Plumbers, builders and other people from working-class backgrounds who are called to the priesthood should be offered apprenticeships as an alternative to studying at theological college, a Burnley vicar has said.
Rev Alex Frost, who left school at 15 and worked for Argos before becoming a priest, is calling for the Church of England to develop an urgent national strategy to encourage vocations among working-class people.
People from poorer backgrounds “can experience barriers to entering and flourishing in ministry”, Frost said in a paper to be submitted to next month’s meeting of the C of E’s ruling body, the General Synod.
Frost, who is vicar at St Matthew the Apostle in Burnley, said “My vision would be to see an apprenticeship scheme for people who have a portfolio of work rather than an academic body of work.”
He said the C of E had a “traditional academic way of teaching our ordinands [trainee priests], and this is an exciting opportunity to change the model completely, to revolutionise it, to turn it upside down, and to be more attractive to the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker”.
After leaving school with no qualifications, Frost worked in the retail sector, eventually becoming a store manager for Argos. His training for the priesthood was challenging. He said: “I had three kids. It wasn’t practical for me to go away and learn in an academic institution, but also I had no formal qualifications. What I did have was 20 years of on-the-ground working life.”
He found he spoke a “different language” from other members of the clergy, especially those in senior positions. Now an elected member of the General Synod, he said: “I really do feel like an outsider, almost like I shouldn’t be there.”
His paper cites the example of Lee, who was being interviewed at a selection conference for potential ordinands. “Lee was asked by an interviewer who his favourite artist was. He answered ‘Eminem’. The interviewer corrected him, saying he meant an artist such as a painter, not a rap singer. It is clear that the expectations of the interviewer did not take into account someone from Lee’s background.”
In another case, a call-centre worker who wanted to train as a lay reader was told his “training pathway was Saturday morning lessons. And he has to work at weekends. He told the college that, and the college said: ‘Well, see you later’.”
The details of an apprentice scheme were “for the big boys to work out”, Frost said. But the C of E needed to reach an “untapped resource” in the face of declining numbers of people entering the priesthood.
According to the C of E, 25% of candidates for ordination were from working-class backgrounds in 2022-23, compared with 39% of the wider population. Government research published in 2021 found that 48% of the public considered themselves to be working class.
A report published by the church in 2023 found that working-class clergy were “deeply alienated from a church culture that favours and naturalises middle-class ways”. It cited croquet tournaments and dinner parties as examples.
Frost came to national attention in 2020 when clips from a BBC documentary about his and a colleague’s work in Burnley during the Covid pandemic were widely circulated on social media. Both men wept as they spoke of the challenges.
The number of people seeking help from his church’s food bank had “gone higher and higher”, he said at the time. “People keep asking me: ‘What’s the endgame?’ I’m not sure I know. I’m not a politician. I’m just doing what I’m called to do as a priest – helping the poor.”
