephone Number in case of queries

The National Society (Church of England and Church in Wales) for Promoting Education is committed to processing personal information in accordance with all applicable data protection laws and will ensure that the rights and interests of data subjects are weighted appropriately.

A detailed privacy notice about how this data will be used can be found by clicking here. By ticking this box I confirm that I have read the attached privacy notice, have understood them and consent to the processing of my information as detailed in the privacy notice.