Dear Editor,
There is a common conception that it is best for ministers to have a long spell in secular employment before undertaking ministry, as was articulated in a letter in the June edition of EN. I would suggest that this is a flawed idea.
If a minister is required to have been in employment in order to be able to relate to and preach successfully to those in employment, then by the same logic he needs to have been retired to relate to those who are retired (of which there are many in our churches in the UK). In fact, to take it to the fullest extreme of logic, he needs to have been a woman in order to relate and preach to women.
