Published on: 06/01/2026
A very happy new year to you all! Our blogs this month are going to be on the theme of ‘Vision’, and while I could have written about how it is important for all leaders, lay and ordained, to be discerning and communicating a strong vision for their ministry, I thought it might be helpful at the start of the year to do a refresher on our Diocesan vision for lay ministry.
The refreshed Diocesan strategy for 2025-2032 sets out a vision for our churches to be released to release the light of Christ through developing lay ministry: for every congregation to have a designated Focal Minister and for each church to have a team/teams of Commissioned Lay Ministers.
What might that look like for your context? If you don’t already have a Focal Minister/s, then perhaps you could explore that this year. Focal Ministers are the key lay leaders in a church (usually lay, some of them are Deacons or retired clergy), the go-to people, the face of the church, the embedded and visible presence of leadership at gatherings. Not necessarily leading from the front, but facilitating, co-ordinating and encouraging everyone to play their part in church life, both ministry and mission. We would love to work with every congregation in the Diocese to help identify, train and authorise Focal Ministers – get in touch to find out more.
You may be less familiar with Commissioned Lay Ministers or CLMs. These are roles which are locally identified, locally trained and locally commissioned. They could include Worship Leaders, Small Group Leaders, Occasional Preachers, Welcome Team, Pastoral Visitors, those who head up areas of ministry like Toddler Group, Alpha, Wedding enquiries…the list is endless! Commissioning someone may involve going through some training locally with them, either provided by the Diocesan Lay Ministry team or written locally. Then that person is commissioned during a service, with liturgy provided by the Diocese. This is a wonderful way to celebrate, recognise and honour the particular giftings and contributions of lay people who serve in the church. It also gives them access to a growing range of training and learning with others across the Diocese – some of which will be online, some in person. This is being developed throughout 2026, so watch this space.
Again, for more info on CLMs, please get in touch with the Lay Ministry team. Lets pepper this year’s e-bulletins with heaps of pictures and stories of lay people being commissioned all across the Diocese.
For me in my work across this Diocese, the vision which motivates me is for all the people of God to be released into their vocations and to serve God and their communities with their unique giftings. Licensed ministry, authorised ministry and commissioned ministry are great vehicles for recognising those gifts and equipping God’s people, and I would love to partner with you in equipping God’s people this year.
To get a flavour of what we got up to in 2025 take a look at the following articles from 2025:
Commissioning Lay Ministers: ‘Explore what God is calling you to’
Focal Minister authorisations on Pentecost Sunday
First Multilingual Authorisation Service for Focal Ministers
Focal Ministry Adventures: Harvest, Hope and Hospitality at St Hugh’s New Cantley
This week’s Blog post was written by Beth Burras, Lead Lay Ministry Enabler