All who are baptised are called to ministry in Christ’s Church. This means everyone has a part to play by using their God-given gifts to serve others, both within and beyond the church community.
Every Christian is called by God to be a part of the ministry of the Church as it serves God’s mission in the world. Hundreds of Anglicans use their gifts in a wide variety of roles, within the Church and in the world, in their workplaces, homes and communities.
Some people however are called to particular ministries where they act as representatives of the Church and as such are publicly recognised as ‘lay ministers’. Local churches would normally apply for a ‘lay licence’ from the Bishop in order to endorse this person and provide for accountability.
Examples of recognised ministry include leading a home group, pastoral care, assisting with children and youth ministry, offering prayer and listening, acting as a chaplaincy assistant or exploring growing church locally.
If you would like to explore lay ministry training options or being licensed as a lay minister please contact:
Lay Ministry Developer: Karen Spoelstra
Email:
Some members of the baptised community are called and empowered to fulfil a particular ministry. There are three orders: deacons, priests and bishops. Each order is equally important, but they differ in the tasks they do on behalf of the whole Church. See pp 887–924 of A New Zealand Prayer Book He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa.
Deacons – have a community-facing ministry or service. They encourage Christians to fulfil Christ’s mission and care for others.
Priests – build up the congregation as pastors and proclaimers of God’s word.
Bishops – are called to lead by example, maintain wise discipline, keep the Church true to its faith, ordain pastors and preside over the worshipping life of the Church.
Everyone who is baptised in our Church is a minister of the gospel. We are all called to discover our gifts and strengths and offer them to God. Every Christian has a vocation to express God’s love and justice in the world in whatever way fits with their unique self and in the places where their life experience has equipped them to serve.
There are some in our Church who have a particular ministry to serve and build up the body of the Church through ordained ministry. That means, their vocation is to be a deacon, priest or bishop in God’s Church. The Church discerns and ordains these people to devote themselves fully to the prayer, mission and ministry of the Church, to exercise a representative and sacramental leadership and presence that recalls all the baptised to their own calling in the grace of God.
In our diocese, when people offer themselves to serve in this way, they undergo a process of discernment, which is a mutual exploration of God’s call on a person’s life, listening for the Holy Spirit’s leading and looking for signs that God is nudging someone towards this life-long vocation. The Church’s part in this discernment belongs primarily to the bishop, who draws on the insights of advisors and referees to prayerfully determine, on behalf of the Church, whether or not a person is called to this specific form of ministry.
In this process, the Church also takes care to ensure candidates for ordination are suitable to safely take on responsibilities of caring for people in our community. Alongside the insights and experiences of advisors and referees, these steps include police vetting and an interview with a psychologist.
If you are beginning to sense a call to the work and life of a deacon or priest in our Church, we invite you in the first instance to talk with your vicar. Begin a dialogue with them about their role, and how they came to discover their gifts and call to minister in this way. Ask whether they will support you to explore your sense of call further. They might recommend that you do a bit of reading or research to deepen your understanding of ordained ministry.
If, as a result of that ongoing conversation, you decide it’s the right thing to take a further step along this path, then contact the bishop’s vocations chaplain:
Process and Timeline
Offering yourself to God in the Church for ordained ministry is an adventure that is both rewarding and costly. There is an element of sacrifice to it, and it’s important to stay open to surprises from God about how and where you might serve. Try not to have too fixed an idea about the shape of ministry that you might be called to. Our Church makes a distinction between ‘order’ (being set apart as a deacon, priest or bishop) and ‘office’ (the particular role, place, and tasks in which you fulfil your order, which could be as a chaplain, a vicar, an academic etc. or in a bi-vocational way as a non-stipended minister). The discernment process is mostly concerned with ‘order’ – the rest unfolds with time, and may change more than once as you live into your call.
And remember, ordained ministry is by no means the only or even the most important vocation within the life of our Church. We are all called to be discerning and intentional about our work and our service within and beyond the Church, as we seek to glorify God and express the love of God in our communities. For training and formation opportunities as a lay person, check out the offerings of our ministry formation team.