Parish of Leatherhead - Chris Bessant

In early 2013 Chris became Vicar of St Lawrence & St Saviour, Chobham having served his curacy at St Nicolas, Great Bookham. He was ordained deacon in Guildford Cathedral on Sunday 5 July 2009.

from the October 2007 magazine
From Chris Bessant - Dear Friends,
At last the time has come for me to take up my place at Ridley Hall to begin my training for ordination. Sophie and I are so full of thanks for the love and care that the good people of St Mary and St Nicholas have shown. Every minister of God is called to be a reflection of God's love, and to help others to express their love for God as a witness. This is not something to be learnt at theological college in an academic way, but rather is something to be discovered by example between people. Sophie and I have felt that depth of godly love here in Leatherhead, through the congregations and the friendships that we have been a part of. My education has been going on since we arrived in 2001!

Many people have been instrumental in enabling me to go to college, with all of the attendant practicalities and difficulties that has brought on. At times it looked impossible, but with the love of God we have felt through the people of St Mary and St Nicholas, it has been made possible. I offer my greatest thanks and prayers to you all. From October, I will be seeing somewhat less of you all. I shall have a placement church to operate within (I don't know where yet), but Sophie will continue to be amongst you. I expect I will be around from time-to-time. May God continue to be among you. In Christ,
Chris Bessant

from the May 2007 magazine
Thank You After what has been a very difficult time for us, Ben was released from hospital on Wednesday 28th March, following almost six weeks as an in-patient. We would like to offer our most sincere thanks to all of those who have given their support, prayers and time for hospital visits. The gifts, letter and cards have helped Ben's recovery a great deal, although we still have a way to go.

We have been overwhelmed by the love and care shown to our family, and it is very much appreciated. Your continuing prayers are most gratefully received, as Benjamin progresses towards a full and sustained recovery.
Chris and Sophie Bessant

from the October 2006 magazine
Three days in July Chris Bessant writes: On the morning of July 28th I was delighted to hear the good news from William Challis, the Diocesan Director of Ordinands (DDO) that I had been "recommended for training" by a panel of senior Church officials. It marks a major milestone along the road I've been travelling for nine years, and I am pleased to have reached it.

Let me explain what it means. To be recommended for training is to have the Church of England publicly and officially affirm the calling and potential future ministry of an individual to licensed, ordained ministry, and to underwrite that person's training financially. In practical terms it means training, usually through a theological college or a local training scheme, often within the diocese. The shape of training undertaken generally depends upon the individual's age, previous education and future intentions for ministry. For me that's two years, full-time at a theological college and full-time ministry thereafter.

Once training is complete, and assessments show that various goals have been met, a report is given to the Ordinands' Bishop that the person should be ordained as a deacon. For me, that all lies in the future and a very busy future it will be!

The Selection Panel is simple to explain, but not so simple to achieve. That panel I referred to above is called a Bishops Advisory Panel, or BAP for short, once called Selection Conferences. It's more or less a 48-hour interview, where you are put through your paces across nine disciplines that the Church of England's Ministry Division has devised. Each area is explored through interviews, written exercises, presentations, discussions and practical work. It's a tough mental trial, and requires a lot of preparation, prayer, reading and working through your calling. In fact I spent more than three years working with the DDO to get my head in the right shape.

I arrived on Monday at 1pm at the conference centre in Ely (near Cambridge) on a seriously hot day, having travelled from Billingshurst, where I was on a retreat to help clear my mind. The conference was not due to start until 5pm, so I took myself off to the most beautiful Ely cathedral, which was the coolest place to be, literally. I was calm from my retreat, but also aware of a strong sense of anticipation. When we finally got going at 6pm, I found six panel selectors and 15 other equally worried looking candidates. The Panel Secretary, who runs the conference, opened up and explained how the whole thing would run, then ran a few simple games to help break the ice and relieve the tension. I have to say he was very effective and really helped take the stress out of it all.

The main event of the evening was a simple exercise called the "personal inventory", which was a set of 16 leading questions about my faith and life. The advisors used the responses later on in the interviews as discussion material. Dinner followed and then I took the opportunity for an early night, resisting the temptation to go down to the pub.

Tuesday morning started with a simple communion service in the chapel, then breakfast. As far as I could see, most of candidates were looking worried about the presentation and discussion assessments to take place that morning. All candidates are required to prepare a five-minute standup presentation about an aspect of ministry of their choice, and to lead a 13-minute discussion about it afterwards. Having done quite a lot of this kind of thing before, I was feeling relaxed. The 16 candidates were split into two groups of eight, and each picked a random playing card to see what the running order would be.

I didn't want to go first, but I hoped to get second or third. I was certain that I did not want to be eighth and last! I picked eight. The trouble with being last in these kinds of things is that people's attention wanders-off, and stomachs start to rumble for lunch. I based my presentation on "'Leadership and Collaboration", which is a familiar theme. As is often the case, it was over in what seemed like a short time, with much relief.

After lunch came the first of the interviews. These are around an hour each and cover all of the main disciplines of the assessment, of which there are nine in all. They split into three groups: ministry, pastoral and educational. Each is one-to-one with an advisor, who asks many questions based on all the application and reference material, and the Personal Inventory, which had been completed the previous day. My ministerial and pastoral interviews were both that afternoon and the educational the following morning.

During the interviews, I felt comfortable with the format and the questions, but somewhat uncomfortable with the thought that these advisors had never met me before and probably would never again after the panel. This is where I think the weakness may lie in the whole selection procedure, because a programme of consideration over years is, in a large part, concluded with a panel of just 48 hours.

The whole assessment is surrounded by prayer, worship, care and a full sense of God being with us all. The camaraderie and solidarity between the candidates was very evident, and for me was a big help in dealing with the stresses and anxieties that were never too far away. My three days of retreat beforehand were extremely helpful and I thoroughly recommend St Cuthman's retreat house, in Sussex. I came away from the panel feeling happy and comfortable that I had given it my best shot, and without any regrets about what I said, did or my preparation.

I always carried with me a personal mantra that "faith leads to action", and that God calls every one of us to ministry of some form. The Bible often speaks of "straight paths" to God, but in my experience the paths are very bendy indeed. Seek out where your own path is leading; it may not be where you think.

from the September 2006 magazine
Congratulations to Chris Bessant, who has been recommended for ordination training. Chris with Sophie and their family live in Worple Road. Chris has been looking towards ordination for some time and will begin training in September 2007. We are delighted he has been successful in being recommended and offer our prayers and good wishes.
David Eaton