Home page About our Church Official web pages Make your web site Getting more help About this web site Church Words   ABCDE   FGHIJ   KLMNO   PQRST   UVWXYZ Staying in touch Site map		K L LAY Also "Laity". Opposite of "Clergy." This word means "not ordained". A lay person, or layman, is one who is not a priest or deacon. A lay society is one whose members do not take holy orders. M N NATIONAL CHURCH Technically a National Church is a Province, but in the Anglican church the word "Province" has a meaning that is both unusual and ambiguous. The Anglican Communion consists of about 40 Autonomous Churches, most of which are associated with a particular country. In conversation that requires one to speak about this concept, most people use the phrase "national church" to describe an independent (autonomous) member of the Anglican Communion. Many national churches are subdivided into provinces, but those provinces are not autonomous (they are part of, and governed by, a national church). Some national churches are not divided into provinces, with the result that the church in its entirety is often referred to as a province. O ORDAIN, ORDINATION To "ordain" a person means to have that person participate in a special ceremony in which someone with the correct authority gives them new status. The ordination must follow the requirements set down in the church canons. In our church, the ceremony in which a person is ordained is called an "ordination," and it is performed by a bishop, by prayer for the Holy Spirit and by the laying of hands upon the candidate. Until a person is ordained, that person is called "lay," or a member of the "laity".