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Rochford Parish Church
Rochford Parish Church
Interview with Retired Rector, Chris Cozens (8th Nov.2010)
Rochford Life: Chris, you retired fairly recently, I believe?
Chris: Yes, I stopped taking services at the beginning of August and actually retired about the 23rd I think it was.
RL: Does that mean you have nothing to do with church life now?
Chris: I have nothing to do with the parishes that I was caring for before I retired, but obviously I go to church, but I’m not involved in those churches any more.
RL: But you still do the occasional service?
Chris: Yes, obviously if I was to be approached about a funeral or a wedding, because at the moment there is no replacement for me, I might consider doing that. Principally I try to get involved in doing services away from the churches that I was caring for.
RL: How long have you been in the Anglican ministry?
Chris: I was ordained 23 years ago and I’ve been in Rochford for seven years, Rochford, Sutton and Stambridge.
RL: Having the responsibility for three churches. Is that very common today?
Chris: Yes it is very prevalent in dioceses like Norwich, Lincoln and similar places where there are a lot of country churches. I think in this area, grouping-up is something that they have been doing for a while but they are way behind some of the other dioceses in that respect. Obviously with there being a cut in clergy, there will be a cut in stipendiary (paid) clergy over the next few years that live in this diocese. They have to lose paid clergy every year so it’s going to be an increasing thing. I think there are new people coming forward but it’s a question of being able to pay for them really.
RL: What took you into ministry?
Chris: To sum up a long story, I came to a point because of various things that had happened, where I had a sense that I had basically left God out of my life and my thinking in an effort to get on in the world and get to the top, on my particular path. We had a family crisis and various things going on in life and I came to a point where I concluded that I had left God out. People were fantastically generous and kind and ministry came to be the answer to bringing God back into my life in a full way, while at the same time loving people and trying to give back to the community something I had received.
RL: The historical stereotype image of clergy used to be they left school, went to Oxford or Cambridge and then went into a curacy, but you did this in early middle age?
Chris: I was forty three when I started on the road to ministry. It began by trying to make those who had the decision to make, realise that I had a call from God to the ordained ministry, which involved me, initially, obviously having a conversation with my vicar, then moving on to see what they call an Area Warden and ultimately seeing the Diocesan Director of Ordinands and getting his agreement to sending me forward to a selection conference. In fact the first time I saw the DDO he sent me away and told me to go away for a year and think about it because it was too close to my Confirmation. I was actually confirmed not long before I started along the road to ordained ministry and they were concerned that the decision was very close to my Confirmation, and that it might not be a realistic decision.
RL: Did you wait a year?
Chris: Oh yes, I waited a year and I can remember feeling very cross. I couldn’t quite imagine Jesus saying to the disciples, look, go away for a year and think about it and in a year’s time I will make you fishers of men, but we got there in the end. After that you go for a selection conference. I actually started out on the non-stipendiary route (not paid) but went into stipendiary. Because I started on the non-stipendiary route, I did about eighteen months on that course which was doing one evening a week plus one weekend a month and a Summer School and a Winter School, but when I finally decided to go stipendiary, I then went and did a residential year at Oak Hill and at the end of that was ordained.
RL: And presumably started your first curacy?
Chris: Yes, I went off up to Wallasey near Liverpool to do my curacy, having been sent to see a vicar in Hutton down here. It happened that he’d been asked to go up and look at a parish in Wallasey and he invited me to go with him and I decided that that’s what I would do, so we went in together as a new team which was lovely.
RL: There’s no set period is there for a curacy?
Chris: Well yes, generally it’s three or four years and with somebody of my advanced years it was only three years. At the end of that I started to look around for a parish of my own. I responded to advertisements in the Church Times and contacted various dioceses and eventually offered for this group of churches in Norfolk for which I was accepted, five little churches together in Norfolk.
RL: How did you manage to look after five churches at one time?
Chris: It was great fun actually and very challenging, because Norfolk villages tend to be quite tribal and so to get five churches to work together (all within a radius of about five miles) was a challenge. Obviously some churches felt they were bigger and should have more of the vicar’s time, and so it was quite a challenge to actually get five church councils to come together in some way. In fact we formed a group council and little by little we got them to work together, great fun! I was in Norfolk for about eight and a half years.
For the continuation of this conversation, please CLICK HERE
Return to St. Andrew Front Page
Rochford Life: Chris, you retired fairly recently, I believe?
Chris: Yes, I stopped taking services at the beginning of August and actually retired about the 23rd I think it was.
RL: Does that mean you have nothing to do with church life now?
Chris: I have nothing to do with the parishes that I was caring for before I retired, but obviously I go to church, but I’m not involved in those churches any more.
RL: But you still do the occasional service?
Chris: Yes, obviously if I was to be approached about a funeral or a wedding, because at the moment there is no replacement for me, I might consider doing that. Principally I try to get involved in doing services away from the churches that I was caring for.
RL: How long have you been in the Anglican ministry?
Chris: I was ordained 23 years ago and I’ve been in Rochford for seven years, Rochford, Sutton and Stambridge.
RL: Having the responsibility for three churches. Is that very common today?
Chris: Yes it is very prevalent in dioceses like Norwich, Lincoln and similar places where there are a lot of country churches. I think in this area, grouping-
RL: What took you into ministry?
Chris: To sum up a long story, I came to a point because of various things that had happened, where I had a sense that I had basically left God out of my life and my thinking in an effort to get on in the world and get to the top, on my particular path. We had a family crisis and various things going on in life and I came to a point where I concluded that I had left God out. People were fantastically generous and kind and ministry came to be the answer to bringing God back into my life in a full way, while at the same time loving people and trying to give back to the community something I had received.
RL: The historical stereotype image of clergy used to be they left school, went to Oxford or Cambridge and then went into a curacy, but you did this in early middle age?
Chris: I was forty three when I started on the road to ministry. It began by trying to make those who had the decision to make, realise that I had a call from God to the ordained ministry, which involved me, initially, obviously having a conversation with my vicar, then moving on to see what they call an Area Warden and ultimately seeing the Diocesan Director of Ordinands and getting his agreement to sending me forward to a selection conference. In fact the first time I saw the DDO he sent me away and told me to go away for a year and think about it because it was too close to my Confirmation. I was actually confirmed not long before I started along the road to ordained ministry and they were concerned that the decision was very close to my Confirmation, and that it might not be a realistic decision.
RL: Did you wait a year?
Chris: Oh yes, I waited a year and I can remember feeling very cross. I couldn’t quite imagine Jesus saying to the disciples, look, go away for a year and think about it and in a year’s time I will make you fishers of men, but we got there in the end. After that you go for a selection conference. I actually started out on the non-
RL: And presumably started your first curacy?
Chris: Yes, I went off up to Wallasey near Liverpool to do my curacy, having been sent to see a vicar in Hutton down here. It happened that he’d been asked to go up and look at a parish in Wallasey and he invited me to go with him and I decided that that’s what I would do, so we went in together as a new team which was lovely.
RL: There’s no set period is there for a curacy?
Chris: Well yes, generally it’s three or four years and with somebody of my advanced years it was only three years. At the end of that I started to look around for a parish of my own. I responded to advertisements in the Church Times and contacted various dioceses and eventually offered for this group of churches in Norfolk for which I was accepted, five little churches together in Norfolk.
RL: How did you manage to look after five churches at one time?
Chris: It was great fun actually and very challenging, because Norfolk villages tend to be quite tribal and so to get five churches to work together (all within a radius of about five miles) was a challenge. Obviously some churches felt they were bigger and should have more of the vicar’s time, and so it was quite a challenge to actually get five church councils to come together in some way. In fact we formed a group council and little by little we got them to work together, great fun! I was in Norfolk for about eight and a half years.
For the continuation of this conversation, please CLICK HERE
Return to St. Andrew Front Page
Although Chris has retired from being Rector of Rochford Parish Church, we present his interview here to honour the years he served here until very recently. We were struck throughout by Chris’s humility and grace and the wisdom which has come through the years. For anyone considering entering into the ministry as an Anglican clergyman, here they will find some useful insights and experiences.
