Laymanship

Extract

The following sketch on the role of the laity (a) in the Church (b) in the world is the result of study by a group of laymen. During the course of the study four questions arose: (1) what is the meaning of ‘laity’? (2) what is the place of the laity in the Church? (3) what is the meaning of Ministry? (4) what is the ministry of the laity? In seeking to formulate a lay self-consciousness, especially vis-à-vis the Ministry, we answered these questions as summarised here and came to the general conclusion that laity and ministry are correlative and polar forces in the life of the whole people of God. The laity is ministered to in the Church by the clergy, and then becomes the ministry to the world. Let us examine these four questions.

(a) I Peter 2.9 (‘But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people …’) affords the most pregnant description of the term laity. Admittedly there is a note of lyricism in the turn of phrase, yet the sense of what the laos is gains rather than loses thereby. The meaning is enriched if one approaches the sentence liturgically rather than homiletically. No doubt the laos is a ‘chosen race’ by election and covenant, a ‘royal priesthood’ through its mediatorial position, a ‘holy nation’ set among the nations of this sinful world (a meaty text indeed for any preacher!).