New Voices Proclaiming the Good News: Lay Preachers in the Diocese of Alabama

BY THE REV. CN. KELLEY HUDLOW, CANON FOR VOCATIONS AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

On Sunday mornings, Episcopalians come to church for worship expecting to be greeted by clergy in albs and stoles that will lead them with singing, prayers, and preaching. But for some of our churches, worship on Sunday mornings is led by lay people. These lay leaders lead the daily office but often rely on sermons from other churches or the internet to provide commentary on the day’s readings. While these sermons fill the gap, they are not the same as a sermon prepared specifically for that community on that day.

In the Episcopal Church, we use the words sermon and homily interchangeably, though the Book of Common Prayer uses the term “sermon” more frequently. The word sermon comes from the Latin sermo meaning “speech” or “conversation.” It has deeper roots in the Latin word serere, meaning “to link together.” So sermons are expected to link together Scripture, the experience of the community, theology, and human reason.

When lay people lead worship using sermons from other churches, the sermon is missing the vital link to the experience of the community. While our expectation in the Episcopal Church is that preaching is an activity of the clergy, our church has a long tradition of lay people preaching. Preaching is one of the seven licensed ministries for lay people recognized in the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church. In our Diocese, the use of lay preachers began in the 1880s when the bishop gave certain lay people the “power to exhort” in worship, meaning the authority to preach. These lay preachers served in smaller congregations, especially in the Black Belt, though Christ Church Mobile used lay preachers as well.

All of these considerations led to the creation of a new Lay Preaching class. Beginning in 2023, nine lay people from across the diocese gathered in person and online to study preaching and leading worship. Over a period of four months they studied biblical exegesis, storytelling, sermon forms, and oral presentation. Students were assigned to preach within the class and in their home churches. As part of this course, students receive feedback from their peers and clergy and take part in individual coaching sessions. Upon successful completion of the course, the students will be considered by the bishop for licensing as lay preachers.

This program hopes to equip lay people to preach so that their congregations can experience sermons that connect Scripture and theology with the life of the congregation. These lay preachers will fill a vital need in their communities without regular clergy and can also add a new preaching perspective in congregations with clergy.

If you are interested in learning more about the Lay Preaching program, including upcoming cohorts and requirements for licensing, please get in touch with the Rev. Cn. Kelley Hudlow (khudlow@dioala.org).