Crafting a mission action plan rooted in this vision commences with two fundamental questions: 'Who among us is the most vulnerable in our community?' and 'In what ways can we wholeheartedly respond with love?' This missional stance redirects our focus to those who are often overlooked and pushed to the margins, elevating them to the forefront of the church's mission.
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.
Deacons, the servants and agents of love, are called to live within communities: a community of faith (a church) and a local community. They are tasked with serving this local church and should be contextual missional realists who can bring the needs and hopes of all people to the covenant community.
My diaconal calling is rooted in the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus, offering a compelling gospel narrative that stands as an alternative to the prevailing forces of dominance – a narrative shaped by the example of Jesus himself, one that provides an antidote to the excesses of unchecked capitalism, consumerism, and individualism.
The emissary of King Jesus can often be found kneeling at a kerbside, extending compassion to those desperate for solace, or delivering a message of hope to weary souls behind prison walls. This humble servant whispers the name of Jesus to those submerged in deep trauma, their wrists bearing the scars of profound emotional anguish. It is also spoken reverently at the graveside of those who have tragically taken their own lives.
Ash Wednesday stops us in our tracks. No excuses, no distractions—just the blunt truth: Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. It is not a threat. It is a calling. A call to step away from all that numbs us and return to the One who made us, the One who loves us.
My time at St Martin's gave me a chance to see, touch and inhabit the heartfelt words that God silently and gently places in my heart.
Beginning here we glimpse the Three-in-One; The river runs, the clouds are torn apart, The Father speaks, the Spirit and the Son Reveal to us the single loving heart That beats behind the being of all things And calls and keeps and kindles us to light.
It might have been just someone else’s story, Some chosen people get a special king. We leave them to their own peculiar glory, We don’t belong, it doesn’t mean a thing.
How will we know when we have enough deacons?
When the floor is knee-deep
in discarded wrapping paper
and the new books are open at page one
and the new toys are already broken,
behold, I stand at the door and knock.
CofE Network of Distinctive Deacons 