The Church of the Incarnation Pastoral Residency is what Anglicans call a "curacy" – a formative period when a young pastor is trained and equipped for a lifetime of senior church leadership. This three-year experience is designed to train and equip emerging senior church leaders for leadership in the Anglican tradition. Like a research hospital, the Incarnation Curacy provides gifted leaders with hands-on training as they transition from formal theological training into long-term practice. Since 2010, five curates have been trained and equipped for ministry through our Curacy; a sixth begins in June 2022. With the generous support and expert guidance of Made to Flourish, our Curacy is becoming even more robust, as we are now able to begin a new three-year curacy at the beginning of each curate's third year, yielding a year-long overlap which will amplify the learning experience of both curates. The Curacy, a paid position with full benefits, provides a wide-range of potential ministry opportunities suited to each Curate's gifts, abilities, and eventual ministry focus, with several forms of mentorship available.

Settled by the Pennsylvania Dutch and the Scotch-Irish, Harrisonburg was historically a homogenous rural community with an agriculture-based economy. Over the past three decades, with the growth of James Madison University and the massive influx of immigrants and refugees, the area has become ethnically diverse and the economy has moved toward education, manufacturing, service, and technology. This shift has been dramatic. Harrisonburg is now a multiethnic, multilingual city. In two decades, the English as a Second Language (ESL) population of our public school system has shifted from 5% to 34%, representing more than 51 countries and nearly 60 different languages.

Located on the I-81 corridor in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Harrisonburg is the principal city of the second fastest growing Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in Virginia. With a population of 54,224 in a MSA of 158,000 people, we are home to five colleges and universities. As a university town and a city growing significantly through immigration, our importance is disproportionate to our size. People come to Harrisonburg from all over the world, with all sorts of different backgrounds, different languages, and different cultures. This helps make our community an excellent training ground for pastors. As a vibrant church deeply imbedded within the local university community and the local immigrant and refugee community, we prepare pastors who can interact thoughtfully with other views. The constant interactions with inquisitive people from a wide variety of backgrounds helps develop the skills and habits to engage the wider culture of our secular age.

The Church of the Incarnation seeks candidates who have demonstrated a commitment to the Christian faith, and who have a clear sense of calling to ministry in the Anglican tradition. In addition, they must meet the following requirements:

• Has excelled in, and completed, a seminary degree (either the MA or the MDiv)
• Is in full agreement with the Jerusalem Declaration as a faithful summary of biblical teaching;
  
• If male, is desirous of ordination to the diaconate or presbyterate in the Diocese of Christ our Hope; if female, to the vocational diaconate;
• Demonstrates potential for excellence in preaching and/or Bible teaching;
• Is a confident self-starter who desires to take primary responsibility for areas of ministry;
• Evidences a high level of emotional intelligence and maturity;
• Has a commitment to evangelism, discipleship, and hospitality;
• If married, one whose spouse shares a sense of call to pastoral ministry; if single, who has a high view of the opposite sex, exemplifying wisdom and integrity.