Your Calling As A Deacon

This resource for individual and group study explores what it means to be a deacon in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Addressing both the leadership and spiritual requirements of the position, Your Calling as a Deacon offers new and seasoned deacons the direction, understanding, and encouragement to serve God and church.

How Can Deacons Mobilize Service in the Church? Deacons are essential to a church's health—yet confusion abounds regarding their biblical job description. What's their God-given role in a local congregation and how do they relate to the church's overall mission? In this short book, Matt Smethurst makes the case that deacons are model servants called to meet tangible needs, organize and mobilize acts of service, preserve the unity of the flock, and support the ministry of the elders. Clearing away common misconceptions, Smethurst offers practical guidance for deploying deacons and helping churches to flourish.

With the restoration of the Permanent Diaconate of the Roman Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in the 1970s, the ministry has grown in dioceses across the United States and Canada. Nevertheless, many parishes, especially the small or rural, have yet to see a deacon ministering within their territories. Does the ministry of deacon make him a "mini-priest"? Or is he a lay minister of special distinction? Deacon Rex addresses these last two questions while building understanding of the ministry of deacon in such a way that, with (1) the approval of his pastor and (2), if married, his wife, each man can decide to make the first step, contacting the deacon formation director in his diocese.

Answering the Call is the story of nineteen Catholic permanent deacons from the Diocese of Savannah (Georgia) whose lives underwent profound transformations as they embarked upon a journey of self-discovery which revealed to them both the awesome power of God and the holiness of everyday life. When these deacons, who come from vastly different spiritual, professional, and educational backgrounds, responded to God's call, they soon became aware of the profound impact their decision would make on their lives as husbands, fathers, and, most of all, servants of God. Any person who experiences a crisis of faith or wants to deepen his or her relationship with God, will find the theological, pastoral, and spiritual aspects of these essays informative as they will inspire further reflection and discernment. Each of the essays can be read as a guide to ministry that provides personal and experiential advice about how to minister in a God-centered and healing manner. A person considering a religious vocation, or any man discerning God's call as a permanent deacon, or is a candidate or a deacon now, will appreciate the honesty with which each deacon describes the expected and unexpected stages of his journey.

Do you know what it means to be a deacon? Is this office in the church still relevant today? Dr. Lonnie Davis Wesley believes that deacons have an important role to play, but that church traditions and failures in leadership and education have often made deacons ineffective, or given them tasks to which they are not called and for which they are not equipped. He goes back to the first deacons, chosen and set apart in Acts 6, for a model for the ministry of deacons in the modern church. In doing so, he finds that we need to re-learn and re-apply the lessons of scripture and history so that the church can be fully effective in ministry. The Seven: Taking a Closer Look at What It Means to Be a Deacon is a comprehensive guide to reforming and recharging your church’s deacon ministry. It includes guides to help you develop an education program to prepare deacons for ministry, and to aid your congregation in supporting that ministry. This book may be read by individuals, but it will find its greatest use as a tool for building a strong deacon ministry in any congregation.

A combination of practical guidance and inspiration on character, relationship to church and pastor, stewardship, missions and more.

In this book, we will examine the history and subsequent development of the Deacon's office in the Church. In addition, we will learn how the first men who were appointed to serve in the Church are the standard for which deacons and servants are to evaluate their service today. In doing so, the Church, deacons, and those called to serve will benefit from mutual understanding and cooperation.

A theological explanation and practical handbook for those preparing for a diaconate in today’s church. All too often the time spent as a deacon is seen simply as the prelude to priestly ordination. Yet the Bible defines three orders of ministry - deacon, priest, and bishop - each with its own distinctive characteristics and responsibilities. In Being A Deacon Today, Brown explores the three places where deacons minister (the church, the world, and at the margins), the three strands of their ministry (in liturgy, in pastoral care, and as catechists), and the three actions of their ministry (praying, loving, and remembering). This book, excellent for classroom use and for transitional and permanent deacons, will restore a fuller understanding of the diaconal ministry and nurture deacons in their work and spiritual life.