As part of the ongoing process of quality assurance, the Church of England has a programme of external monitoring and review of the training delivered by Theological Education Institutions. ERMC was recently reviewed. ERMC trains most of our LLMs and some of our ordinands. Due to the close partnership with ERMC and the fact that some of the LLM training is the responsibility of the diocese, Ely Diocese Mission and Ministry Department was also included in the review. We are pleased that the external reviewers had confidence in the training delivered with some recommendations to be implemented.
The Diocese of Ely was highly commended including:
"commending the work that Niamh Colbrook (Lay Development Officer) has undertaken since taking on her role" and "the way in which Diocesan, ERMC and Ridley formation and study complement one another and strengthen the future nature of the LLM body of the diocese."
The report also recognised that a number of the recommendations made have already been identified by the Diocese and are being addressed. You can read the full report here.
Rev'd Peter Leech, Director of Mission and Ministry comments that:
"I am delighted that the Periodic External Review reflected the confidence that we have in ERMC as a training partner for those called to be licensed as a lay minister. I am also pleased that the hard work and dedication of the Lay Ministry Team and LLM Board has been recognised. We will move forward to implement the small number of recommendations identified in the report, and we hugely value the external affirmation of our training."