WOODLAND HILLS, Calif.--Church leaders want to activate their lay ministries and "widen" the church, according to ELCA News Service.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will conduct a study of present policies and guidelines related to authorized lay ministry in the 65 synods of the church.
The present policy allows a bishop to appoint a lay person to preach, preside at communion and provide other ministry services to a congregation in the absence of an ordained pastor.
Some 70 trained lay ministers work within the Indiana-Kentucky synod alone. Their bishop, the Rev. James R. Stuck, said the church as a whole should oversee lay ministry.
Another bishop, the Rev. Steven L. Ullestead, of the Northeastern Iowa Synod, called for a churchwide policy.
Such a policy would include four requirements, according to the Rev. Robert D. Hofstad of the Southwestern Washington Synod.
Those are: coommunity discernment to determine who is most trusted to lead in administering sacraments; pastoral and episcopal supervision, training, mentoring and continuing education; public recognition of the person trusted to lead the community; and individual responsibility and accountability to "God in Christ," the worshiping community, local pastors and bishops, the wider church and to the person who is called to lay ministry.
