A reflection from Rachel Fielding, our Facebook moderator and member of the steering group: ‘We are not alone, we live in God’s world’ said the opening letter of the 2023 Methodist Convocation week booklet – a good start welcoming all present. The theme for the convocation this year was God for All’, highlighting the change … Continue reading A reflection on the Methodist Convocation
Category: Blog
In January, distinctive Deacons Chris Saccali (Athens) and Jonathan Halliwell (St John & St Philip, the Hague, Netherlands) (picture above) were invited by DDO for the Diocese in Europe, Canon William Gulliford, to speak to a group of enquirers. Chris and Jonathan both trained on the Eastern Region Ministry Course (Cambridge). Chris spoke very engagingly about … Continue reading Deacons in the Diocese of Europe
The booking for our annual conference on the 21st October is now open! This conference is a unique opportunity for Distinctive Deacons in the UK and beyond, many of whom work in isolation, to come together for fellowship, teaching and encouragement in the rich vocation to which they have been called. Deacons, deacon ordinands, deacon … Continue reading DEACONS: NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2023 “BREAKING NEW GROUND”
I have now formally stepped down as Chair of CENDD, and have handed over to Deacon Gill Newman, in whom I have the utmost confidence that she will lead the Network forward under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I have been so grateful for all those who have worked alongside me, prayed with me, shared their wisdom and contributed to the steering group over the past six years. I am amazed and grateful at the way ~God has brought forward new deacons to take over and develop roles in the national steering group.
Christ is risen from the dead, the first-fruits of those who slept!
In the middle of the world, in the centre
Of the polluted heart of man, a midden;
A stake stemmed in the rubbish
Who would know Sin, let him repair
Unto Mount Olivet; there shall he see
A man, so wrung with pains, that all his hair,
His skin, his garments, bloody be.
Just after Easter, I realised that I needed to go to a foodbank. I didn’t want to but had to.
While I was there, I was given a voucher to come to the café that’s attached to the Church. I didn’t come with any intention of joining the Church. When I was having my meal, I asked the person who was there what sort of church it was. I told him I have beliefs but wasn’t sure in what. He said that, as Christians, we believe in Jesus. Something just clicked.
“I came to the food bank, I still had my car and I was well dressed. As I entered the building I overheard people say – “what is she doing here?” That’s why it is so important to me that people don’t judge a book by its cover. We never know what is going on in someone’s life, behind closed doors.”
I recognised myself moving from orphan to son. People don’t think that they are worth something, worth anything. You can encounter poverty in so many places.
CofE Network of Distinctive Deacons 