There are thousands of lay ministers using their gifts in a wide variety of different roles, serving alongside ordained ministers. Youth and children’s ministers, churchwardens, licensed lay ministers, and many chaplains, evangelists, missionaries and pioneers are lay people, who are not ordained.
Lay ministries cover a huge variety of different forms of Christian service and there are a range of lay ministry roles available in different dioceses. Lay ministry falls broadly into three categories: Recognised, Authorised and Licensed.
Lay Ministry pathways in the Diocese of Norwich
Do you feel called to Lay Ministry in Norfolk and Waveney?
If you would like to explore a calling to lay ministry, please do speak to your local vicar, or get in touch with the ministry team at the Diocese. Each year we run a Shared Vocations Space from September to January, which is an opportunity to explore the different routes of ministry with a group of people and the vocations team.
National Lay Ministry Register
The National Lay Minister Register (NLMR) is a list of all lay ministers in national roles within the Church of England who are authorised to minister. The public will be able to search the NLMR to verify whether someone has authorisation for ministry, in much the same way as you can search for a qualified medical professional on the national medical directory.
Read more about the Register – which goes live at the end of January 2027 – via the link.