A Commissioned Minister is given the Area Bishop's commission in order to give support and authority to a person whose ministry a PCC wishes to recognise as a substantial contribution within the ministerial team, working with the parish priest. It is expected that the appropriate gifts for the ministry will already have been discerned and that the incumbent or priest-in-charge will train and supervise the Commissioned Minister.
Commissioned Ministers have authority to exercise their ministry only in the parish to which they are commissioned.
The basic training model is apprenticeship to the parish priest, in conjunction with other training courses.
Commissioned Ministers may be given permission by the Area Bishop to distribute
the sacrament of Holy Communion in church or to the sick and housebound.
There are four other areas of ministry for which Commissioned Ministers are
usually given permission by the Area Bishop, as requested by the PCC:
Leading public worship
Leading services of communion by extension
Preaching
Taking funerals.
Commissioned Ministers may be given job titles reflecting the nature of their work, for example Pastoral Assistant, Lay Minister, Youth Worker.
Commissioned Ministers should have a biennial extra-parochial review of their ministry arranged by the Area Adviser for Ministry or Parish Ministry Development Adviser.
