Lay Readers: Sharing their Gifts with the Kingdom

By Jane Harris Zsovan

Lay readers in the Diocese of Saskatchewan after their annual licensing ceremony. Photo: Diocese of SaskatchewanCanada’s lay readers do more than hold chalices and read Scripture to their congregations. They preach, lead Bible Studies, conduct funerals, lead Morning and Evening Prayer, help with confirmation classes and visit invalids. Lay readers work in rural parishes, prisons, hospitals, and cathedrals, usually without pay, although they may receive honorariums for conducting funerals or traveling to rural parishes. 

“Getting to know people is very special, especially taking communion to people who can’t come to church. When we are sitting with people who are sick and dying, sharing that experience is a tremendous gift,” says Jonni Turner, who began her lay reader ministry in Nova Scotia in 2003.

 What inspires ordinary Anglicans, like Turner, to become lay readers?

In 2002, Turner came back to the church after about 40 years away. She had been a successful CBC radio producer, artist, poet and new media entrepreneur.

“It wasn’t just that I was against religion.  I just thought people who needed it were a bit needy or were missing a few cogs. What brought me back was that I had an argument with God, with whom I’d always had a relationship, even though I didn’t go to church. The argument was over the terms of our relationship. I resisted, but God wore me down until I asked him ‘Ok, what do you want from me?’  He told me to ‘Go to church. Tell your story to someone and discover Christ,’ says Turner.

Shortly after she returned to the church, her rector told her that becoming a lay reader would save her life. 

“I’m not sure what he meant by that, but my Anglican formation was practically nothing and I think the rector saw me as someone who needed to go deeper. Becoming a lay reader-in-training pulled me into the deeper issues of Anglicanism,” says Turner.

She is currently studying philosophy and theology at Kings College.

Robert Mummery’s story bears striking similarities to Turner’s.  “It was through prayer and feeling that God was calling me to do more,” explains Mummery, Warden of Lay Readers in the Diocese of Calgary. “I rededicated myself to Christ 30 years ago and I was looking for ways to help at church and become more involved.” It’s worth noting that Mummery has been a lay reader since 1979.

The liturgy itself also prompts many Anglicans to become lay readers. “Some people just love the liturgy and many lay readers want to serve their fellow laity by participating in the liturgy,” Mummery adds. 

 “It’s a desire to volunteer at the church, specifically to serve within the liturgy and to offer one's gifts and talents to the Creator as a servant of the laity,” agrees Karel Van Allen, a lay reader from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. “I enjoy the broadening of my spiritual experience and growth while serving the church with my gifts. I took the lay reader's training course out of interest in learning more about the Anglican Church in general and the church I attend specifically. After the course I felt that I was in the right place to do what was being asked of me,” she adds.

“We are licensed by the Bishop and respond to a parish,” explains Tracy Stagg, who became a lay reader in 2002. She and her husband David serve as lay readers in a three-point rural parish based in High River, Alberta. “The most important part is serving the parish. We take our gifts and fit them to its needs.”

The Staggs were urban Anglicans before they moved from St. George’s Church in Calgary to St. Benedict’s in High River. “I didn’t understand the difference between rural and urban ministries until we moved here,” admits Stagg. Not only do the parish’s three lay readers serve three congregations, they do hospital visitation and are occasionally called to serve a fourth congregation at Christ Church in Nanton. “There is always work to do, never a dull moment,” says Stagg. 

Stagg is also preparing for another step in her lay reader ministry.  She is enrolled in the Master of Theological Studies program offered by the University of Alberta’s Saint Stephen’s College in Edmonton. Saint Stephen’s offers her the flexibility she needs to juggle her responsibilities to her church and to her family.

“My full-time job is as a mum and this needed to be a partnership with my family. The U of A provides me lots of versatility,” she explains.

Mummery, who became Warden of Lay Readers for the Diocese of Calgary in 2007, has also decided to take another step in ministry—he is seeking ordination.  He is studying through Emmanuel and St. Chad in Saskatchewan, while continuing his work as a lay reader and his full-time job. “It’s going to take a couple of years of online study and one year of study on campus,” he says.

Lay readers must be approved by their vestry and licensed by the Bishop. Basic qualifications in most dioceses include knowledge of Holy Scripture, the Book of Common Prayer and the Book of Alternative Services. The prospective lay reader must be confirmed and a regular communicant. Before they can be licensed, lay readers-in-training must complete courses. For instance, the Diocese of Calgary uses the distance learning courses for Lay Reader Training from Thorneloe College in Sudbury. The non-credit course material is studied in a group environment under the mentorship of ordained Calgary clergy.

Lay readers’ duties are described within the canons of each diocese. Anglican lay readers cannot solemnize Holy Matrimony, celebrate at Holy Communion or preside at Holy Baptism in church. But some Canadian dioceses, like the Diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, allow lay readers to be ordained as permanent deacons, especially in parishes where there is no ordained clergy. In dioceses like Calgary, which do not have permanent deacons, lay readers may on rare occasions receive special dispensation from the Bishop to conduct Holy Communion in hospitals or rural parishes.

Several dioceses in Canada provide learning and mentoring through lay readers’ associations, lay readers’ websites, handbooks and learning opportunities.

“One of the dioceses that seems to be very strong and active is the Diocese of Nova Scotia and PEI,” says Mummery. He is impressed by the role lay readers play in the work of the church and the “vibrancy” of their lay readers’ association.

The Diocese of Montreal also offers extensive resources for lay readers, including its lay readers’ association’s website, monthly newsletter, training seminars, online resources, and support for bilingual parishes.

Ensuring that the Diocese of Calgary’s 125 lay readers and 25 lay readers-in-training have an opportunity to learn from peers in neighbouring parishes and to access resources and educational opportunities has been a challenge for Mummery since he became Warden of Lay Readers in 2007.

This fall Mummery -- with the support of Derek Hoskin, the Bishop of Calgary -- resurrected the diocese’s Lay Reader’s Association after a decade of inactivity. “Quite often people see their ministry as just within the parish. What they don’t realize is that there are [more] things they could be doing,” says Mummery.  

“Lay readers’ training is varied throughout the dioceses and within the dioceses,” says Stagg, who is helping create the Highwood Initiative, six intensive training modules for lay readers and others involved in Canadian lay ministries. “It’s grounded education. We share our stories and our learning. We wanted a way to continue to educate ourselves, where we could come together in community.”

The initiative began more than two years ago as a way of meeting the needs of rural parishes. “We are part way through our modules,” says Stagg.

The modules focus on specific topics and combine classroom, individual study and practical exercises to help students make practical use of their learning when they get home from the weekend workshop.

Participants are expected to read the assigned text, and answer a pre-assignment before heading to the seminar. They often leave with a practical take-home, an ongoing assignment.

“Classroom learning is only one form of learning. There needs to be a practical component. We need to work through what we are learning,” Stagg explains.

The $175 cost for the busy two-day workshop includes all materials and meals.

The lay reader’s role is likely to grow even more in coming years. Mummery points out that lay readers provide an important link between the laity and the ordained clergy. “We will see continued influence of lay readers throughout the church. There’s going to be more team ministry and lay readers will play a strong role in enabling and directing it,” says Mummery.

Bishop Hoskin urged lay readers and lay readers-in-training who participated in a diocesan workshop at Saint Augustine’s Church in Lethbridge last August not to shy away from these new opportunities.

“You have a story to tell and gifts to share,” Hoskin told workshop participants. He reminded his audience that they need not be afraid of sharing the gospel with others because the transforming power of Jesus Christ is available to all believers.

It’s that transforming power that guides Canadian lay readers from coast to coast. 

“If we allow the power of God to take us on that path then we can do ‘more than we can ask or imagine’ and give back more to the Creator,” agrees Van Allen as she continues her work in Nova Scotia.