Lay Readers

Readers are lay people in the Church of England, from all walks of life, who are called by God, theologically trained and licensed by the Church to preach, teach, lead worship and assist in pastoral, evangelistic and liturgical work.

The office of Reader is the only lay ministry in the Church of England which is voluntary, nationally accredited, Episcopally licensed and governed by canon. There are now over 10,000 Readers, with men and women represented almost equally.

Joan Lewis, our Lay Reader

Historical Note

The office of a reader or lector was first mentioned as one of the minor orders in the third century CE/AD. Although discontinued in Anglican practice at the time of the Reformation, the Office of Lay Reader was revived in its present form in 1866 by C.J. Elliott, Bishop of Gloucester. Since then the numbers of Lay Readers has increased throughout the Anglican Communion.

Lay Readers have been involved in this diocese for the past century but their involvement has not been clearly described. The Synod journal for 1901 listed one of the Bishop's duties that year was to "set apart" Lay Readers at Napanee, Gananoque, Glen Millar, and St. Lawrence. This entry appears to be the first reference to Lay Readers. The next reference to Lay Readers described the "setting apart" by the Bishop on October 31, 1904 of William Richard Ormrod as "Lay Reader at Burritt's Rapids". The Trinity College report at Synod for 1907 included in a list of students, who were "Lay Readers and Missionaries during the summer vacation", two men for our diocese namely A.H. McGreer at Tamworth and Geo. E. Simmons at Marmora. An old book in the Parish of Kemptville listed inside the cover "E.A. Harrington, J.P. Clarke, H.N. MacPherson and E.H.. Ritchie, Lay Readers, A.D. 1905-1908". These appear to be some of the first references to Lay Readers in the Diocese of Ontario.

Since then the numbers of individuals has grown over the last sixty years from 12 to over 200. . Individual names and parishes are printed in Synod Journals continuously from 1940 to 1991 but not before or since. Reports of the Lay Readers' Association to Synod appear less consistently but an Association executive was mentioned in 1937.

Lay Readers have been an important part of the churches' ministry in this Diocese for a long time. Many diocesan clergy have acted as Warden or Deputy Warden for the Lay Readers and not a few Lay Readers have gone on to ordination as Deacons and Priests. Individuals have also contributed greatly to their own parishes worship and general well being. There is a proud heritage for us to follow.