Introduction
I have been a Reader in the Church of England since 1979 and continued in active ministry until 2023. My wife has been a Reader since 1994 and is still active. A few years ago our diocese decided that, while we are all admitted to the office of Reader, the title “Licensed Lay Minister” should be used. Since we are both too old to be licensed we normally just call ourselves lay ministers (“retired” in my case).
We still worship in the church we started attending after we married over 51 years ago. The building is Norman although, like many others, it was extensively refurbished by the Victorians. Two extensions were built in the 1970s and 1980s to provide a hall, meeting rooms, kitchen and toilets. These are well-used during the week by both church and community groups.
We used to have eleven services in our church every week, not counting baptisms, weddings and funerals, but this stopped during the Covid lockdowns. We currently have services on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. On two Sundays a month we have a communion service at 8 am. There is always a service at 10:30 on Sunday mornings. Apart from the first Sunday of each month and on festivals, we hold two services, one a traditional service of either Holy Communion or Morning Prayer and the other “Sunday Special” which is designed for for young families. The traditional service on Sunday mornings is recorded and shown on YouTube later.