Save the Date!

Diaconal Gatherings Diaconal community happens all over the world.

• Thoughts from Linda Erwin on Diaconal Ministry

• Trip to Germany and Diaconal Roots by Ted Dodd

• Ideas for future diaconal community gatherings

Rendez-vous Winnipeg, MB University of

Manitoba August 13-16

DUCC National Gathering hosted by Hamilton

Conference in 2015

D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3

Finally! Our fall newsletter is now a December mini-newsletter. Advent greetings and Merry Christmas! Thanks for your patience. If you have ideas for future editions of the newsletter, please contact me. I also encourage you to offer your gentle feedback. Affirmations are always wonderful to hear and encouragements help improve the newsletter. Thank you.

Deborah Laforet, Editor

sophiawisdom73@hotmail.com

What’s inside…

Leadership Development

Module in London (June 9-21) & Winnipeg (August 18-30)

DIAKONIA OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA DECEMBER 2013

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By Linda Ervin In late April of 2013, we traveled to Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, from all parts of Canada. It was my first time to be at a DUCC gathering as part of the DUCC Co-ordinating committee. Most of my diaconal work over the last 15 years has been with DOTAC and World DIAKONIA.

At the DUCC meeting I found myself not with the gathered group very often, as Ann Naylor and I spent much of our time working in the background in the chapel area. It was great to have the opportunity to work so closely with Ann. I spent most of my time doing the work of Treasure since Margaret Collard was not able to be there. It had always been her dream to go to Tatamagouche but her illness and family illness prevented that from happening.

One of the areas I think we need to put more energy into at future gatherings is our identity as diaconals. It is almost 25 years since DUCC was founded and much has changed over the years for Diaconal Ministers. At a DUCC meeting some years ago we discovered that more of us are in ministry roles we had not necessarily expected to be in and we are doing quite well in those roles. However I wonder if a conversation about identity and roles might be a welcome conversation, particularly as we discern sacramental ministry and as we decipher how the new ministry proposal will affect the ministry of the diaconate.

At our recent gathering I sense we did not have the time to get into deep conversations about: • who we are and where we are being called in this time; • what are our diaconal values; and • what wisdom do we have to serve the larger church and community.

I would also like to explore further how to be diaconal outside the church current structure; • how can we support those who have taken that journey; and • how might the church be more committed to this emerging community ministry in the UC.

With some exceptions, we experience little support for this ministry movement from Presbyteries and other courts of the church. However I see it as vital for the church to honour that ministry movement. Other diaconal organizations in DOTAC and the world like the Lutheran Deaconess Association and United Methodist Church deaconesses do have staff that are working in community development, nursing, pharmacy, environment and so on. They are accountable to their larger church bodies even though they are not working within the church structure.

I do not want to lose the diaconate. It does not have to remain static; it never has. The movement to community ministry as some of our DUCC colleagues are doing needs support and to be included in one of the many ways ministry and mission can be conducted within the UC. I do not want to lose the diaconate. I have witnessed to0 many diaconate organizational losses when I served DOTAC and the World DIAKONIA.

Even though I spent most of my time doing financial work in the chapel, I did have a sense that maybe we need more time to discern who and why we are and where the diaconate might be going in the future. The Coordinating Committee and the planning team for the next national gathering will be consulting about the agenda for the next national gathering. Where/when might you initiate discussion within the diaconal community about diaconal identity and future directions?

Just something to ponder.

A Gathering of Diaconal Ministers in Nova Scotia

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On the Road to Fun And Transformation (Bring a Friend)

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LDM

June 9 – 21, 2014 in London, Ontario August 18 – 30, 2014 in Winnipeg,

Manitoba

The Leadership Development Module can be taken as a stand-along course or as the

introduction to the CCS Diploma Program or 1-year Certificate Program. (It is a prerequisite for

all other CCS programs.) The learning style is participatory and holistic – it

melds heart, soul, mind and body. It honours experience, creativity, and group learning. This is

no “sit in rows and listen to the teacher” education!

Rendez-vous 2014 August 13-16 - University of Manitoba in Winnipeg

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Diakonia: Epiphany Images of Christian Ministry

February 13-15, 2014 - The Sisterhood of St. John Divine Convent in Toronto. Following on last year’s Lenten retreat, this 48-hour experience will explore diakonia through contemplative pondering on the images of Epiphany, paying particular attention to the place of baptism, revelation, and mission as dimensions of our ministry. Begins 4 pm Thursday; ends 2:30 pm Saturday. Overnight cost: $230; commuters: $120. Register online: www.ssjd.ca

A gathering of United Church of Canada youth (going into grade 9), young adults (under 30), and their leaders from all across Canada.

SSJD – The Sisterhood of St. John the Divine, Toronto

DIAKONIA OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA DECEMBER 2013

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The organizers of the Berlin 2013 World DIAKONIA Assembly offered several week-long tours after the gathering. Some folks followed the trail of Luther’s history; others enjoyed the Romantic Road along the Rhine in Bavaria; another trip pursued cultural sites related to Goethe and Bach. I chose a journey to a series of diaconal communities in Western Germany. We were accommodated in the Mother Houses of Bethel, Witten and Kasierwerth and we were treated with extraordinary hospitality and welcome.

Theodore Fleidner is generally credited with the nineteenth century restoration of the diaconate through the creation of the deaconess movement in Kaiserwerth. His vision of women living in community and serving the needs of the world spread quickly throughout Germany and indeed across the globe. As a result of his passion, in the period from 1889-1897, over 150 deaconess training schools were opened around the world. In an era of, literal and literary, Dickensian poverty and inadequate social programming, a massive international diaconal set of intiatives

and responses were released. United Church diaconal ministers are directly related to

this German heritage. Members of the British church (including Florence Nightingale and Elizabeth Ferrard) travelled to Kaiserwerth to witness the work and organization of the deaconesses in health care, corrections and community service. In Germany, the deaconesses shared everything in common and lived communally under the patronage of a local pastor. In England and Scotland, the model was adapted and deaconesses did not live in mother houses but were more directly connected to parishes. As DUCCs we have inherited this latter model (considerable acknowledgement of the American impact on our history and shaping our early deaconess programs is also due.) Maybe I am just a diaconal nerd but I was thrilled to be immersed in this history.

Diaconal Communities in Western Germany Ted Dodd was recently on sabbatical and was invited to share some

experiences in of diaconal history.

Continued on last page.

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DIAKONIA OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA DECEMBER 2013

Please keep Caryn Douglas, the former editor of this newsletter, in your prayers. Her mother, Gerturde, passed away in November.

World Diakonia was held in Berlin, Germany in July last summer. If you would like to know what happened, you can talk to some of the DUCC members who attended: Linda Ervin, Barbara Lieurance, Beth Kerr, and Sarah Bruer, as well as two voting delegates, Sharilyn Upsdell and Ted Dodd. The theme of the conference was “Diakonia – Healing and Wholeness for the World. Go to http://www.diakonia-world.org/2013/Berlin2013.shtml for more information. Remember that as a member of DUCC, you are also a member of World Diakonia and that you are connected with the diaconal community around the world.

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DIAKONIA OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA DECEMBER 2013

To see the little attic where a small school for troubled young woman launched Fliedner’s imagination, and to stand in the worship space where the first deaconesses were recognized, delighted my soul. My teaching of diaconia will take on a more embodied sense of these historical figures. This is our story. I was equally excited by the contemporary connections. In Germany today, sixty-eight diaconal communities continue with impressive ministries. Campus type ministries where services and lodging for seniors, people with disabilities, children, those living with mental health concerns, as well as staff, create interactive and vibrant communities. Typically, the chapel acts as the spiritual centre. Today brudern (brothers) have joined schwestern (sisters) in the life of many of the communities and members are no longer required to live together. We were treated like visiting dignitaries and connected with some amazing people of faith. In addition, the tour afforded me the chance to interact with my fellow tour mate: an international band of pilgrims. Three Church of Scotland deacons coached me in the history of Archibald Charteris and his campaign for the diaconate in the land of heather and single malt. Sister Melinda Lando and Diaconal Minister Jan Cherry tutored me in the story of the American Lutheran diaconate. On the front lawn of the Witten Deaconess Hospital, three statues give realistic testimony to the traditional deaconesses dressed in their habits. When we visited the hospital our small tour group lined up to have our photo taken with the sculptures. Showing this picture (below) I have to point out that Sister Lisa (far right) from Switzerland, wearing her habit, is not a statues but a real live, and really fun, person. Over the years, I have been privileged to attend a variety of diaconal meetings: many DUCC biennial and regional gatherings across the country, the Association of Anglican Deacons in Canada, the AGM of the Lutheran Deaconess Association, Diakonia of the Americas and the Caribbean. I carry a deep gratitude for these experiences of the ecumenical diaconate. Being in Germany this summer only heightened my passion for these connections. I was awed by the opportunity to be stimulated intellectually and to worship with folks who represented the incredible breadth and depth of the diaconate alive in the world today. I was stretched by the diversity and my soul was filled with hope and gladness.

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Have a blessed holiday.