Cathedral Lay Reader Art Pederson reviews the website of the Lay Readers of the Church of England

By Art Pederson. This site is of particular interest to Lay Readers and to Clergy who have Lay Readers in their congregations.  This website contains much of interest: reports and whole magazines can be downloaded in pdf format.

For example, I looked through the 'Winchester Report' -- Reader Ministry in the Diocese of Winchester: an analysis of Reader returns for the period 1999 – 2004 (with some historical data 1990 – 1998).  This report analyzes the deployment and usage of Readers in the Diocese of Winchester.  Another worthwhile item is the 2006 Address by Bishop Graham Dow (Bishop of Carlisle and Chair of the Central Readers’ Council).  These both make very interesting statistical reading. They detail the types of ministries, and who are typical Readers, such as ages and other involvement and commitment to the church.

If you click on the Reader Archives link towards the bottom of the list on the left column you will be able to download whole Reader Magazines. The Winter 2004 issue contains articles about how to Read the Bible and how to Preach from Scriptures. The magazine also contains book reviews. The latest edition is not available, but previous issues are.

I recommend this website as resource information for Lay Readers.  Reading through the reports it is possible to compile a list of published training material for Readers that could be a very beneficial source of better understanding our role as Lay Readers, especially as we consider the topic of evangelism this year.

Comments

[Art Pederson]

Thank you Tony...