The Eastern Region Ministry Course (ERMC), based in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, is a part-residential theological training course which offers initial ministerial training on behalf of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

. It used to offer this for the

Methodist Church in Britain The Methodist Church of Great Britain is a Protestant Christian denomination in Britain, and the mother church to Methodists worldwide. It participates in the World Methodist Council, and the World Council of Churches among other ecumenical a ...

, the

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2022 it has approximately 40,000 members in 1,284 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. Origins and history The United Reformed Church resulte ...

, and occasionally other churches in England. These other Churches have now withdrawn from partnerships in regional training courses. Students typically attend the course for two or three years.

Overview

The ERMC was formed in September 2005 as an amalgamation of the former East Anglian Ministerial Training Course and part of the former St Albans and Oxford Ministry Course. Students tend to come from the Eastern region of England and the dioceses covered are: Ely, Norwich, St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich, St. Albans, Peterborough and Europe. Students thus come from the counties of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

and

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

(or parts thereof). ERMC also takes students from

Diocese in Europe The Diocese in Europe (short form for the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe) is a diocese of the Church of England. It was originally formed in 1842 as the Diocese of Gibraltar. It is geographically the largest diocese of the Church of England and th ...

of the Church of England, which covers the continental Europe. ERMC offers the academic content of Reader (Licensed Lay Minister) training for the dioceses of Norwich, Ely, St. Albans and St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich. Students from a broad spectrum of church traditions are represented on the course, and worship on the course is very varied, some services led by staff but often by students. At March 2016, there were approximately 60 ordinands studying on ERMC and about 60 trainee Readers, making ERMC the largest member of the

Cambridge Theological Federation The Cambridge Theological Federation (CTF) is an association of theological colleges, courses and houses based in Cambridge, England and founded in 1972. The federation offers several joint theological programmes of study open to students in memb ...

. Students usually study for awards validated by

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

, namely either the Certificate, Diploma or BA in Theology for Mission and Ministry or the MA in Theology. These programmes offered are part of the

Common Award Common Awards are qualifications for ordinands and lay ministers within the Church of England and its partners in the Baptist, Methodist, and United Reformed churches. Description Before 2014, Theological Education Institutions (TEIs) within th ...

system. As a part-residential course, training is offered in two different forms of a dispersed learning mode: either through attendance of evening classes in the Cambridge, Norwich or St Albans centres, or by means of an online live class using

Adobe Connect Adobe Connect (formerly '' Presedia Publishing System'', ''Macromedia Breeze'', and ''Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro'') is a suite of software for remote training, web conferencing, presentation, and desktop sharing. All meeting rooms are organized in ...

. There are six residential weekends per annum as well as an eight-day summer school. In addition, full-time contextual students study additional modules at the context hub in Cambridge. The current principal of the ERMC is the Revd Dr. Alexander S. Jensen. The former principal, Canon Dr. Ian McIntosh, left in 2015 to become Head of Formation at the Church of England Ministry Division.

Notable alumni

List of notable alumni of the Eastern Region Ministry Course or its predecessors: *

Christine Hardman Christine Elizabeth Hardman ( Atkins; born 27 August 1951) is a retired British Anglican bishop and former Lord Spiritual. She served as Archdeacon of Lewisham, 2001–2008; Archdeacon of Lewisham & Greenwich, 2008–2012; and Bishop of ...

; Bishop of Newcastle and the first diocesan bishop to train for ordination on a part-time course * Gina Radford; former Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England *

Paula Vennells Paula Anne Vennells, (born 1959), is a British businesswoman and Anglican priest. She was chief executive officer of Post Office Limited from 2012 to 2019. Under her leadership, the Post Office prosecuted hundreds of subpostmasters for fraud, de ...

; former CEO of the Post Office

Notable staff

List of notable staff of the Eastern Region Ministry Course or its predecessors: *

; Course Director of the St Albans and Oxford Ministry Course (1991–1996) * Trevor Jones; Chairman of the St Albans and Oxford Ministry Course (1998–2007), Vice-Chair of the Eastern Region Ministry Course (2005–2016) * Joy Tetley; Principal of the East Anglian Ministerial Training Course (1993–1999)

References

External links

ERMC: homepageCambridge Theological Federation: homepage
{{coord missing, Cambridgeshire Church of England Anglican seminaries and theological colleges Bible colleges, seminaries and theological colleges in England Institutions of the Cambridge Theological Federation Anglican buildings and structures in the United Kingdom Anglican buildings and structures in Europe Education in Cambridge