Meet our new Lay Ministers for 2018
On Saturday 29 September, four new Lay Ministers were admitted and licensed during a joyful service of Choral Evensong at Salisbury Cathedral, another transferred in from another Diocese, and many renewed their commitment to ministry.
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Caroline Culley, Chris Cox and Linda Fleming were admitted and licensed, having completed a three-year course at Sarum College. Barbara Lewis was also admitted, and will be licensed in the Diocese of Canterbury to serve in Maidstone, Kent.
Rona Orme (pictured above) was transferred and welcomed, and will minister in Branksome St Aldhelm.
In his Sermon, Lay Minister David Bowen drew parallels between Licensed Lay Ministers (LLMs) and angels. Read it here.
He said, “Worship God and tell people his message. That’s what angels do. Come to think of it, isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? We, Bishops and Clergy and Lay Ministers and everyone who calls Jesus ‘Lord’. Just like the angels we are called to praise God for what he is and what he does and to share God’s news, the Good News, the Gospel, wherever we go, whatever we do – in deeds and in words.
“Today, we Lay Ministers of this Diocese have come to renew our promises to do that. To be faithful in worship, in prayer and the sacraments, in service to our fellow human beings and in reading the scriptures and learning from and about them. And, perhaps especially in sharing the Gospel, God’s Good News.
“Bet you didn’t know you were an angel, did you?”
During the service, around 70 LLMs renewed their commitment to ministry in the presence of a large congregation.
Caroline Culley (Bromham and Rowde) sees herself exercising a care home ministry.
She says, “I feel particularly called to ministry with the elderly, and I’m hoping to make them feel more included in the Church. It would be lovely to tackle the issue of loneliness in the parish and beyond.
“They have just as much to minister to other people as others who can walk around and live outside the care home.”
Chris Cox (Devizes St John and St Mary) has a ministry of contemplation.
He says, “To be a contemplative is to acknowledge the mystery and unknowability of God and to, in the silence and the stillness, feel God’s presence in our hearts.
“I’m very much a contemplative, and will hopefully be enhancing the contemplative nature of the worship and life of St John’s.”
Chris features on the Sarum College website. More here
Linda Fleming (Vale of Pewsey) seeks to be available to minister in whatever way is required locally.
She says, “When we first started training, we were given a poem by Thomas Merton which I still have up on the wall, which basically says, ‘Well Lord, I don’t know where I’m going exactly, but I know you’ll be with me.’
“In the Church, I’ve done lots of children’s work, but during the training, I spent time serving a Chaplaincy in a hospital and in a hospice, and that was such a privilege. I was quite surprised that I would find it such a wonderful experience.”
Barbara Lewis is off to HM Prison Maidstone, in the Diocese of Canterbury.
She says, “I’ll be joining the prison chaplaincy team as a volunteer chaplain. I had a calling to prison a number of years back and I visited Guys Marsh, south of Shaftesbury, for a number of years before we moved.”
There is more information about Licensed Lay Ministry on this website, and on the Sarum College website.
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