lay members
Unordained church participants
Lay members are participants in an organization who lack professional credentials or official status in that field.
The term appears most often in religious contexts, where lay members are congregants who aren't ordained clergy: Lay members served communion alongside the pastor.
It extends to any body where nonprofessionals participate: The medical board includes two lay members to represent patient perspectives.
- parishionersMembers of local congregation
- congregantsMembers attending religious services
- worshippersThose who revere religiously
- catechistsTeachers of Christian doctrine
- churchgoersRegular worship attendees
participants · volunteers · unordained · stakeholders · elders · laypeople · attendees · trustees · observers · advisors · representatives · rank and file · stewards · supporters · delegates · citizens · voters · disciples
- Methodist polityannual conference, bishop, episcopacy, itinerancy, district superintendent
lay membersclergy
Ordained religious officials collectively
ordained ministers · priests · ministers · clerics · religious leaders
lay membersprofessionals
Skilled, paid practitioners
experts · specialists · technical experts · practitioners · subject matter experts
lay, member, members, laying, lays, layman, laymen, laywoman, laywomen