The diaconate is a special ministry of servanthood, an order of the church particularly focused on serving the poor, the weak, the sick and the lonely (rephrased from BCP, p. 543).

The church is all about building community, and we Episcopalians have, in our scriptures and traditions, an inspirational guidebook to building up community “on earth as it is in heaven.” Over and over again, Jesus reconciled people’s needs for food and healing and honor to demonstrate to those in his midst what the world could be like if they mirrored the love of God for all people in God’s creation. Jesus pointed out societal inequity by serving people left in need. He put himself in the middle of desperation which pointed out the breach. I believe it is because of our own need to serve, and the great need for the reconciliation that follows, that we give a role of servanthood any prominence at all. The church raises up deacons as human resources to help her discern and answer the call to engage with her neighbors. This includes the call to serve.

For so many Christians, community service is an expression of their value for the golden rule to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:31) and to “love your neighbor as yourself ” (Mark 12:31). These values are so prominent in our culture that the secular community also finds redemption in community service. Every Episcopalian is outwardly dedicated and rededicated at each baptism to love their neighbor. Regardless of our spiritual convictions or religious disbelief, we all feel good when we spend time as a group meeting the needs of our neighbors. Churched and unchurched, we all yearn for the reconciliation that allows us to live in healthy and mutually supportive relationships between ourselves and our neighbors.

In my opinion, inviting neighborhood residents and people to help orchestrate church-based neighborhood ministries is a non-confrontational form of evangelism; a way demonstrating your commonly held beliefs by taking selfless action together. Inviting your neighbor to serve their neighbor is an opportunity to proclaim the gospel, without using words.

I have been talking to many of our diocesan deacons recently as they recounted experiences that led them to consider the diaconate as a potential means to serve the church. Service learning can be a strong element to help people realize their role in religious and secular community.

People are wary of the church for any number of reasons, but once people have experienced and know what you stand for in the neighborhood, they might build trust and take interest in the parish community. I do not see the downside of service learning as a kind of neighborhood hospitality and inclusion.

Deacons help parishes engage in their community, to aid where help is needed, and to apply the skills and openness of a parish community to help marginalized people live among them with dignity and respect.

In practical terms, a deacon may help a parish start a food ministry, like a pantry or meal, or help them identify resources to help sustain these ministries. They may lead collections for clothes, or household furnishings; recruit teams to frame a house; clean-up a yard; orchestrate plantings to turn a vacant space into a community garden; or organize activities that help sustain the local watershed, rather than tax it. They may make prayers lists, help raise grant money and speak to large audiences and random strangers about the benefits of a parish ministry in the community.

To be fair, deacons are not the only people who can do this work, a fact for which we should all be grateful. With just less than two dozen deacons at present, there is no practical reason deacons should be solely appointed with the responsibility to meet the needs of marginalized people in the 44 northern counties that comprise the Diocese of Ohio. The deacon does not have an exclusive role as an organizer, or leader in community service. There are undoubtedly people in your parish, lay or ordained, with the dedication, understanding, experience and time to serve the local or international community in some fashion. A deacon should be a catalyst for people and parishes to realize and sustain their own ministry in the community.

Deacons are here to help the church demonstrate ways to live in right relationship with the world. Deacons “interpret to the Church the needs, concerns, and hopes of the world” (BCP, p. 543).

Jesus said, “I no longer call you servants but friends" (John 15:15), and as Jesus’ friends we have the chance to step up our understanding and gain perspective on our experiences. Serving another is an act of reconciliation, personally, for some; and for everyone it is an act of reconciling differences in our society. By serving our neighbor, we step in the midst of tangible neglect and exclusion in our neighborhoods, and, like Jesus, our acts of compassion point out societal shortcomings.

The difference between some other nonprofit organization having a program and the church having a ministry may not be in the actual outcome of the activity. We may both feed people who are hungry, provide free clothes, make effective referrals to other services, give shelter, and donate household goods. Secular programs meet performance goals set by plans and promised in grant requests. They meet the goals they are contracted to meet. A church ministry may have and meet program goals as well. A ministry, however, is equally dedicated to the impact of serving on the servant, to our personal and societal reconciliation, if you will. There is personal and spiritual impact to figuratively “meeting Jesus” in the act of giving and receiving.

When a church ministers to people, we slowly reconcile a “we are here to help mentality” with a common human bond between ourselves and people marginalized. We come to realize something from the phrases “there, but by the grace of God, go I,” and that we may also be just “one paycheck away” from poverty or homelessness. The more details we come to understand about excluded people and people in need, the more we recognize our own vulnerability to fall by societal standards, despite our moral character. With a new understanding of the how people get left out of society despite their best efforts, volunteers as “servants” often feel new inspiration to change the way we do things. With a new understanding we cannot carry on as before. With both Jesus and the people we serve as our friends, we are likely inspired to include where we normally exclude, and respect and return dignity to people we had often forgotten or disregarded.

We long for this reconciliation, individually and collectively, and so, we are called to serve.