Church of England Removes Upper Age Limit On Clergy Training

As a member of the clergy, the profession is only really as physically demanding as lighting church altar candles, while the guidance you can offer your congregation only gets better with age - so what do you think about rules that have historically been in place on the age you can train to become one?

The Dioceses of The Church of England have now decided to remove the age limit on those who wish to train as a clergy, and it’s hoped that in doing so a larger number of older people will be interested in a new career, according to The Telegraph.

The upper age limit was put in place originally so that a person after training would have a substantial amount of working years before retiring, but it now seems common for many people to not want to retire and work long into their 70s - so this change in rules reflects the new working environment.

Bishop of Winchester Tim Dakin echoed the sentiment that gave is considered far less of a barrier to the profession now: "60 is the new 40, we're living longer, we've got a lot of energy - I look at some of my episcopal colleagues and they're still going like a bomb. They're really hard-working, energetic people."

Previously candidates training to become a clergy were required to leave home to carry out the necessary studies, but with the lift on age limit, it has been decided that people can now choose which route they would like to take in discussion with the Dioceses.

Many people over a certain age won’t want to be going off to college to study and will therefore now have the option to train locally, with hopes this will help attract more new potential candidates. The good news for the church is that numbers of people showing an interest in the profession is rising, with 476 in 2016 and this year 580 people recommended for training.