Lay Preaching Training 2024

Are you a lay person who has wondered about a call to preach? ECMN is offering a year-long preaching formation program in partnership with the Episcopal Preaching Foundation (EPF). 

Minnesota was blessed to be chosen to be part of EPF’s pilot program for a lay preacher training from 2022-2023. Six students participated in the two-year program and all were commissioned and licensed to preach in their local contexts. Jen Drganc, now a licensed lay preacher at St. John’s, Mankato, said this about the program: “There is a lot of inward reflection in preaching the Good News. Way more than I anticipated. I had thought it would be more of a book report than a spiritual awakening. When I learned to let go of the sermon and trusted that the Holy Spirit would step in, that made preaching a lot easier. I learned you can’t really mess it up because the Spirit has a way of taking you and your sermon where you need to go for the congregation.”

EPF retooled the program to be one year long and Minnesota will again be participating, along with over twenty dioceses across the Episcopal Church. Gatherings will predominantly be held via Zoom, with some occasional in-person meetings. We are looking for lay people who are willing and eager to commit to this rigorous curriculum and to participate fully in prayer, classes, reading, study, research, and sermon crafting/delivery over the course of one year. See this syllabus for more details of the learning objectives and activities. 

Why do we need lay preachers in the Church? “The whole point is: yes, the church staffing is changing and changing rapidly, and yes, we’re going to need new lay preachers to step up and to help us with that transition,” said the Rev. Dr. Stephen Smith, a semi-retired Southern Ohio priest who directed the lay preacher training pilot program.

“But to say that’s the primary or only reason why we’re training lay preachers is to handicap the program,” Smith added. “It’s more than that. It’s much more than that. It’s about the full proclamation of the gospel by every order.”

Drganc summed it up, “The lay preaching program helped me look at the Bible for the first time, in a new way. It has helped me grow into a better, dare I say, Christian . . . a better Jesus follower.”

If you are interested in being considered for the program, please fill out the application form and talk to your local Priest or Senior Warden to ask for their required support.

There is no charge for tuition but there will be some expense to purchase required books. The course will be taught by the Rev. William Heisley and Canon Karen Olson.  If you have questions, please contact Karen at karen.o@episcopalmn.org or 612-870-3312.