Being a Methodist deacon is a vocation. It is a calling to a lifetime commitment to an order of ministry, serving God in the Church and in the world, and to a Religious Order, sharing a Rule of Life and committing to support one another through the discipline of religious life. It is both demanding and challenging, and also hugely exciting and rewarding. Could this be the path that God wants you to take?
What is a deacon?
There are two orders of ministry with different emphases in the Methodist Church – presbyters and deacons. The core emphasis of a deacon’s ministry is witness through service. These two strands are highlighted in the ordination service and are embodied through acts of pastoral care, a passion for mercy and justice, being a prophetic voice and a messenger of the gospel. This includes acts of evangelism, apologetics, teaching, leading of worship and the encouraging and equipping of the whole Church’s diaconal ministry. Methodist deacons are ordained to the diaconate in the universal Church of which the Methodist Church is a part and become full members of the Methodist Diaconal Order at the point of ordination.
As a deacon, you would be a ‘focus’ for the servant ministry of Christ. Through their ministry, deacons reveal the incarnate servant Jesus. Taking as their model Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, they help people to understand the nature of God's love and healing through acts of loving kindness. They encourage people to realise that by serving others in God’s name they also encounter, and are served, by God.
Deacons are called to:
- assist God’s people in worship and prayer
- hold before them the needs and concerns of the world
- minister Christ’s love and compassion
- visit and support the sick and the suffering
- seek out the lost and the lonely
- help those they serve to offer their lives to God.
Deacons make visible God’s calling to the Church to be a servant in the world. Deacons challenge the Church to respond to this calling through their own servant ministry acting as a link between the world and the church, interpreting to the Church the needs and aspirations of the world. Deacons seek to connect faith with life in today's world in such a way that people are encouraged to articulate their experience, deal with the challenges they encounter and are helped to make sense of their faith in everyday life. Deacons are able to work at grassroots, alongside people within and beyond the Church community and to offer a prophetic voice. They draw attention to and help interpret God's activity in the world and daily life.
Deacons offer Methodism, and the wider Church the discipline, spirituality and commitment to community that is part of working out their personal vocation in the context of belonging to a Religious Order.
"Sitting in a crowded church on a Sunday morning, squirming in my seat and wishing I was somewhere else. I had been invited for lunch after church. My wife informed me that it would be rude not to go."
What to do next
If you are wondering whether the Methodist Diaconal Order might be where God is leading you, take some time to think about your response to these questions:
Questions to ask yourself
- Are you a member of the Methodist Church and actively involved in your local church and community?
- Do you feel that your spiritual life is continuing to grow and mature
- Are you at a stage in your life where you are ready for a deeper commitment, prepared to uproot and move to new places physically, mentally and spiritually?
- Would you be able to commit yourself to the disciplines involved in being a member of a Religious Order as well as being under the authority of the Methodist Church?
- Are you prepared to undergo training?
- Do you feel a particular concern for people on the margins of society and a longing to share God's love beyond the confines of the Church?
- Do you tend to relate well to people both inside and outside the church?
- What evidence is there that you work well in a team situation?
- Are you able to carry responsibility?
- Do you find yourself taking initiative and inspiring others to come with you?
- Are you open to working ecumenically and alongside other faiths?
- Are you able to offer a minimum of ten years service after training
- Are you willing to become itinerant?
Feeling positive?
Where to go from here
Discuss and pray with others
If you haven't already done so, discuss and pray through your thoughts with your minister and superintendent, family and/or close friends.
Explore
You will be expected to be fully aware of other possibilities for service besides the Order, so be sure to attend a Vocational Exploration Day – these are held regularly in all districts. Your minister will know about any forthcoming events locally.
Visit
Arrange to have an informal conversation with a member of the Order by contacting:
The Methodist Diaconal Order
Methodist Church House
25 Marylebone Road
London
NW1 5JR
Tel: 020 7467 5216
mdosupport@methodistchurch.org.uk
Prepare
There are no minimum academic requirements, though you must be able to benefit from study. You do not have to be a local preacher. However, you do need to have completed an approved Worship Leaders Course before candidating.
Test
Be prepared to have your call tested through candidating, training and a period of probation. This can be quite time-consuming and extremely searching!
Apply and inform
If, after you have done all this, it seems right to go further in the connexional year in which you intend to candidate, please contact the Discernment and Selection Office at Methodist Church House, 25 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5JR.
(Searching for 'candidating' on the Methodist Church website, www.methodist.org.uk, will lead to current information on the process, including the selection criteria used, the timetable for the current year and a handbook for candidates.)
Set up a support group
Set up a group of people who will support you and act as a sounding board during this part of your journey. Your minister and superintendent could help you to do this. We advise you not choose people who may be involved in any decision-making about you. Try to find wise people who will challenge you as well as support you.
Timetable of candidating procedure
Please contact Discernment and Selection at Methodist Church House. Tel. 02074865502