Fixing a hole where the rain gets in

At this time of year the classified section in the Church press burgeons, and with a vacancy in the See of Oxford, someone asked me if there’s any “x factor” about ministry recruitment.

Is it all about faces that fit? I hope not, because if jobs always went to the most comfortable candidates, it would be a recipe for stagnation and mediocrity. Vacancies are an opportunity for a parish to take stock and look at where they’re going strategically, in a world where, as Nelson discovered years ago, the boldest measures usually are the safest.

Calling, of course, is a must. In the Bible there does seem to be a banana skin principle about recruitment, with improbable people in key roles, like Gideon, Ruth, or David. St Paul suggests the whole church was recruited like that — “God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.”

What is a strong candidate? What is a good job?

Everyone is strong and gifted in some way, often more than they know. We all have manifold strengths and weaknesses, and sometimes the improbable ones turn out to be decisive, for good or bad. Somebody might be a superbly strong communicator, but applied in personal contexts their very way with words could blunt their listening skills and diminish their ability to communicate. They might be a clear thinker, but how adaptable is their thinking, how open to God and other people? Can they see through ideas as well as formulate them?

There’s a paradox about going for interview. You have to see yourself imaginatively in the role, or it’ll be a very boring, flat interview. However, if your image of yourself in the job is too powerful, it can be a dangerous fantasy, leading to bitter disappointment if you don’t get it, and disaster if you do. Parishes sometimes have even more dangerous fantasies than candidates. “All singing all dancing” profiles are moonshine. Generalities here lead to disaster. What aren’t you looking for in your new vicar?

The x factor of “calling” reveals itself in various ways. You need the living faith and realism to reflect honestly on what kind of a minister you are, a blend of radical openness with humility. Few of us know ourselves as well as we like to think, but it helps everyone at an interview, especially me as the candidate, if I can dare to be open to truth about myself, and measure the possibilities by reality, not some ideal notion.

As interviewers or interviewees, we’ve all been disappointed, hurt or encouraged, sometimes all three. It’s a curious, provisional kind of process. There’s no silver bullet. We need faith to risk applying for the right job, courage, prayer and realism on the day, and, if we get the job, the real x-factor— God’s grace to show us how, and enable us to do it daily, so that when we’re doing the job we become as right a person for it as we were at interview.