Question

To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the Church is taking to support and empower lay leaders to take an active role in Church ministries and activities.

In 2017 the ‘Setting God’s People Free’ initiative was launched, which aims to empower and equip those called to lay leadership in the Church of England.

The original report of February 2017 for the General Synod is available here: https://www.churchofengland.org/about/renewal-reform/setting-gods-people-free

A 2019 update paper for the General Synod is available here: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2019-06/gs-2145-sgpf-update-to-gs-final-draft-3.6.19.pdf

In 2020 the Church of England’s Faith and Order Commission published ‘Kingdom Calling’, which examined past attempts to encourage more lay leadership, looking in turn at the vocation, ministry and discipleship of all God's people, and asking what kind of theological thinking and imagining might most help us to flourish together. The report affirms and celebrates the vital lay and ordained ministry roles that support the church in God's mission, and identifies changes in practice that can better foster the vocation, ministry and discipleship of the whole people of God.