And on the boundary between church and world, I am the person who is sent.
Author: GillK
Gill has been a missioner in Nigeria, Romania and various parishes in England. She was ordained a 'distinctive' deacon in 1991. In this capacity she was warden of the College of St Philip the Deacon in Exeter diocese, and founder member of the CofE Network of Distinctive Deacons https://cofedeacons.org. She has also written the story of her own call, Deacon by Design. https://www.waterstones.com/book/deacon-by-design/gill-kimber/9781910719794
She's passionate about the diaconate and, now retired, continues to support those who are called to this ministry.
in a world antithetical to people of faith, deacons have deep experience of negotiating the 'majority view' ie those who claim to have no religion.
Distinctive Deacons work in liminal spaces, making connections, building bridges, relationally pioneering initiatives. How can we develop the new opportunities God is giving us in this situation? Ann Morisy will suggest ways forward.
You will find us on the periphery In the land of the mapless unknown You will find us at the edges Where the wild things grow You will find us in the liminal space Where no one knows what to expect
Church leaders with a heart for justice can have a powerful impact on the attitudes of their members.
Your worth isn’t in this process, my discernment, someone else’s validation, a yes for a particular thing. Your worth is found in God alone.
We need to renew our faith and change our ideas about God, in order that God, so often depicted as a white, blue-eyed, European man stops being familiar.
As we find ourselves in wilderness, therefore, the deacon must encourage us to find the sacred in the secular as she sets the table for the Church in new ways. Envisioning what the Church would be, moreover, would not be possible without the ability to dream.
Deacon Gerrie has given permission for extracts from her correspondence with her bishop to be posted here. The paper she refers to is one circulated by Bishop Pete Wilcox (Sheffield). Gerrie responds: Some suggestions made in the paper are obviously beyond our control, particularly the issue of Stipends for Distinctive Deacons. Whilst I appreciate that … Continue reading RENEWING OUR DIACONATE: FROM A LETTER TO MY BISHOP by Deacon Gerrie Sturgeon
CofE Network of Distinctive Deacons 