'Not the normal' Apprenticeship - Into the unknown, The part-time option
‘Not the normal’ Apprenticeship - into the unknown
Thought all apprenticeships started after Uni at big student churches? We asked Colin Poyntz to write of his experiences in his not so normal apprenticeship.
I’m in the first year of a two year apprenticeship with a small parish church (about 40 regular attendees) called Emmanuel in Hastings. I’m 33 years old, with a wife and two small children. Before starting the apprenticeship I worked as an Occupational Therapist in the NHS. It was a job I enjoyed that provided a good income and we lived in an area (Chessington) where we had lots of supportive friends and family close by. What drove me to give up a safe job and become an apprentice?
For about six years my wife and I had been considering the possibility of me going into full-time Christian work, but were not sure if it was the right thing for me and also what kind of role I would best be suited for. Over those years I explored these questions by engaging in different ministries within the church and for one year I worked part-time whilst spending two days a week in youth work and being trained in the church. This helped to clarify my thinking but I was still uncertain. Many of the necessary skills and qualities were there, but I lacked the confidence to take the plunge into full-time training and then onto ministry. What if I was simply not cut out for it? The time had come to get a real taste of what it would be like to work full-time in the church.
When the opportunity at Hastings came up it was ideal as it was a very different church experience from what I had come from. From a big church to a small church, from a free church to the Church of England. It would provide me with the opportunity to be regularly leading services and preaching about once a month, lead a youth work, train others in Bible teaching and be mentored by the vicar who could provide frequent feedback and support.
It was not an easy decision, but we realised that this was the best way to find out if full-time ministry was right for me. We also realised that an apprenticeship was the low risk option in that it would provide the experience and then, if we realised it was wrong for me, at the end of two years I could go back to work as an Occupational Therapist. We would have got an answer without the expense of theological college. Ultimately we made the decision to go for it because we realised that if we did not do it now, we never would.
Naturally, finances were a concern but we have been overwhelmed by how God in his faithfulness has met all our needs. The apprenticeship has a small grant attached, but the generosity of God’s people has covered the shortfall, for which we are very thankful.
So, if you are in full-time secular work, with a family to support and are considering an apprenticeship, my advice would be to take the risk, because if you don’t do it now you never will.
Into the unknown, The part-time option, Top
Mark Jones Parry continues our series on not so normal apprenticeships with his part time experiences.
Where are you an apprentice and when did you start?
I’m a part-time apprentice (four days a week) at Christ Church Mayfair - a morning congregation of young families and workers meeting in central London. On Mondays and Tuesdays I work for an investment bank in the City. I started in September; the congregation was planted in October 2004.
What have you been doing before being an apprentice?
I worked for one year as a student union sabbatical after University, but for the last five years I’ve worked fulltime for an American investment bank in the City of London. Initially in mergers and acquisitions (where the hours were too long to be sensibly sustained), and latterly marketing equity derivatives to UK companies (where I’ve been able to protect weekends and some weekday evenings). I’ve been married to Katy for the past 2 and a half years.
What drove you to think about some sort of gospel work?
I loved the few chances I had to teach the Bible at University and have wanted to try my hand at paid gospel ministry ever since (a parish assistant job was an alternative to the SU sabbatical post which – with hindsight – I wish I’d done). I suppose in a way I thought about the question more from the other side: what good reasons were there for delaying that “having a go”?
Having worked as an intern for the bank during University, I’d not met another Christian on a trading floor of several hundred people. From the hours being worked, and the general lifestyle, it seemed pretty clear that my colleagues were unlikely to wander into a church and hear the gospel unbidden and they certainly weren’t hearing it at their workplace. So my flippant reason for waiting was always “I’ll leave the bank when there’s another Christian on my floor.”
So what changed? Is there one?
Well yes…but in truth, that’s not what swung it.
The move was driven really by an assessment of my effectiveness. Experience suggested that most opportunities to communicate the gospel came from within sustained close friendships. I found it difficult to maintain that depth of friendship with more than say half a dozen guys (given my working hours and theirs).
Over the five years I’ve been at the bank, a number of friends have moved on to other things outside of banking, or to work overseas. Ironically, its often been easier to meet up with people after they’d left then when they worked 25 metres away! So as the people links have lessened, I no longer needed to work in those four walls fulltime to keep up with the people with whom most opportunities arise. So why not use my “working hours” for fulltime Gospel work? That together with funding and family considerations clinched the timing.
So why part-time?
It was really the outworking of those same three considerations: relationships at the bank, financial support and family.
Being part-time has really opened up opportunities with workmates. Notably my apprenticeship has become the default conversation with colleagues at a different age and stage (older, more senior people who I see only a limited amount, and then only professionally). So it’s been a fantastic reminder of why I’m there in the first place. Of course its much easier to invite friends to things when you are involved and they are curious!
Timing-wise, its great to be self-supporting working for a small church plant. Basically, the bank pay me, so the church doesn’t have to. Plus my family are not wholly supportive of a move away from the city to fulltime paid ministry. Part-time is, I hope, an honouring way to ease them into the idea without compromising unduly.
Aren’t there frustrations or pressures that go uniquely with having two part-time jobs?
For sure. For one thing, there’s always the risk that two days a week are struggling to be three, and my four days a week as an apprentice are wanting to be five or six. I’m lucky that the bank have been very understanding, and done everything possible to accommodate me.
That said, I do sit down at the bank on a Monday morning and look forward to Tuesday evening when I can put my apprentice “hat” on again.
Part-time is not something I would see lasting forever, but it has accelerated the timing of an apprenticeship, and improved the transition both evangelistically and practically.
What advice would you give to those already working about the possibility of doing an apprenticeship?
Prayerfully go for it! And consider flexible (secular) working arrangements if it will make it possible sooner. Tent-making has been tried before!