or broader responsibility within a MPB. However leadership roles and opportunities considered overall are far more diverse than the specific examples quoted.


b. Training for Lay People in Ministry and Leadership


Most concerns here revolve around greater involvement of lay people in leadership roles within the churches’ ministry: leading groups, taking responsibility for nurture, local preaching, leading worship, congregational administration. This strongly echoes earlier comments about MCM, concerning the need to fully equip lay people for active participation in the ministry of the local church. Trainers and clergy identify similar concerns, while lay people themselves have a rather different focus.


Training gaps: lay people in ministry and leadership – trainers’ perspectives A Methodist training tutor believes: We are really not good at discerning gifts and encouraging lay people into ministry, which is seen to be just for ‘the ministers’. My observation is that rural churches are better at this. Helpful for these rural churches would be to provide training in general leadership skills for lay people. This is not simply a training issue, though; it is a matter of changing attitudes, particularly among ministers themselves. An Anglican vicar from a large multi-parish benefice suggests: We really need good lay leadership team stuff, tailored for and delivered in a local rural context; but it needs to be realistic, unlike the little we have seen already. A Methodist lay training provider indicates what she feels is a further major problem in lay Methodist training: The current Local Preacher training is very demanding and takes a long time, while Local Worship Leader training is a very basic 6 week course. Something in between these is vital, especially for the smaller and more isolated churches, which tend to be rural. Something is needed to give guidance and training for local-level preaching and worship without needing a large and continued commitment.


Training gaps: lay people in ministry and leadership – lay perspectives Lay respondents from various denominations and several geographical locations talk of needing training in leading small groups. In the West Midlands: It would be good to be trained how to lead house groups; a course on leading Bible Study groups. In the North East one focus group talks of needing training to run nurture courses. In the East Midlands: Our benefice needs to run training courses for all the [lay] group leaders in the parishes. In the South East: We have all sorts of teams now operating, but I’m not sure the leaders are very confident of what they are doing. I certainly need some relevant training. And numbers of lay respondents, particularly Methodists and Anglicans, talk of having needed training and help – for PCCs, church wardens, stewards, deacons and others who have to take on responsibilities - in situations where they have ‘lost’ their minister, either temporarily or permanently. As one Anglican PCC chairperson from the South East puts it: It was ‘sink or swim’ with essentially no local help. Thank God for ‘So the Vicar’s Leaving’, which was a lifeline for us at that time. But much more is needed.


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