certified lay speakers
leading, caring, communicating
These three words found in the lay speaking logo describe the ministry of Lay Speakers as the United Methodist Church engages the world of the twenty-first century. The Lay Speaking program prepares candidates for certification within the United Methodist Church to perform sermons and work as an advocate for Jesus Christ. Click here to read an excerpt from the 2004 Book of Discipline that describes the job of a lay speaker in more detail.
history
The office of lay speaker in The United Methodist Church, originally known as exhorter, has existed in the church almost since the beginning of Methodism. One of the earliest references to the exhorter, this precursor of the office of certified lay speaker, occurred in 1746. This was only two years after the first annual conference of Methodism which included Methodism's founder, John Wesley and other British Methodist pastors.
At the time, there were active hostilities toward Methodists in the region of Cornwall, England. This movement to exterminate Methodism from Cornwall resulted in a number of incidents that left meetings of Methodists without leaders and threatened their existence. It was the exhorters who held the Methodist Societies together.
Charles Wesley, a founder of the Methodist movement, noted that in this period he "conferred with several who have tasted the love of Christ, mostly under the preaching or prayers of our lay-helpers. How can anyone dare deny that they are sent of God? O that all who have the outward call, were as inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to preach!"
