In the post-Christian era, deacons may provide an effective connection to a society largely indifferent to the gospel.
Category: Blog
Rosalind Brown is always a welcome guest at any deacons' gathering, not least this blog. This paper of hers is part of the collection now published in the book 'The Diaconate in Ecumenical Perspective' (please note that the discount is no longer available) Rosalind Brown: The Deacon in Worship. International Ecumenical Conference on the Diaconate, … Continue reading ROSALIND BROWN: THE DEACON IN WORSHIP. A ministry of hospitality
it is the Church of England who have thrown the weight of their support, encouragement and blessing behind me. And that feels like it just might be a gift from God even if it wasn’t expected or imagined.
I have found that the more this work is visible, hearts are changed and more people want to join in with diaconal ministry. Encouraging and enabling others in their diakonia is simply wonderful.
A reader's PRIMARY job is to teach and preach and build people up in their faith - a very necessary and vital role. A deacon's PRIMARY focus is to look and reach outwards from the church, working with those on the margins and identifying and meeting needs in the community. If we look at the primary focus of each ministry, I think it becomes clearer.
For years now we have been trying to get distinctive deacons added into the Church of England clergy stats, as a distinct unit, instead of being included in the general clergy stats. This would really help to see how the diaconate is doing across the country, and would give us some objective data. I'm in … Continue reading ADDING DISTINCTIVE DEACONS SEPARATELY TO CofE STATISTICS
A reminder of our next national deacons’ conference! It will be on 16 May 2020 at the same venue as last year, the Frances Young Centre at Queen’s Foundation, Birmingham. Put the date in your 2020 diaries now and ringfence it! Accommodation will be available on site at a very reasonable cost. If you're eligible, … Continue reading NEXT DEACONS’ NATIONAL CONFERENCE! (and what to do until then)
St Ephrem is a great spiritual ancestor for deacons! Enjoy this post, which I found on the Patheos blog by Frank Weathers. I came upon these lines while researching St. Ephrem the Syrian, the Deacon, and Doctor of the Church. As it turns out, St. Ephrem wrote almost all of his homilies in verse or … Continue reading “On Reproof,” A Poem By St. Ephrem of Syria, Deacon
There are liturgical resources for deacons here on the Association for Episcopal Deacons website. They include a template for Celebration of a Deacon’s New Ministry, Diocese of Olympia, which might be useful to plunder when thinking about a liturgy for your own ministry. (There's also a template for a liturgy for the end of a deacon's … Continue reading LITURGICAL RESOURCES FOR DEACONS
Deacon Michael Turnbull (Chichester) has kindly shared this Sermon preached by Bishop Martin Warner at the Ordinations of deacons in Chichester Cathedral on Saturday 29 June 2019. ordinationdeacons2019Download
CofE Network of Distinctive Deacons 