Your role... Lay Ministry

God calls you...

… to reveal Christ to the world.  Christians are called to a ministry of witness to the transforming love of God through worship and service to others.  All God's people are called to play a part in God's mission to the world.  And every church needs a rich diversity of gifts and callings to serve God faithfully within the community where it is set.

There are many opportunities to serve…

In the local church…

The body of Christ is made up of many parts, each playing their unique part in making the body whole.  In worship it needs choir members and musicians, chalice bearers, lay ministers and intercessors... In its maintenance and management it needs cleaners, flower arrangers, administrators, people to sit as members of the PCC, church wardens.

In the local community…

The church is not just a building. It is a living, breathing community of people.  People often living in the communities the church is serving.  God calls us to worship and service beyond the walls of the church and between Sundays.  Have you considered offering yourself as a parish councilor, or as a school governor?  What about parish visiting? 

In the workplace…

Most of us during our major active years spend much of our time and energy at work.  Our attitudes to our work and to our work colleagues should reflect our faith. After all when we leave for work we do not leave our faith behind.  What opportunities are you presented with to support your colleagues, to be a sympathetic ear, to bring a Christian perspective on decisions of the working day?

Whatever God calls us to be; Christian parent or neighbour, authorised minister, artist, writer, social worker, office or volunteer worker, God calls us to a place in the world, a place where God is already at work.

Accredited Lay Ministry

There are those who feel called to enable the Christian community to exercise its ministry in the world but who do not believe that they are called to ordination.

Lay Ministry

Lay ministers are people called to serve the Church in a preaching, teaching and pastoral ministry.  Lay ministers come from all walks of life, occupations and backgrounds and have been described as the Church's lay theologians; thinking, well informed, articulate lay women and men.  They are selected at diocesan level and after training, most are licensed to parishes, working as a team with clergy and other laity. However some are chaplains in prisons, hospitals or the Armed Forces.

Lay Pastoral Assistants

‘Loving our neighbour’ is central to the gospels and to the work and witness of the church in our communities.  Trained and authorised lay people have an important part to play in the provision of pastoral care.  In this Diocese such people are called Lay Pastoral Assistants. They work alongside their parish clergy ministering to people within the church and beyond in their journey through life.