At the moment we are sharing stories of deacons in their context. These might be stories of encounters or short reflections on what they experienced as God uses them in their ministry. Our second story is by Deborah Maureen Baker (Debbie), a mental health staff nurse, NHS chaplain Licensed Durham Diocese, and parish deacon in the diocese of Newcastle Diocese.
My journey into the Diaconate was a long one: from being part of a church outside of the Church of England until I married my husband at 23 years old, to feeling called to do something special for Godin 1998, but not quite sure what. Yet, its earliest roots were as a child when I prayed with my mother and father especially at bedtime. I felt called by God to be a nurse when reading about Florence Nightingale’s life as the ‘Lady of the Lamp’ who came to the young men of war in their mental and physical anguish suffered from the effects of the Crimean War.
So, 35 years ago when we still felt the impact of old Asylum, at 19 years old, I entered Psychiatric Nursing which I saw as a christian vocation that God had called me into.
Last year, I finally laid down my part time NHS Mental Health Nursing employment after 35 years as the NHS Mental Health Chaplaincy post I had held since 2020 (licensed by the Diocese of Durham) kept expanding.
God has constantly surprised me in the directions he has led me. He has called me to trust and obey, to believe in His power working in my weakness and to believe, like the Apostle Paul, that His grace is sufficient which sometimes is not based on a human understanding of wages or fairness.
In July 2016 I was ordained in Newcastle Diocese, having been recommended by the National Bishops Advisory Panel for ordination to the priesthood. Yet in that first year as a Deacon, being a presence on the local streets and various social buildings of a working-class community in Newcastle, I realised that the focus of my ministry was missional, pastoral, and very much diaconal. So, I returned to the then Bishop of Newcastle to ask her to delay my ordination to the Priesthood.
Around this time, I was told of a National Group of permanent/distinctive deacons that has helped to sustain me in times where most people within and without the Church of England did not understand this calling. However, I never felt then that this would mean leaving my Mental Health Nurse vocation but instead doing this self-supporting in a Parish whilst continuing to work a Nurse part-time job. I never thought, right up to 3.5 years ago, I would work in Mental Health as a Chaplain rather than a Nurse.
Then God spoke to a longstanding Christian Chaplain friend of mine who emailed me a small job offer which started as just 7.5hours a week as a NHS Mental Health Chaplain in a neighbour NHS Mental Health Trust whilst I was still working as a Mental Health Pool Nurse at the early stages of the Pandemic.
My Mental Health Chaplaincy Post kept expanding and growing in 2020 and 2021 to reach not only those within Hospital settings but also those in the Community that agreed to the referral of a Chaplain to come into their homes in their darkest hours. It has felt like God has called me to help my fellow NHS Staff and service users in a different role. Each of us is equally valuable and loved by a merciful God who gives His love freely to those who cry out to Him.
Both in Community Chaplaincy work and in Hospital Chaplaincy work, I felt God’s presence sustaining both myself and those I minister to in Jesus’ name in our own dark hours and struggles. We are all in it together, staff and service users, contributing in relationship to each other in strength and in weakness.
In the field of Mental Health and Spiritual Care I am involved with people dealing with past or present cruelty, injustice, abuse, suicides and bereavement, isolation and loneliness. I sit and listen, talk, give some permission to shout in frustration or anger, or to cry and express a range of feelings. While this authenticity takes courage for them and me, it is an honour to be a caring part of their lives on behalf of God.
As a Christian minister, acknowledging when we don’t have clear, easy answers doesn’t take away the feelings or trauma in a diaconal role. Whether in Chaplaincy or Parish work, I keep being called back to be alongside and step in the gaps. To be the hands, feet, and heart of Godin those dark places through God’s strength. That has been the evidence for me and others of His presence through it all.
I have up to five Community Patients that I see over a six month period, usually referred to by a range of Mental Health Professionals with service user’s full agreement. I also do visits across two Hospital sites: the Wards and Staff area, Community Team Offices, encounters across the corridors and hospital reception areas and then once a month do weekend Hospital Chapel Services across two hospital sites. Finally, I offer monthly visits to generally chat and support people within a Community Drug and Rehabilitation Unit for the NHS Trust. This is tough work, but God strengthens me to do it, giving me the passion to say and show His presence, love and mercy even and especially in those places. So here I am today – fighting the good fight of faith till He calls me home.
CofE Network of Distinctive Deacons 