by Supplied

Lay Preachers’ Gather

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Linda Hall (Correspondence Secretary for the NZ Lay Preachers’ Association) facilitated the August gathering at St Paul’s Remuera. TeRito Peyroux-Semu, Vice President of Te Hahi Weteriana, was the special guest and Doreen Sunman led devotions with a reading from Romans, which refers to the church as the body of Christ, and a prayer.

TeRito, born and raised in Auckland, stayed in the same parish where she became the youth facilitator and then a lay preacher. She had learned from and was influenced by her grandmother, herself a lay preacher. Other lay preachers present shared something of their journeys to become lay preachers. Te Rito stressed that lay ministry is not only preaching; being lay people can make us more accessible and so enable us to minister to the community and to a range of cultures.

TeRito guided a discussion about training and ongoing support for lay preachers. The two presbyters present were acknowledged for attending the workshop and demonstrating their commitment and support for lay preachers.

Attendees expressed concern that there is not one set process to equip people to become lay preachers and that the training, support and ongoing supervision is inconsistent. Lay people will become more important in the church’s outreach: for example, providing a ministry to retirement villages, many of which do not have a chaplain or a defined worship centre. TeRito highlighted the importance of our young people seeing themselves in role models and encouraged those ministering to youth to access materials that depict their reality.

The next gathering on 2 December at St John’s College. will be a workshop led by Andrew Gamman, entitled “Rethinking Preaching”. For more information, contact Linda Hall. Email: lindajeanhall00@gmail.com