Not every call points toward ordination.
Lay Servant Ministries: training the church already trusts, that you can start this year.
Ordination gets most of the attention, but it isn't the only way to lead. Lay Servant Ministries certifies laypeople — while they keep their jobs, their homes, their lives — to lead worship, preach, care for a congregation, and start new ones. For many people this is where a real call finds its finish; for others it's a season on the way to something else. Both are whole.
Paragraph references (¶) are to the 2020/2024 Book of Discipline, Section XI, Lay Servant Ministries. Your own district and conference Committee on Lay Servant Ministries set the schedule and local requirements.
The oldest Methodist pattern is a lay one.
Long before a pastor was appointed to most Methodist societies, a class leader — a layperson — was already leading the group in prayer, accountability, and care. The Discipline still carries that pattern forward: a certified lay minister can develop a new faith community or lead outreach ministry (¶268) without the cost, timeline, or itinerancy that ordination requires. For a small or new community, that difference in cost is not a footnote — it can be the difference between a ministry that starts and one that waits for funding that may never come.
- Where every lay leader begins
Certified lay servant
The entry certification: trained to lead, care for, and speak within your own church and community.
- You are a professing member (or baptized participant of a recognized UM ministry setting) who wants to serve — no prior credential needed to start.
- You complete the Basic Course: Ministry of the Baptized, Leading, Caring, Communicating, and Into the World.
- Certification is renewed by an advanced course roughly every three years, so the training keeps growing with you.
What it takes- Complete the Basic Course, offered by your district or conference Committee on Lay Servant Ministries.
- Recommendation from your pastor and charge conference.
Who to talk to: Your pastor and your conference's director of Lay Servant Ministries.
- Pulpit supply
Certified lay speaker
Built on the lay servant certification: authorized to preach when a pastor, DS, or committee requests it.
- You've already served as a certified lay servant and completed a track of study on leading worship, preaching, and United Methodist heritage and polity.
- You interview with your district committee on Lay Servant Ministries for recommendation to the conference committee.
- This is the certification behind most "pulpit supply" in a district — filling a pulpit when a church has no pastor available.
What it takes- Certified lay servant status.
- Recommendation from your pastor and church council or charge conference.
- Completed track of study; interview with the district committee.
Who to talk to: Your district committee on Lay Servant Ministries.
- A lay path that may be the whole calling
Certified lay minister (CLM)
The fullest lay certification: assigned by a district superintendent to provide ongoing congregational leadership.
- A CLM is called and equipped to conduct public worship, care for the congregation, assist in program leadership, develop new and existing faith communities, and preach the Word — without seeking ordination.
- The Discipline explicitly names developing new faith communities and community outreach ministries as CLM work — the same early-Methodist pattern of a lay-led class meeting or society before a pastor was ever appointed.
- A CLM is not a clergy member, is not itinerant, and is not part of the pension and compensation structure that supports elders and deacons — which is part of why this can be the right shape for planting or sustaining a small or new community.
What it takes- Certified lay servant status, with training and examination by your district committee.
- Assignment by your district superintendent to a specific ministry setting.
Who to talk to: Your district superintendent, once your district committee has certified you.
You don't need to know which of these three you're aiming for before you start — most people only decide that after the Basic Course. The honest first step is the same one it always is: tell your pastor you're wondering.