“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul”

Those who come to Wycliffe Hall do so in faithfulness to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, responding to his claim on our lives through our Christian discipleship, and in obedience to his call to some form of Christian ministry. We recognise that this is a costly response involving the whole of our life – all that we are, and all that we possess.

In your time at Wycliffe, you will be encouraged to grow as a disciple, seeking to love God with all your heart and soul in a community of faith. We are committed to enabling you to reflect on your personal Christian walk and to discover new ways of relating to God. We will work with you to:

• deepen your individual and shared prayer life.
• use the Scriptures more powerfully and effectively.
• open your hearts, minds and lives to the power of the Holy Spirit.
• identify and work on areas of your personality or patterns of life which need to be conformed to the will of God.
• develop a rule of life which will sustain you through your ministry.
• develop a healthy balance between all aspects of life: prayer, worship, study, ministry, family, relaxation.

Providing resources

The process of spiritual formation at Wycliffe is resourced in various ways. Spirituality as a subject is part of the syllabus of every ministerial course offered in Wycliffe. It is compulsory for all ordinands and available as an option to others. The teaching of spirituality is not an academic exercise, but aims at an integration of theology and life, and at the development of a structured and disciplined Christian walk. The mixture of lectures and seminars allows you to work practically on areas of personal spiritual growth.

Teaching on spirituality is not limited to this one area of the syllabus. All subject areas are taught confessionally, so that whatever we are doing – studying the Bible, examining an aspect of Christian apologetics or facing a controversial issue in ethics – strong connections are made between our understanding of Christian faith and the way we live.

Journeying with you

As Christian leaders and ministers, we lead out of who we are in Christ. To this end we also offer a special programme in Spiritual Formation for Leadership. This explores the relationship between our inner self and our outer life and ministry. It combines teaching, group work and one-to-one coaching, and enables you to work in specific areas of your life where growth is needed.

Every student has a personal tutor who has pastoral and spiritual responsibility towards you. This tutor meets with students on a regular basis, when, among other matters, issues of personal life and faith are addressed.

The Tutor for Spiritual Formation is available as a resource to all students to help you to set up formal spiritual direction, to work with you in developing a rule of life, and to explore new ways of relating to God that will deepen your personal relationship with him. Additional outside specialists in the area of spiritual formation are invited to offer guidance and training in aspects of personal spirituality.

Our prayer for everyone at Wycliffe Hall – staff and students alike – is that, ‘as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness’ (Colossians 2:6-7).