PHILIP TOVEY, Principal of the Oxford Local Ministry Scheme, has found “exciting possibilities” for Readers after examining the rubrics and directions in Common Worship, the canons, and the Bishops’ Regula­tions. He reports back in a booklet, The Liturgical Ministry of a Reader (Grove Books, W230, £3.95; 978-1-78827-000-7). He considers the preaching of the Word (including catechesis and such things as evening classes in NT Greek); reading morning and evening prayer (and Services of the Word); funerals (a ministry “increasingly valued”); distributing communion and ministry to the sick; thanksgiving (after the birth of a child, after marriage, and affirmation of baptismal faith), emergency baptism, and communion by extension.