- Jul 22, 2011
- 283
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- United States
- Faith
- Anglican
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- Married
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- US-Democrat
Most of the distinctive deacons I know who've really made it work have taken up chaplaincy roles. Hospital, prison or school work, rather than being based in a parish.
While I certainly know some deacons who have done that, in my part of the world, there are a number of (what we would call "permanent" or "vocational") deacons who have ministries to the community but use the parish as their home base, so to speak. They live out that grand vision of the church as the place where we gather together to be fed and strengthened and then are sent out into the world to do God's work. One of my friends, for example, does this primarily at a homeless shelter. Another works on the streets with primarily LGBT youth who are homeless. I think it requires the deacon finding a cause or a ministry which really excites him or her, and then using it to be an icon of diakonos to the church they serve.
I am beginning to believe more and more the maxim that the more time the deacon spends in the church building, the less they are actually living out their calling.
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