Licensed Lay Ministry
Readers in the Church of England lead worship, teach the Christian faith and offer pastoral care in the Church and beyond. The Office was established in the Nineteenth Century as the population expanded and congregations grew rapidly in new and existing churches. These growing congregations needed ministry to complement that offered by clergy in caring for their members’ spiritual and pastoral needs and providing well-led worship. Readers were initially licensed by their Bishop to read the services of Morning and Evening Prayer.
The role has expanded and diversified as churches and communities have evolved. As well as the central and continuing importance of leading worship, preaching, and pastoral care, Licensed Lay Ministers (LLMs) as they are now known have specialised in numerous ways with training and formation tailored to those specialisms, preparing them to lead mission and ministry in local churches, benefices and deaneries.
Sharing in teaching the faith and leading mission and ministry means that Licensed Lay Ministers need a much deeper grounding in theology than is necessary for an Authorised Lay Minister. For this training, we have established partnerships with two of our local Theological Education Institutes (TEIs) – Ridley Hall and the Eastern Region Ministry Course (ERMC). Learning resources for these programmes are provided by those TEIs on their own digital learning platforms.
Specialist LLM Training Through ERMC
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Specialist LLM Training Through Ridley Hall
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LLM Training in Development with Ridley Hall
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LLM Training in Development with Church Army
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