21 February 2022 | Bracknell, UK [Bisser Stoykov]
A Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) course will be launched at Newbold College of Higher Education this coming August. The course is jointly supported by the Adventist Chaplaincy Institute at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, and the Director of Chaplaincy at the Trans-European Division.
CPE is a globally recognised course and the preferred pathway for clergy to become certified chaplains in the United Kingdom. The course is now open for applications. It will run each summer, over a period of four years, as two-week residential intensive at Newbold, followed by 15 weeks of supervision. The first unit, led by Dr Ivan Omana, Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries associate director at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, commences on 15 August 2022.
“The Seventh-day Adventist Church has been interested in having pastors serve as chaplains in different public institutions for a while,” said Dr Stephen Currow, Principal Lecturer in Pastoral Studies and Director of Field Education at Newbold. “There is a demand for certified chaplains, and the British Union Conference sees this as an opportunity to serve beyond the walls of the Church,” he explained.
“Primarily, we’re going to be looking for experienced pastors with a master’s degree,” said Currow. “However,” he continued, “this is not a straight academic programme. It works on the premise that pastors need to be in touch with who they are and understand their impact on the people they work with. It is more about developing the capacity to engage with others than developing skills to do things. So, there is a lot of self-reflection and working out who you are, which is probably the most challenging part of it.”
As part of the course, pastors will do clinical placements in hospitals and carry out pastoral visitations at hospices and care homes and in multi-professional teams in other clinical settings such as prisons, military, or education institutions. “We are talking about holistic spiritual care with a patient-centred approach to ministry in a clinical context,” summarised Currow.
Applications for the CPE course must be submitted by 31 March 2022. Interviews for trainee positions will take place in April, and the successful applicants will be notified on 30 April.
For more information about the course and to request an application pack, please email [email protected]
