Diakonos
More stories from Deacons about their work:
- Team Work
- Mission in Romania
- Homelessness in London
- Enabling Communities (HIV/AIDS)
- Prayer as Act
- A Bishop-Deacon Partnership
- Signs of Hope (Trust or Terror)
- Engaging with Community (Parish)
- Dance in Mental Health Care
- Go in Peace to Love and Serve the Lord
- Go back to the stories on Page 1
Team Work
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Mission in Romania
Letter from Romania, 2003: There's one thing you must know. If you go to Romania, Gill, don't tell them you are a deacon. The Orthodox church have been very hurt by the way the Anglicans now ordain women as priests, and for them to know you are a deacon will jeopardise your relationships before you begin.
"That shattered some of my illusions. I had assumed that, because I am not a priest, the Orthodox would find my ministry easier to accept. Being a deacon is very much a part of my identity. So it was particularly hard to be told that I must 'hide' my vocation when we arrived in Romania. How could God, who had called me so clearly, now apparently be so wanton as to backtrack on this calling? How could it be right to hide what he had given me? I went away to lick my wounds and to think and pray, and sure enough Jesus met me.
He reminded me that he himself had lived in obscurity. His own ministry, when it did begin, was a hidden one. Nobody knew who he was or why he was doing what he did – indeed, to begin with he forbade people to reveal his identity. Instead his sonship was gradually revealed by his words and his works, the wisdom of his teaching and the love flowing through his relationships.
I began to understand that he was not asking me to deny my vocation, but to live it out without recognition. In this way I would be given the privilege of sharing his servanthood – and maybe learning a thing or two about humility."
Gill Kimber - Deacon and Mission Partner in Romania. Member of DACE.
Editor's post-script:
In 2006, I had the privilege of visiting Gill and her husband Geoff in Alba Yulia, where they are based. Gill inspired my understanding of diaconate in the way she is unfolding a quiet effective ministry, not least alongside the women and young people there. They come to her for lessons in English and also to learn about faith. Gill's creative gifting enables her to employ many simple and effective visual activities to help language development and also to unfold new ways of understanding faith and its relevance in daily life. In post-communist Romania the opportunity to express personal thoughts about life and faith is a new and valued opportunity.
Gill's silent ministry as a deacon is being blessed a hundred fold and in ways she had never imagined possible.
Homelessness in London
"I rather 'fell' into the diaconate through spending 10 years in a religious community during which I worked for a while in a parish and discovered I didn't need to be ordained a priest to fulfil my Christian calling – and that being a deacon was a great deal more than simply being an apprentice priest.
I was ordained in St Paul's Cathedral in 1999 to be the curate of a city parish that ran a homeless project where I had worked for nearly 10 years. After three years I moved to head up the rough sleeping projects run by Centrepoint, the youth homelessness charity, and simultaneously became the Honorary Curate of Soho, where Centrepoint's work first started.
I now work for Thames Reach which has a mission to 'end street homelessness' and reach out to those who are socially excluded and on the precipice of homelessness. We go out and befriend rough sleepers, help them get off the streets and onto a resettlement programme and support ex-rough sleepers and vulnerable people with substance misuse and mental health difficulties to help them remain in their own flats in the community and live as independently as possible.
Our society has a welfare state that is creaking and needs the active work of Christians in many caring situations and whilst deacons may be called to undertake some of these responsibilities, their task is to challenge, call, train, supervise and support others in their Christian discipleship.
Beyond the parish I see the diaconate as the "reaching out" of the church in order to engage with people where they are – something all of us are called to do as part of our Baptismal calling, but an essential characteristic that should be "trumpeted aloud" by deacons. It's pioneering work too as it's about standing at the edge of the church, in the doorway, with one foot in and one foot out, in order to welcome in those who would otherwise pass by, making sure they're comfortable and understand what's going on – interpreting and proclaiming the gospel in the ordinary day to day events of life as well as the extraordinary."
James Francis - Deacon, London. Member of DACE.
Enabling Communities (HIV/AIDS)
"I first went to Swaziland with the Salvation Army to run a community care team for HIV/AIDS. At that time it was the only such team working in the country to care for people in their own homes. We developed a programme to train and support members of the community to care for their neighbours.
There was also a lack of educational material in Siswati (the language spoken by most people) and so 'The String Game' came into existence. This was basically like an old-fashioned flannel-graph, with figures that were gradually linked by lengths of string to show how HIV was spread. They were gradually removed from the board to show why so many people were dying and to explain how communities and their children were affected. The advantage of this visual aid was that it used the Swazi custom of story telling and it was portable. The first one was made from a cardboard box!
Gradually I became aware that most of the churches in the country were ignoring the rapid spread of HIV. If they said anything about it, it was usually to say that it proved you had sinned! The churches and traditional chiefs had a great influence, especially in the rural areas. Which was where most people returned when they were dying. All this contributed to a culture of silence and denial about HIV & AIDS. So I returned to the UK to raise the money to go back and work with all the churches, especially in the rural areas.
On my return, three of us set up an organisation called 'Care Nakekela' (Nakekela means care in Siswati). We were soon busy organising a service for World Aids Day and then introducing The Candlelight Vigil. UNICEF asked us to work with them in reaching rural communities and funded this part of our work. We carried out workshops and surveys in the communities in collaboration with the local churches and the chief. Soon our teaching was extended from simply teaching facts on HIV/AIDS to teaching on home care, child welfare and care of the orphans and even gardening to provide food in drought areas!
My vision was always to hand over to Swazis and I always worked to that end. Our policy was to share the running of Care Nakekela and also to share anything which would be of help to others. This seems to me, to be what deacons are called to do; to encourage and enable others to serve and carry out their ministry."
Post-script:
I eventually returned home. Visiting one year later I found that this vision had been fulfilled more than I ever could have hoped. Most of the churches in Swaziland now deal with people living with HIV. Government, international and non-governmental organisations are all working in rural as well as urban areas. The initial home carers training I devised with the Salvation is now adopted as the official Home Carers Training. In the same way, the programme of Orphan Care Training we initiated is also being used across the country. The String Game has been expanded and developed by UNICEF and is being used across Southern Africa - it has even been adapted for radio!The silence has been broken even if denial still exists.
Pat Wright - Deacon, London and member of DACE.
Pat was awarded the MBE for her work amongst people living with HIV/AIDS.
Prayer as Act
"For the Deacon, 'bums on pews' should be a secondary effect and not his/her primary effort. There is a tendency amongst some deacons to stick rigidly to the rubrics rather than responding to the real needs such as holding the altar book up close for a visually challenged priest.
The Deacon can train him/herself not only in watchfulness for the signs of God's presence but also a very practical watchfulness for all sorts of needs. The anticipation of needs is the mark of a good servant. The Deacon usually has to 'sacrifice' her/his 'devotional life' in order to be aware of liturgical needs and respond to them before they inconvenience or distract others; the Deacon's is a liturgical-caring ministry. There are no 'eyes lowered' or 'eyes closed' for the deacon any more that for the school teacher. 'Prayer as act' can be most practical for the Deacon."
Revd. Dr. Sr. Teresa Joan White - Community of St Andrew. Member of DACE.
A Bishop-Deacon Partnership
"Part way through my final academic year of a Bachelor of Theology course, David Stancliffe was appointed Bishop of Salisbury. A few weeks after the announcement, he asked me if I would come to Salisbury with him to be his domestic/liturgical chaplain and driver and "to look after him". I agreed to come, provided I could finish my course, and so I moved to Salisbury in June 1994... and yes, I did get my degree.
For me, the job was the best thing that could ever happen to me: it was doing all the things I was good at and enjoyed doing, and by doing so enabling another's ministry. In a nutshell, the job was to get the Bishop to the right place, at the right time and with all the right gear! In a large diocese – just over two thousand square miles – a lot of time was spent travelling, so the back of the car became a mobile office. And, believe me, the Bishop used every available moment to work, no matter what time of day or night. If it was Lyme Regis it might be a long sermon; if it was Wilton it might be a short one off the cuff!
Most Sundays of the year we were in churches around the diocese, and it was important to respect the tradition of each church and also to encourage good liturgy. One of my major tasks was to liaise with the clergy in arranging services at which the Bishop presided. Where necessary I would act as the Bishop's agent or representative by taking rehearsals and organising the choreography of a service. Blessings of lifeboats, church bells, tower floodlights, war memorials, new homes, crops and harvests – you name it and a bishop might be asked to bless it.
The maintenance of the Bishop's chapel for the daily offices and the celebration of the eucharist, together with his intercessory prayer for the diocese and its clergy, were also part of my ministry in enabling the Bishop's prayer life. This developed into the collation of the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer on a regular basis.
Hospitality was, and still is, part of the Bishop's ministry. Serving at table was thus one of my tasks: acting as butler by answering the door and serving drinks at gatherings, be they large parties or small intimate dinners. (Can we not bring back the maniple – the towel over the deacon's arm?)*
Now retired, I continue as an executive member of DACE (Diaconal Association of the Church of England), editing its newsletter. I talk at seminars and diocesan vocation days, act as a year tutor to two Readers, and – when I have the energy – occasionally work on my little vegetable plot. By serving and even 'servicing' others, I see my life as one dedicated to enable others to undertake their ministry of worship, oversight, and care. Being a representative and agent of Christ - the supreme deacon - and his gospel has taken me into areas and places I least expected to go, and into meeting people with whom I least expected to work."
Roy Overthrow - Stipendiary Deacon and one-time Head Verger of Portsmouth Cathedral. Member of DACE.
* Editor's note:
The Maniple is still in use here and there. At my ordination as a deacon, we were each given a maniple by our retreat conductor who also preached at the service. I have used it regularly when taking communion to people in residential/ nursing care homes.
Signs of Hope (Trust or Terror)
"It was a shocking moment when news of suicide bombs in the transport system in London came through on the 7th July. The shock was deepened when 5 days later it transpired that the young men carrying the bombs came from Leeds, the city where I live and work. All over the city people from the different faith communities waited anxiously to see what would happen - phone lines were busy.
Three houses in the south of the city were searched and a bomb factory was discovered in a terraced house in Hyde Park, an inner city area where people from many different ethnic backgrounds live. The area had to be evacuated, 500 people had to leave their homes. A local leisure centre was opened up as temporary accommodation. Over the two nights that the area was a no go zone, only 30 people used the leisure centre. The others had been taken in by others people living in the area.
One old Yorkshire man who had lived in the area for many years was invited in by a Sikh family. He commented later: "I had never spoken to them before, but we got to know each other really well and now we are good friends".
Muslim leaders asked their Christian, Sikh and Jewish colleagues to stand beside them as they denounced the bombings, refuted that Islam allowed such a thing and encouraged anyone from the Asian community who had any information to speak to the police.
After 9/11 my bishop and a Muslim leader set up a series of dialogues called "Trust or Terror"- looking at how we respond to international terrorism in our local relationships. Many of the people of Leeds chose Trust rather than terror following the events of July 7th."
Revd. Canon Kathryn Fitzsimons - Deacon and Urban Officer, Ripon and Leeds Diocese. President of DACE 2006-2010.
Engaging with Community (Parish)
"I became aware that there was a need for real support for some potentially problem families with a child, or maybe more children, under five years old. A meeting was held at which we were told about a national organisation, Homestart, which trained volunteers to befriend such families in need and thus hopefully prevent a crisis. It was decided that this organisation would meet our need and a committee was formed to investigate the possibility of forming a local group. I am not a committee person but was persuaded that it would be helpful to have someone from the Church as a member.
After some time and a lot of work, a Homestart group was formed. I encouraged the churches (Churches Together) in the town to be involved. They gave some financial support but also volunteers came forward for training. I led two of the training sessions on each course and was there to support the paid staff, members of the committee and volunteers as required. Eventually I became ex officio to the committee and was chaplain to the group. I continued to encourage church members to volunteer and kept the churches informed of progress and the need for their support. When I left the area I was able to hand on to another deacon."
Chris Peel - Stipendiary Deacon, Portsmouth. Member of DACE.
Dance in Mental Health Care
This reflection comes out of the experience of working with Virginia Kennedy, a dance professional, to facilitate a 'Dance in Health Care' Course for professionals and carers in the Mental Health NHS Trust in Newcastle.
"It's like partnering the unknown!' A humble square of silk was being considered. The context - a silk painting workshop. The colours were flowing and negotiating frontiers beyond our control. Frustration and fascination were fighting for first place. Something 'beyond' us was our partner in the creative process. The finished silk became an invitation to explore new territory, and within it to wonder.
The phrase seems to have an echo quality. 'Dance in Health Care' was the name of the course. Suitably clinical to the ear. Appropriately advertised for work experience. Now, reflections of the past dance sessions take shape. The echo gives a fourth dimension. The epiphany of the experience unwraps. We have danced with the unknown – unknown partners, unknown skills, unknown confidence - and we have found ourselves a little in the making.
Sounds and silence have touched our senses and fleshed the dry bones of self-consciousness. Shape and form have excited our creative instincts and expanded our involvement beyond the safe horizons we had set ourselves. We have dared to touch, dared to reach over our walls, seen and mirrored others and seen ourselves in them. We have felt the creative pulse of blending our colours – and discovered the masterpiece beyond our imaginings. Risk has become a vital ingredient, redeeming life from weariness, faith from fear.
'Partnering the Unknown' is the dance of life, the dance of faith, the dance of hope and love. To engage with another in a moment of wonder is to live in the fullness of joy – a taste of heaven – a touch of God. We came to this course to collect ideas and skills to use in our workplace. We found that we found ourselves again and, like T. S. Eliot's exploration, we knew ourselves as for the first time. We shall carry our new-found knowledge into our days. We shall touch the days of others on our way. Our colours will run and evolve new borderlands, and a joy will emerge of heaven in ordinary – a sparkle in eternity.
'Dance in Health Care' has been a many layered experience. It has addressed us where we were and recognised our hidden wholeness. It has encouraged us to recognise and appreciate our worth-ness. It has helped to equip us to live and work through our vulnerabilities. It has given us experience of creative collaboration. It has enabled us to touch a little of the 'untouchable' and be blessed by it. It has been a health-giving time, a story time, a care-full time. We have partnered the unknown and in doing so have come to know the 'unknown' as for the first time."
Anne Marr - Deacon and Chaplain in Mental Health Care. Member of DACE.
'Dance in Health Care' (2002).
Go in Peace to Love and Serve the Lord
Gill was ordained deacon in 1999 and served her first post in a parish in Barnsley. Her appointment as one of the Ministry Development Officers with the Wakefield Ministry Scheme has enabled her to help parishes develop collaborative ministry, which she sees as integral to the work of the deacon.
She works part time as a chaplain at a local hospice where she feels privileged to accompany people as they move towards taking their leave of their life on earth and journeying into the next. She sees the mirroring here of the deacon's dismissal at the end of the eucharist – 'Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord'.
Gill has been a member of the recent Wakefield Diocese's Working Party on the Diaconate.
Gillian Butterworth - Deacon, Wakefield. Member of DACE.
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The Diaconal Association of the Church of England is collecting stories about diaconal work and experiences. If you have any experience or reflection which you would like to contribute, please contact a member of DACE executive.