By Rev Stewart Gibbs and Geoff Willis
Many people are familiar with the idea of Vicar – they wear a “dog-collar”, lead church services, drink a lot of tea! But perhaps people are less familiar with the idea of Lay Minister.
High Ongar Parish are blessed to have two wonderful Lay Ministers – Katherine Garner, who has worshipped in the parish for many years – and now Geoff Willis. Geoff was recently licensed as a Lay Minister in a special service in Chelmsford Cathedral.
Christians believe that we are all uniquely loved by God. And that he gives us abilities that we can choose to use for His service and to care for others. Many of us use these in our everyday lives, some of us exercise them in church. A few people are designated to use them in particular way that is defined publicly to lead the work of God in a specific place or parish. These are “ministers”, which includes Vicars and Lay ministers.
So what are the differences between them?
- Vicars often have overall responsibility for a church, Lay Ministers can have responsibility for certain areas of a church’s life.
- Vicars have the title “Rev.”, Lay ministers keep their own titles – “Mr”, “Mrs” etc.
- Vicars are often paid, Lay Ministers are often not paid!
- Both preach, teach, encourage people and proclaim the Good News of God.
Here Geoff Willis writes about his call to being a Lay Minister, why the recent service in the Cathedral, and his hopes and dreams for High Ongar Parish…
“My wife, Julie, and I came to High Ongar 18 months ago and have been fabulously welcomed by the congregation here and in Norton Mandeville. My call to lay ministry started way back in the early 2000’s, when, after many, many years of service leading and home group leading I felt I was being gently nudged towards formalising that work to serve God more fully within our then parish of Buckhurst Hill.
The Church of England’s journey into ministry is a tad complex occasionally but we started on the road and competed the first training, the ‘Course in Christian Studies’, back in 2011 but life and work and family took over our time and emotions for an elongated period until we felt a less than gentle nudge back onto the path and was accepted for LLM training in 2020…. just as Covid took hold. Three years later I was fortunate enough to have completed and passed that training but then, as God often does, another door was pushed ajar, and Julie and I looked into the possibility of Ordination ..which, in Stewarts language previously, would have made me a Rev, not a Mr…
Finally, we all agreed that this was not the path for us and I was licensed as a Lay Minister, by Bishop Lynne, in Chelmsford Cathedral in November 2024. It was a great service, where we were supported by our family, many friends who had been with us throughout the whole journey, and lots and lots of folk from High Ongar and Norton Mandeville; it truly was a spiritual moment for me and a ratification of God’s leading into this ministry.
Which brings us to now… and what the ministry and aspiration looks like in reality. God has gifted me, I believe, with an ability to help people in their worship and understanding of God, now, in this day and age and in our modern culture, in a relatively blunted and simple fashion where God is able to speak to people’s hearts, minds and souls whilst they seek His presence and look to live in the Kingdom of God in 21st Century Britain.
So that’s where I’ll focus my time and efforts in High Ongar, Marden Ash and Norton. I have a proper paid job as well and so my daily time is split as best suits the needs of both that job and my Ministry, but my heart time is weighed heavily towards bringing God’s Kingdom life to the availability of all who want it in and around High Ongar.. I truly hope that that’s any and every one who may read this or chat to someone who has.
God bless”
Parish of High Ongar 