A high standard of integrity and service is expected of all lay people (those who are not ordained) who hold an office or role in a parish church of the Diocese of Sheffield – whether they are paid or volunteers.
Broadly speaking there are two types of people who will fall into this category. The first are lay people who have a license from the Bishop of Sheffield. The majority of these are ‘Lay Readers’ sometimes known simply as Readers. However, there will be other lay people who hold a licence from the Bishop of Sheffield.
The second group of people who in this category are those who volunteer for a local church and who are not licensed.
Complaints against a lay person with a license
Lay Ministers are mostly volunteers serving the church. This does not mean that they are held to a lesser standard of professionalism than clergy, but in most cases grievances and complaints are best dealt with at the parish level by contacting their Oversight Minister (or in the case of a vacancy, the Area Dean). For more details of the grievance procedure please see the Lay Ministry Good Practice Guide This document details (on page 9) how a complaint can be made. That document makes reference to the Readers Good Practice Guide. This is a document that is applicable to the whole Church of England and stipulates how to raise a complaint according to Canon Law (Canon E6 and E8).
Complaints against a lay person who does not have a licence
Again, this group of people are also held to a standard of professionalism and are expected to conduct themselves in the manner of those who profess to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Nonetheless, there are times when people fall short of what is expected. If this should happen then please contact the Oversight Minister of the parish church that the volunteer has been recruited by. They will help you address your grievance, firstly informally and then according to the complaint policy that has been adopted by the PCC (Parochial Church Council) of the parish church.
If there are any doubts about which policy is correct or how to proceed please contact us for confidential advice. The best person to contact is one of either: the diocesan secretary (diocesansecretary@sheffield.anglican.org), the bishop’s chaplain (chaplain@bishopofsheffield.org.uk), the Archdeacon of Sheffield and Rotherham (archdeacon.sheffield.rotherham@sheffield.anglican.org), or the Archdeacon of Doncaster (archdeacon.doncaster@sheffield.anglican.org).