CPAS Ministers In Training Fund
Please read these notes carefully before completing the application forms below.
Introduction
The Church Pastoral Aid Society (CPAS) makes grants from its Ministers in Training Fund to those training for authorized ministry in the Anglican Churches of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Fund is made up almost entirely of direct giving from evangelical parishes and individuals.
Historically, CPAS has given grants for “purposes tending to promote true religion in England and Wales consistently with the discipline and order of the Church of England, and with her distinctly Protestant and Evangelical doctrine and principles, as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer and in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion.” (from the Synopsis of CPAS)
Therefore, grants are given to those fulfilling three conditions:
1. They are evangelical Anglican Christians. Those applying are asked to signify their agreement with the principles upon which the Society’s ministry is based (given in the quotation from the Synopsis above) and their full assent to the CPAS Basis of Faith, a contemporary evangelical Anglican statement of doctrine (reproduced on the reverse of this sheet).
2. They have been recommended for training for ordained or accredited lay ministry following a Bishops’ Advisory Panel (organised by the Ministry Division of the Archbishops’ Council) or national equivalent e.g. Provincial Selection Conference, and they contemplate parochial ministry in the United Kingdom or Ireland for at least three years after ordination or licensing.
3. They are in genuine need of financial support. Grants are given for personal or family support only: this fund is not able to give book grants or cover for academic fees.
The making of a grant does not involve any condition as to where a man or woman should serve their first post after training. However, bearing in mind the source of the funds from which grants are made, it is hoped that grantees will seek to serve in a parish whose incumbent is in full sympathy with the principles upon which CPAS bases its ministry.
Completing the Forms
Please give answers as fully as possible to the questions on the application form. Return this in good time so that we can take up references. The budget forms needs to be as accurate as possible with a realistic amount for expenditure, given that there may have to be some readjustments to lifestyle when training starts! We do realise that unexpected expenses may occur during training, and exceptional circumstances will be considered sympathetically.
If you do not yet have figures from LEA/CFMT/diocese etc. PLEASE DO NOT SEND THE FORM in until these are known. Grant meetings take place twice a year in October and January so please note that if details are missing there may be a delay before decisions can be made.
We are sometimes asked where ‘giving’ should be included on the budget form, and we suggest that it is included within ‘Housekeeping’. On the expenditure side, please give your spouse’s income net of tax and National Insurance contributions.
We only have a limited amount to award each year so there may be fluctuations in the size of grants year by year. Diocesan guidelines may limit total amounts allowed from charities.
Basis of Faith
1 INTRODUCTION
As members of the Anglican Communion within the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church we affirm the faith uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds, of which faith the Thirty Nine Articles of Religion are a general exposition. Standing in the Reformation tradition we lay especial emphasis on the grace of God – his unmerited mercy – as expressed in the doctrines which follow.
2 GOD AS THE SOURCE OF GRACE
In continuity with the teaching of Holy Scripture and the Christian creeds, we worship one God in three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God has created all things, and us in his own image; all life, truth, holiness, and beauty come from him. His Son Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, rose and ascended to reign in glory.
3 THE BIBLE AS THE REVELATION OF GRACE
We receive the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments as the wholly reliable revelation and record of God’s grace, given by the Holy Spirit as the true word of God written. The Bible has been given to lead us to salvation, to be the ultimate rule for Christian faith and conduct, and the supreme authority by which the Church must ever reform itself and judge its traditions.
4 THE ATONEMENT AS THE WORK OF GRACE
We believe that Jesus Christ came to save lost sinners. Though sinless, he bore our sins, and their judgment, on the cross, thus accomplishing our salvation. By raising Christ bodily from the dead, God vindicated him as Lord and Saviour and proclaimed his victory. Salvation is in Christ alone.
5 THE CHURCH AS THE COMMUNITY OF GRACE
We hold that the Church is God’s covenant community, whose members, drawn from every nation, having been justified by grace through faith, inherit the promises made to Abraham and fulfilled in Christ. As a fellowship of the Spirit manifesting his fruit and exercising his gifts, it is called to worship God, grow in grace, and bear witness to him and his Kingdom. God’s Church is one body and must ever strive to discover and experience that unity in truth and love which it has in Christ, especially through its confession of the apostolic faith and in its observance of the dominical Sacraments.
6 THE SACRAMENTS AS THE SIGNS OF GRACE
We maintain that the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion proclaim the gospel as effective and visible signs of our justification and sanctification, and as true means of God’s grace to those who repent and believe. Baptism is the sign of forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Spirit, new birth to righteousness and entry into the fellowship of the People of God. Holy Communion is the sign of the living, nourishing presence of Christ through his Spirit to his people; the memorial of his one, perfect, completed and all sufficient sacrifice for sin, from whose achievement all may benefit but in whose offering none can share; and an expression of our corporate life of sacrificial thanksgiving and service.
7 MINISTRY AS THE STEWARDSHIP OF GRACE
We share, as the People of God, in a royal priesthood common to the whole Church, and in the community of the Suffering Servant. Our mission is the proclamation of the gospel by the preaching of the word, as well as by caring for the needy, challenging evil and promoting justice and a more responsible use of the world’s resources. It is the particular vocation of bishops and presbyters, together with deacons, to build up the body of Christ in truth and love, as pastors, teachers, and servants of the servants of God.
8 CHRIST’S RETURN AS THE TRIUMPH OF GRACE
We look forward expectantly to the final manifestation of Christ’s grace and glory when he comes again to raise the dead, judge the world, vindicate his chosen and bring his Kingdom to its eternal fulfilment in the new heaven and the new earth.
27 February 1990 (Adapted from the Anglican Evangelical Assembly’s Basis of Faith)
Forms
Application Form (Word File) (PDF)
Budget Form (Word File) (PDF)
When completed send the forms to:
Mrs Pauline Walden,
Leadership Development
CPAS,
Athena Drive,
Tachbrook Park,
Warwick, CV34 6NG.
01926 458480.