Having recently commemorated 500 years of Reformation, we should keep our eyes, ears and hearts open to God’s Spirit inspiring us to change, argues Carrie Myers. Is Reader ministry ripe for reformation? Should we join the diaconate? Or perhaps we will cease to have a distinctive licensed role?
[This article is from our Spring 2018 issue. To read back issues dating back to 2015, please activate your subscription]
When I was exploring vocation several years ago, Reader ministry emerged as the obvious, perfect fit for me. I was sure then and am sure now of God’s calling me to this ministry. But as I read more about it, it was hard to pin down what it actually is that a Reader does, or is. Although we have an apparently clear remit as ‘a teaching, preaching and liturgical ministry in a pastoral context’, there is huge variety in Reader ministry even within my diocese as we each seek to use our own gifts and to serve God in our parishes and beyond.
I’ve also become more aware of wider conversations in the Church about our ministry. On the one hand, some areas and some Readers are warm to the idea of us joining a permanent diaconate. On the other, some see the burgeoning of more lay ministries as a challenge to our particular identity.
Is our ministry so different from ordained ministry?
Over the past few decades, what used to be a clear distinction between clergy and Readers has become increasingly blurred, not least due to the proliferation of ways in which ordained ministry can be exercised. We are no longer especially distinctive in not being employed by the Church, as self-supporting ministries have increased and many priests are also in secular employment, or retired from it. The emergence of Ordained Local Ministries in the 1980s means that we are no longer distinct in being locally called to and from our own parishes. In addition, recent discussions regarding the role and function of deacons have demonstrated great overlap in function with Reader ministry. Like Readers, deacons have a liturgical and pastoral role, and emphasis on mission and a role in assisting, rather than presiding. We are by no means the only ministers who straddle Church and world in the famous image of a bridge, used so frequently, nor the only people who take part in ministry and mission in our places of work. And we are by no means the only ministers who may, at times, have to challenge the notion that we have an inferior ministry, which isn’t quite on a par with that of our parish priest!
I know Readers who are keen to be ordained into the diaconate, as a natural extension of their ministry. And of course God may call us all to different ministries at different times. But I want to argue for our lay status as something vital to our – certainly to my – vocation.
This is firstly because, when I started exploring my own vocation, I was sure it was not to sacramental ministry. Readers are ministers of the Word, but those who are ordained become ministers of Word and Sacrament. While all are baptised into the priesthood of all believers, there is still a special and particular vocation of ordained ministry.
I am saddened and, if I’m honest, a bit offended, when people ask me if I’ll be going ‘on’ to be a priest, as if my current ministry is a stepping stone, rather than something which is exactly where I believe God is calling me to be. Or if I had ‘thought about’ ordained ministry as if, in my years of exploring vocation, that might not have been something which was tested either by myself or others. Reader ministry is complementary to ordained ministry, not inferior to, or in competition with, it. As a Church, we need to explore collaborative ministry, rekindle a vision of the body of Christ with a multitude of roles and vocations, rather than viewing ministries as a hierarchy.
One of the great joys of the past couple of years was to preach at a service where my best friend presided for the first time. We studied theology together at university, discussed vocation together over the years and were now both exercising the ministries to which we had been called, which in that service perfectly complemented each other. Neither of us is in a ministry that is superior to the other, or better. Of course there are things she can do which I can’t, like giving blessings. And there are things I do which, in a parish, she can’t, like being a Christian in a secular workplace. To conflate our ministries would diminish both.
Because, for me, the appropriate distinction between ordained and Reader ministries is precisely and obviously that Readers are lay. The Church needs both a more theologically sophisticated and simple to comprehend understanding of this lay status, and positivity about it, rather than turning Readers into mini, replacement or understudy clergy. As part of this, it is vital that the Church has a clear, public ministry for the laity, and that the laity has a strong, theologically articulate voice in the Church. I hope and believe that with a priority for lay discipleship and ministry within Renewal and Reform, and the proliferation of lay ministries, we may be getting closer to that.
One ministry among many
Given this renewed priority of ministry of the whole people of God, is having a licensed, separate Reader ministry still appropriate at all?
In recent decades there has been a proliferation in the range and exercise of lay ministries, with many functions overlapping with those of Readers. What a blessing that increasing numbers are exploring ministry and vocation! But it has resulted in a situation where there could be two people doing exactly the same things, but with one having studied for three years and being a licensed Reader, and the other having no training or licensing. Should all lay ministries be labelled and licensed, or should none?
I appreciate, as a Reader, I’m pretty biased. But I would argue for Reader ministry to remain as distinctive. While it may become one among many more licensed lay ministries, there are things which distinguish it from some, though not all, other lay ministries. These include the requirement for discernment of a calling, a bishop’s license and being Canonically governed. We are required to be mature in faith, have accountability in and for our ministry and are under authority beyond our own parish context.
Reader ministry also requires a high level of training in order to nurture and develop spiritual gifts, a source of some debate in these pages and more widely. At its best, this training ensures, as far as possible, the quality of Reader ministry, for example in ensuring sermons are delivered based on a sound theological understanding. I would not wish to argue that no one without training should be encouraged to develop their gifts; a practice sermon may help someone along the road of discernment of a calling. However, training is vital in the regular exercising of public ministry and good teaching. It also, for me, brought the great gift of training with people from all sorts of parishes, broadening our perspectives and ensuring we look beyond our own traditions. In a Church seemingly increasingly polarised and at odds with itself, this aspect of the training serves as a correction to that tendency. Readers can present a different perspective on relationships and attitudes towards other traditions, as well as the wider world.
As a group of several thousand lay ministers, I also believe Readers have a powerful representative role. In our ministry, leading worship, teaching, in pastoral care and everything else we do, we embody the fact that it is not only clergy whom God calls. Readers are a symbol of the calling of laity and the ministry of the whole people of God. One does not have to be called to ordination to exercise gifts to serve your congregation and local community. Readers help to demonstrate to the congregation and the outside world that you do not need a dog-collar to be ‘holy’; being lay means they can sometimes witness to this more powerfully than clergy.
Although some Readers may feel squeezed out by additional lay ministries – licensed or otherwise – this feels to me like a wonderfully vibrant time in which Readers, as highly trained, theologically and spiritually articulate laity, can help to lead the Church in really nurturing the gifts of the whole people of God. Interestingly, there is little, if anything, within the expected outcomes for Reader training which suggest that one of our roles is to spot and encourage gifts and callings in other lay people. I would argue that this is a really important role for a Reader and, precisely because we are not ordained, we can be better placed to have conversations with other lay people exploring a calling or seeking to grow in faith and discipleship as they explore how to serve Jesus in a culture and context which sometimes makes it hard to see how.
A ‘cordon bleu’ lay ministry?
All that said, I do think we must be wary of, and resist the urge to, consider ourselves superior to other lay ministries, in the way that some consider ordained ministers superior to us! While I am sympathetic to the concern behind the promotion of Reader ministry as ‘cordon bleu’ ministry to ensure that Readers are recognised and allowed to minister as they deserve (for example as in the Church of England’s Working Group on Review of Reader Ministry in 2008) we should be very wary of creating more hierarchies in the Church. Instead, how can we, as Readers, help create a culture where all gifts, callings and vocations are seen as equally valued parts of our wonderfully diverse body?
Having an abundance of different lay ministries, some with training, licensing and even a Canon or two may make our own ministry less distinctive, and result in some overlaps in function, but better to have overlaps than gaps! I suggest that some messiness is entirely appropriate for the Church – the gifts of the Spirit can hardly be forced to fit into humanly constructed categories. As ministers and disciples we are all given different gifts for the building up of God’s kingdom, and part of our discernment process is how we best exercise these to spread the joyous gospel we proclaim.
The Readers I know are inspiring people with a strong theological voice, who work collaboratively with ordained and other lay ministers in mission and ministry. They convey their own sense of vocation while encouraging the gifts and discipleship of other laity. They are a part of the work of the whole people of God in mission. I hope and pray that our ministry continues to flourish and to support others – lay and ordained – in shared ministry and mission for the glory of God.
Carrie Myers is a Reader in the Putney team ministry in the diocese of Southwark. She is one of the younger members of General Synod with a keen interest promoting lay ministry.
[This article is from our Spring 2018 issue. To read back issues dating back to 2015, please activate your subscription]