The Rev Dr Valerie Cameron is a distinctive deacon serving at St Mary’s Church, Dalkeith and St Leonard’s Church, Lasswade/Bonnyrigg in the Diocese of Edinburgh. In early September, Val had the privilege of going to Germany to attend the four-yearly Diakonia Region Africa Europe (DRAE) Conference with the theme ‘ Hope in a Fragile World. The St James’s Fund helped with the cost of the delegate fee. Val writes:
The Diakonia World Federation is a global network of Christians involved in diaconal ministry. Around 160 delegates from Africa and Europe met for four days to learn, share experiences, worship and network.
I learned so much about the diversity of diaconal ministry. There were Anglicans, Methodists, Lutherans, Church of Scotland, Church of Ireland, Evangelicals, all working and living in secular or closed religious communities. Many of the women attending had been called by God to train as ‘Deaconesses’; they were nurses who lived in sister houses and worked in hospitals for the poor, especially in countries that do not benefit from a National Health Service like ours. Some ministries were funded by the Church and some by the State, some were salaried, some non-stipendiary and some lived in sister houses with a very small income, some had to raise funds to deliver their services, and some had huge state budgets. Other delegates were ‘Deacons’ as we know them in SEC, called to Ordained ministry and working across liturgical, congregational and community acts of service.
I was really interested in the wide-ranging structures and delivery models across the denominations represented, but the common theme was that we were all called to serve God, the church and the poor and marginalised, as Christ did. In his keynote speech, the Rev Dr Kenneth Mtata, World Council of Churches Programme Director for Public Witness and Diakonia, spoke about how diakonia or the service of the church was part of God’s plan to give hope to all people in a world characterised by fragility. Fragility takes many forms, and our ecosystems are seriously fragile. Fragility is not only the vulnerability caused by exposure to threat and violence but also involves deprivation and neglect that diminish the quality of life or access to abundant life. Dr Mtata stated that “this fragility is not equitably distributed as some parts of the world and some sectors of society are more fragile than others. Theology of diakonia that seeks to give hope to the fragile world must orient itself, not only to bandaging the wound, but also stopping the injury.”
There was much food for thought and lots of discussion about social, economic and environmental inequalities in the countries represented. The African delegates talked a lot about climate change and how extreme weather conditions of drought, flood, storms etc were impacting on subsistence farmers causing unemployment, hunger and migration. Whereas Europeans talked about economic issues in society around food and fuel poverty and the widespread breakdown of communities caused by the crime and anti-social behaviour, consumption of alcohol and substance misuse.
One of the fun projects we did focus on was the Japanese art of Kintsugi, i.e. repairing with gold to produce something better. We had to choose a new cup and paint it to look as though it had been broken and repaired with gold. (see featured photo above) I was disappointed that we didn’t get to smash them but I expect 160 broken cups would make an awful mess!
I think the role of a Deacon in the SEC is like Kintsugi. Deacons work in the community and care for God’s creation, to minister to those at the margins, the poor, the lost and the broken, and through the Holy Spirit, Deacons seek to bring hope, to be the glue, to repair this fragile and broken World to help make it a better place, to God’s Glory.’
Photo courtesy of Val Cameron
