Rob Hook writes:

In any church it is the Vicar or ordained minister who is responsible to the Bishop of that Diocese for the effective pastoring and leading of the congregation. In a vacancy (where there is no vicar or priest in charge) these responsibilities rest with the Church Wardens and the PCC.

In both cases there is typically a team of people who support the vicar or Wardens in preaching, teaching and leading services called Licensed Lay Ministers. Historically they were called Lay Readers but the church has realised that these individuals can take on much of the work of an ordained minister. The term Lay does not refer to their work ethic but it means “uninitiated” as they are not ordained. That does not make them any less worthy! The LLMs go through a rigorous selection process to approve their vocational calling, are approved by their churches PCC and undergo at least two years of training. The list of Pip ‘n’ Jay LLMs is as follows:

Adrian Bright, Rob Hook, Sheila McKay, Steve Sharples, Jill Kells, Dave Matthews, Chris Perkins, Pat Willson
(+ Andy Hiscox – in training, due to be licensed in 2010)

If you have any comments on the running of the services please mention it to one of them. We meet regularly to review how we worship and how we move forward as a fellowship.