Deacon Corinne Smith, deanery deacon based at the benefice of The Good Shepherd, Lake & St Saviour on the Cliff, Shanklin (Isle of Wight and diocese of Portsmouth) has been very involved in the creation of a dementia-friendly tranquillity garden at the church of the Good Shepherd. She writes The thinking behind it was that … Continue reading DEMENTIA-FRIENDLY GARDEN by Deacon Corinne Smith
Category: Blog
What an excellent title for a conference! All welcome. Book now!
In the post-Christian era, deacons may provide an effective connection to a society largely indifferent to the gospel.
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
CofE Network of Distinctive Deacons 