www.canterburydiocese.org Reader Ministry Handbook Revised November 2019 (Amended 27 January 2020) Welcome This handbook contains information about the ministry of Readers as Licensed Lay Ministers within the Church of England and how Readers work alongside other colleagues in ministry within the Diocese of Canterbury. It is intended as a guide for clergy and Readers as well as being helpful to anyone exploring a vocation to Reader ministry. Since 2014, Reader ministry in the Channel Islands (where they are known as Licensed Lay Ministers (LLMs)) has been overseen by the Diocese of Canterbury under the episcopal oversight of the Right Revd Trevor Willmott (the former Bishop of Dover). The Channel Islands will formally move to the Diocese of Salisbury during 2020. Reader webpage - https://www.canterburydiocese.org/readers/ Please feel free to contact me for further information, guidance or advice. Nigel Collins Warden of Readers for the Diocese of Canterbury Tel: 01227 459401 Email:
[email protected] Diocesan House, Lady Wootton’s Green, Canterbury CT1 1NQ Amendments were made to paragraphs 2.2, 6.2 and 7.3 on 27 January 2020 2 CONTENTS Page 1. Reader ministry 5 1.1. Readers in our Diocese 5 1.2. What are Readers? 5 1.3. Training 5 1.4. Being Called to Licensed Lay Ministry in the Church of England 5 2. Discernment and Selection 6 2.1. The Initial Discernment Process 6 2.2. The Discernment Panel 7 3. Ministry Training and Formation 7 3.1. Initial Ministerial and Formational Training 7 3.2. Post Licensing Formation 8 4.