Perhaps inclusion today requires reclaiming that vocation — to be keepers of the threshold, not its guards. To open the doors wider, yes, but also to honour the courage of those who cross them.
Category: Article
James remained in Northumbria, living mainly at a village near Catterick (now in North Yorkshire) and took an active part in the preaching of the gospel and baptising throughout the region. James represented Christianity in the face of hostility from Penda of Mercia, ensuring the survival of Roman Christianity in the region. Preaching the gospel under a pagan ruler was a risky occupation, and James was often in danger of his own life.
“We need heralds of the Gospel who are experts in humanity, who know the depths of the human heart, who can share the joys, the hopes, the agonies, the distress of people today, but who are, at the same time, contemplatives who have fallen in love with God.”
Pope John Paul II
However, we are aware that when the groups worked well, they also acted as a channel of communication with the Steering Group, feeding back current issues and concerns DDs were experiencing. We don’t want to lose this. Any DD, DD ordinand or Enquirer is therefore encouraged to keep in communication with the Steering Group via the CENDD social media channels and email. We need to hear what is working well for you as well as the issues and challenges you face, so that common themes can be identified and we know what needs to be addressed.
The beauty of this Guild is that it's very simple to set up. It also means that our older members are not just 'receivers' from church members, but also 'givers', able to provide much-needed intercession. The Guild gives them an identity and a purpose, and is connected to the life of the whole parish.
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.
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.
Deacons are sent as ambassadors to shine the light of Christ in places which risk being plunged into darkness. The sheer scale of today’s port makes the calling to ‘reach into the forgotten corners of the world, that the love of God may be made visible’ even more important. As seafarers are often “out of sight, out of mind”, it is the role of the port chaplain to go into those invisible corners of the world, to thank seafarers for what they do, and to remind them that they are loved by God, to know that they are not alone or forgotten.
What might the diaconate contribute to the contemporary discussion of church unity? Firstly, it might draw inspiration from the young deacon Athanasius, who, with Arius, is one of the two protagonists in the Nicene Creed story.
The example of Stephen reminds us that service and proclamation were never intended to be understood apart. Proclaiming Christ as servant is the very substance of an apostolic ministry, in which preaching and servant-hearted ministry are fully integrated by word and action.
CofE Network of Distinctive Deacons 