Priests in Secular Work: Participating in the “Missio Dei”

by Jenny Gage

Publisher:

Sacristy Press

, 2020

Overview

For large parts of the Church of England, standard models of ordained ministry are the full-time stipendiary priesthood, or, alternatively, chaplaincy. Yet, there are a growing number of clergy for whom their vocation consists of life in the Church and work in the secular world. Jenny Gage argues that in the twenty-first century, priests in secular work (PSW) are not a new phenomenon, and they have a specific vocation, not to be subsumed under any church-based model of ordained ministry. She makes the case for understanding priestly ministry in secular work as a distinct vocation, which is as necessary to the life of the institutional Church at a time when secular society is rapidly changing as it is to those whose vocation it is. Both the sacramental nature of this vocation and the work they do are key to the vocational identity of priests in secular work and to their calling to build God’s kingdom in the world. Beginning with her experience of reflecting her vocation as a maths educator and as a priest, Jenny Gage explores priestly ministry in secular through a number of theological lenses including the narrative formation of identity, theology of work, and theology of place.

Key Features

• Argues that in the twenty-first century, priests in secular work (PSW) are not a new phenomenon.
• Highlights priestly ministry in secular work as a distinct vocation.
• Explores priestly ministry in secular through a number of theological lenses.

Praise for the Print Edition

This book is masterful. It is well written and carefully organised... Part autobiography, part biblical hermeneutic, part theological reflection, the book demonstrates the power of ethnographic research. Gage allows her interviewees to narrate their vocational journey, how the context of work shapes the formation of priestly identity and a theology of work and place. It is grounded in a rootedness in the Christian tradition that connects, illuminates and challenges some of the fixity of ministerial and ecclesiological norms.

--Prof. James Woodward, Principal of Sarum College

Rich in its personal reflection and reflective deep-level interviews with practitioners, Jenny Gage has given us the book we sorely need—a detailed theological and practical reflection on what it means to be a worker priest in the twenty-first century.

--John Lees, National Officer for Self-Supporting Ordained Ministry and author of Self-Supporting Ministry: A Practical Guide

Product Details

• Title: Priests in Secular Work: Participating in the “Missio Dei”
• Author: Jenny Gage
• Publisher: Sacristy Press
• Print Publication Date: 2020
• Pages: 207
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• ISBNs: 9781789591422, 1789591422, 9781789591439, 1789591430, 1789591449, 9781789591446
• Resource ID: LLS:PRSTSSCLRWRMSSD
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2023-06-17T02:03:04Z

About Jenny Gage

Jenny Gage, having been a failed Baptist ordinand in the mid-70s, Jenny Gage was surprised (to put it mildly) when she experienced a renewed call to ministry in her mid-50s, by which time she was worshipping at Ely Cathedral. In 2009, she was ordained deacon in Ely Cathedral, followed by ordination as a priest in 2010.

She continued to work in education while serving her title as a part-time SSM curate in Ely Diocese. Needing to make sense of being a priest while still working in a secular capacity, she embarked on a professional doctorate, which came to fruition in 2019.

By this time, she had retired from secular employment, while continuing to work in education in a voluntary capacity until 2017. In the church, curacy was followed by two appointments as an associate priest in two groups of rural churches. In 2019, she became the Self-Supporting Minister for Social Justice at Ely Cathedral, a role she combined with being the Bishop’s Officer for Self-Supporting Ministry in Ely Diocese, serving on the Clergy Wellbeing Forum, and being an active granny to her three small grandchildren.