Advice On Ministry

“Dear Nicholas ….: A Father’s Letter to His Newly Ordained Son” was originally written as “a rather personal offering from father to son.” Michael Henshall, then Bishop of Warrington, wrote it for his son, Nicholas, when he was ordained. That was in 1989. In 2019, Nicholas, then Dean of Chelmsford Cathedral (where I very occasionally encountered him in my former post) added some reflection and re-published it. (The earlier version had been published and used as a good source of advice for the newly ordained.)

I must admit that I would have loved to have it in my early days of ministry – though that couldn’t have happened as they were a decade before the original. But even now though, at the other end of stipendiary ministerial service, I really enjoyed reading it and found it to be scattered with nuggets of wisdom.

“Your life’s work, Dear Nicholas, is to be an icon of Christ. In a special vocation, tried and tested, you are to be a mirror of God in your generation.”

“Preach well, Dear Nicholas. Spend time in “remote” and in “immediate” preparation. Make sure you are heard. Accept criticism. Ultimately as you well know, preaching, which isn’t lecturing but proclamation, is all about communicating the mystery of Christ, the glory of God.”

“If we fail to make prayer a priority then we are probably lost.”

“Loitering with intent is a crime in English law. As one of the major priorities in the job description of a priest it is, Dear Nicholas, a virtue and moreover something of an art form. Long ago as a vicar, I learned personally the value of loitering with intent.”

“Ecumenical co-operation is not just a fashionable exercise. It is a deep response to Jesus’ High Priestly prayer in John 17. It is costly, and it is a significant way of growing in faith. In these days we all need to commit ourselves as pilgrims to ecumenical partnership as a means of growing in our ministry.”

“The mandate is clear enough. Jesus makes it absolutely clear that ministry to the marginalized, the broken and the lost is the first priority of the Christian community, not an added extra.”

Just a few examples of what this little volume offers – as Nicholas says in his preface, “straightforward advice about living priesthood.”