Introduction
Lay Preaching has a long and distinguished tradition in the Uniting Church and its former denominations. A Lay Preacher is a lay member of the Church whose gifts for preaching and leading worship have been recognised and who is trained and then authorised to lead services of worship.
In keeping with the Uniting Church's understanding of Christ's call to all people, and of the Spirit who endows a diversity of gifts for service in the ministry of Christ, both women and men are called to this ministry. A paper on women preachers in the Methodist tradition by Rev Dr Barry Brown is available for download, which explores this history in British and Australian contexts.
This significant ministry is described in both the Basis of Union (Paragraph 14(d)) and in the Regulations of the Uniting Church (Section 2.8).
[Please note that the new Uniting Church Constitution and Regulations come into effect on 1 June 2012. These were released in March 2012, and any references to particular Regulations have yet to be updated on this page]
'Called to Preach' is the newly-released Lay Preachers' Association manual which includes lots of useful information about Lay Preachers and Lay Preaching.
