Apply for a Licence or Authority

ANGLICAN CHURCH DIOCESE OF SYDNEY



This form is intended for anyone who needs to apply for a general licence (clergy) or an authority (lay) for ministry within the Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney.

General Licences
A general licence can be issued for ordained clergy:
  • at their retirement, or 
  • for a period between other licensed positions to cover ad hoc ministry such as preaching or performing marriages, or
  • for a ministry position in an Anglican organisation or school.


Lay Authorities

Listed below are the categories of Lay Authorities given by the Archbishop:

  • Lay Minister (position on staff in a Parish or organisation which is part of a ministry team, including ministry apprentices), 
  • Lay Assistant (assists the Rector with regular preaching/leading services/pastoral duties in a parish but is not considered to be on staff), 
  • Student Minister (main occupation is studying at a theological college, but has a ministry placement as part of their study), 
  • School Chaplain (in an Anglican school) or 
  • School Chaplain – Assistant (in an Anglican school).

Please note: The position you hold in your Parish or organisation may be called something different from the category above that you may be applying for, eg. a position of Youth Pastor in a Parish or an Anglican University Chaplain would both come under the Lay Minister category.


Some changes have been made recently to the lay authorisation process as a result of a review by the Archbishop. Please select the box to see more details regarding these changes and whether they affect you and your application before you begin completing the form.
Lay Assistants
Please note the changes below as part of the Archbishop's review of the lay authorisation process:
  • A Lay Assistant authority will only be required if the lay person does any of the following ministries:
    • Conduct funerals;
    • Administer baptisms;
    • Deliver sermons on a regular* basis.
  • A Lay Assistant authority will not be required if the lay person only:
    • Performs pastoral duties;
    • Conducts services.
While it will not be required for the lay person to hold a Lay Assistant authority to exercise just these two ministries, if you still wish to be authorised as a Lay Assistant with the ministries of conducting services and performing pastoral duties you are welcome to submit an application in consultation with your Rector.

Lay Ministers and Student Ministers
Please note the changes below as part of the Archbishop's review of the lay authorisation process. All lay ministers are still required to be authorised, but the ministry components to be included on the authority may have changed. Lay ministers may now be authorised to undertake, at the request of the minister, the following ministry components:

  • Two ministry components only:
    • Perform pastoral duties;
    • Conduct services. Or,
  • Five ministry components:
    • Perform pastoral duties;
    • Conduct services;
    • Conduct funerals;
    • Administer baptisms;
    • Deliver sermons on a regular* basis.

This change reflects more closely the way ministry components are grouped in the Authorisation of Lay Ministry Ordinance 2015. Please note that in accordance with this Ordinance, even if a person is authorised with all five ministry components, the situations in which these actually occur in your parish are at the request of the Rector in each case.

*PLEASE NOTE: “regular” in the context of delivering sermons is taken to mean preaching four or more times per year (i.e. once a term). If a person preaches irregularly (i.e. less than once a term), their authority does not need to include this ministry component to do this, and whether or not they preach is at the Rector's discretion.

If you have any questions regarding this form please comment in the Comments section at the end of the form or send a separate email to registryforms@sydney.anglican.asn.au and we will respond to you. 

Note to Safari browser users: There have been a few instances where applicants using the Safari browser have not been able to submit this form. Before you start entering details please consider a different browser, eg. Bing, Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Firefox etc. If you are still having issues with submitting the form please contact Registry staff at registryforms@sydney.anglican.asn.au.
Personal details









Contact details





















Please leave blank if you do not wish to provide a personal email.

Please leave blank if you do not wish to provide a work email.

Please leave blank if you do not wish to provide an alternate email.
Working With Children Check

To be licensed or authorised you must hold a valid NSW Working With Children Check. If you are applying for a licence or authority for a paid position, your Working with Children Check number should end in an E. If you do not have a valid number, please apply through the NSW Office of the Children's Guardian website. If you have applied but do not yet have a number, please provide your application number where indicated.


Please visit the NSW Office of the Children's Guardian website
to apply for a NSW Working With Children Check.
Safe Ministry Training

To be licensed or authorised you may be required to have completed Safe Ministry Training in the Diocese of Sydney. If you have a current certificate for Safe Ministry Training completed in another denomination or another diocese, please check here to see if your training will be accepted. Please refer to the Safe Ministry Training website for more details.





All Clergy and Lay Ministers are required to complete Safe Ministry Training before their licence or authority application can be considered. Please visit the Safe Ministry Training website to register for online or face-to-face training.

Lay Assistants are encouraged to complete Safe Ministry Training, though it is not a requirement for that position in accordance with the Safe Ministry to Children 2020 ordinance. 
Additional details

Baptism and Confirmation

To be authorised you need to have made an adult statement of faith, eg. adult baptism or confirmation.

Please complete the following questions. If you are unclear on how to answer these questions please let us know in the comments box. 



Tertiary Education

Please provide details of qualifications below, giving abbreviations where possible. 

Indicate qualification(s), graduating year(s) and institution(s).

Indicate course(s), graduating year(s), institution(s) and if incomplete, the years completed so far, eg. BD Moore College, first year.
Position Details











Listed below are the categories of Lay Authorities given by the Archbishop.

  • Lay Minister (position on staff in a Parish or organisation which is part of a ministry team, including ministry apprentices), 
  • Lay Assistant (assists the Rector with regular preaching/leading services/pastoral duties in a parish but is not considered to be on staff), 
  • Student Minister (main occupation is studying at a theological college, but has a ministry placement as part of their study), 
  • School Chaplain (in an Anglican school) or 
  • School Chaplain – Assistant (in an Anglican school).

Please note: The position you hold in your Parish or organisation may be called something different from the category above that you may be applying for, eg. a position of Youth Pastor in a Parish or an Anglican University Chaplain would both come under the Lay Minister category.





 

Please note the changes below as part of the Archbishop's review of the lay authorisation process. All lay ministers are still required to be authorised, but the ministry components to be included on the authority may have changed. Lay ministers may now be authorised to undertake, at the request of the minister, the following ministry components:

  • Two ministry components only:
    • Perform pastoral duties;
    • Conduct services. Or,
  • Five ministry components:
    • Perform pastoral duties;
    • Conduct services;
    • Conduct funerals;
    • Administer baptisms;
    • Deliver sermons on a regular* basis.

This change reflects more closely the way ministry components are grouped in the Authorisation of Lay Ministry Ordinance 2015. Please note that in accordance with this Ordinance, even if a person is authorised with all five ministry components, the situations in which these actually occur in your parish are at the request of the Rector in each case.

*PLEASE NOTE: “regular” in the context of delivering sermons is taken to mean preaching four or more times per year (i.e. once a term). If a person preaches irregularly (i.e. less than once a term), their authority does not need to include this ministry component to do this, and whether or not they preach is at the Rector's discretion.

Please note the changes below as part of the Archbishop's review of the lay authorisation process:
  • A Lay Assistant authority will only be required if the lay person does any of the following ministries:
    • Conduct funerals;
    • Administer baptisms;
    • Deliver sermons on a regular* basis.
  • A Lay Assistant authority will not be required if the lay person only:
    • Performs pastoral duties;
    • Conducts services.
While it will not be required for the lay person to hold a Lay Assistant authority to exercise just these two ministries, if you still wish to be authorised as a Lay Assistant with the ministries of conducting services and performing pastoral duties you are welcome to submit an application in consultation with your Rector.

*PLEASE NOTE: “regular” in the context of delivering sermons is taken to mean preaching four or more times per year (i.e. once a term). If a person preaches irregularly (i.e. less than once a term), they do not need to be authorised to do this, and whether they preach is at the Rector's discretion.

Permission to perform pastoral duties and to conduct services is given by default to all who satisfy all the requirements and are approved. If you also wish to apply for an authority to conduct funerals, administer baptisms or deliver sermons you need to have commenced some theological study.




Tertiary Education

Please provide details of qualifications below, giving abbreviations where possible.

Indicate qualification(s), graduating year(s) and institution(s).

Indicate course(s), graduating year(s), institution(s) and if incomplete, the years or subjects completed so far, eg. BD Moore College, First year.
Position/Licence Details







Statement of Personal Faith

Please read the Statement of Personal Faith and select the box to show that you agree to these statements. 

1. I believe and hold to the truth of the Christian faith as set forth in the Nicene Creed, as well as the Apostles' Creed as set out below – 

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, 
maker of heaven and earth; 
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord, 
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, 
born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, 
was crucified, dead, and buried. 

He descended into hell. 
The third day he rose again from the dead 
He ascended into heaven, 
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; 
from there he shall come to judge the living and the dead. 

I believe in the Holy Spirit; 
the holy catholic church; 
the communion of saints; 
the forgiveness of sins; 
the resurrection of the body, 
and the life everlasting.

2. In particular I believe – 

(a) that God's word written, the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct; 

(b) that there is only one way to be reconciled to God which is through his Son, Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and was raised for our justification; 

(c) that we are justified before God by faith only; and 

(d) that this faith produces obedience in accordance with God’s word, including sexual faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman, and abstinence in all other circumstances. 

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Comments

Please leave a comment below or email us at registryforms@sydney.anglican.asn.au if you have any questions or may be having any difficulties submitting this form. 

When you have completed all of your responses, please click the Review responses and Confirm button. You must then click the Confirm button on the following page to submit your application. 

After you submit this form on the next page, your application will be sent to the Registry. Please check that you have received a notification email within the next 15 minutes from registryforms@sydney.anglican.asn.au at the email you indicated would be your preferred email (please also check the junk folder). If you don't receive a notification, please let us know at that email address.

The Registry will then contact your Rector/Head of School/CEO of Organisation to give their support to your application. We will then check that all the requirements for your application have been completed, and if anything needs attention we will be in touch with you. Once it is ready to proceed, the Bishop for your local area will be asked for their approval on behalf of the Archbishop. When an authority has been approved, you will receive a copy by email and then a paper copy will be posted to you. 

Thank you.




If you need to add more than four files, there is another place to add files in the Comments and Extra Uploads section just towards the end of the form.



Please note that the combined size of files uploaded throughout the form must be under 25MB.

You can upload the relevant documents if you have not provided digital copies of these in the past. 

If you are unclear as to what to include, please let us know in the comments box at the bottom of the form. If you have more than one document to upload, please click add another file, or use the extra upload option towards the end of the form (please make sure that your combined uploaded files for the whole application do not exceed 25MB).

If you need to add more than four files, there is another place to add files in the Comments and Extra Uploads section just towards the end of the form.



Please note that the combined size of files uploaded throughout the form must be under 25MB.


and upload the relevant documents. If you are unclear as to what to include, please let us know in the comments box at the bottom of the form. If you have more than one document to upload, please click add another file, or use the extra upload option towards the end of the form (please make sure that your combined uploaded files for the whole application do not exceed 25MB).

Please note that the combined size of files uploaded throughout the form must be under 25MB.