Discernment Kit: Stages of Discernment
How does a process of discerning diaconal ministry unfold?
The growing self awareness of a diaconal call AND the process of noticing the potential diaconal ministry of oneself or a person in one's faith community involves an evolution of servant ministry from…
Awareness to Action to Embodiment to Iconic Leadership
It may look something like this...
1. Do you sense— for yourself OR someone in the life and ministry of a person in your congregation or community— a strong pull [call] to notice Need and Pain in the world?
--is this the person who looks out and sees what is amiss in the picture of life as it is lived around them?
--is this the person who continually brings up questions about hunger, poverty, the neglected, the lonely, the ill, the hurt, the unjust, the unfair, etc. in otherwise pleasant or innocuous conversations?
2. Furthermore, are you the one/is this the person who wants to do something about what the need and pain seen? Are you/they the one who asks, in the church community, "What are we going to? What can we do about it?"
3. And then do you /does this person seek to draw others into compassionate action? Do you/they lead by example? Do you/they delegate, share, or clearly have the capacity to do so? Do you/they want to do more than fix an isolated instance but rather look for the bigger picture, recurrent problems, address causation, think in a systemic rather than isolated way?
4. Are you/they, can you /they speak up, be articulate, communicate, and persuade? Can you/they draw others into a vision of servanthood? Is this a person whom others will follow, trust, and look to for guidance in ministry?
5. Are you/they confident and comfortable doing liturgy? In whatever roles you/they now hold in liturgy (acolyte, reader, LEM., chalice bearer, etc.) are you/they able to do their part and perform without anxiety? Is being "on" in front of the people an easy place to be? Are you/they effective? And given all that, are you/they NOT obsessed with doing liturgy?
6. Can you/they lead, be a focal point, and then step aside to let ministry of the priest and people happen? You/they don't need to be a hero, but do need to see that the job gets done--more and better by more and more folk.
7. Do you/they have a scripturally grounded spirituality with the Bible firmly incorporated in personal spiritual practice?
8. Do you/they have a clear, active, and articulate SENSE OF CHRISTIAN SOCIAL JUSTICE?
Some Key Questions to Ask of Those in the Process of Discernment
1. Do you feel a call to preside, to be at the center gathering and nurturing a congregation? Are you drawn to deep pastoral engagement with fellow congregants one-on-one? [If so, your call is primarily presbyteral]
2. Do you feel a call to act on a particular expression of servant ministry (making LEM visits, cooking at a feeding program, visiting a prisoner, tutoring a disadvantaged child, etc. etc.)? [If this is the extent of it, i.e. there is no organizing, leading, mobilizing, communicating, empowering, etc. then your call is primarily a lay calling.]
3. Why choose service and not sacrament? What does that distinction mean to you?
4. Why do you want or need to lead and not simply enage in direct action?
5. Do others look to you/to this person-- think of them first, when service ministry needs to be done? When a project arises, do you think, "so and so is the one to ask?"
6. Do you/they...
have experience at
enjoy doing
feel called to
take comfort in the prospect of
--organizing group efforts to meet needs?
7. Can you/they be in the [very seductive] spotlight in the midst of the congregation--[particularly in doing liturgy] , and then walk to the margins of the community to do your job?
8. Are you willing, permanently, to give up, give to the faith community and the needy world a piece of your life (time, freedom, discretion)? If not, then what do you think ordination entails and why would you seek it?
9. Can you take orders [from the Bishop and the Archdeacon for Deacons] and live with the outcomes?
Appendix: Some Quotes from Deacons who have graduated from the School for Deacons
"Many of the skills of a Deacon--like those of a hospital chaplain -- can be learned (thank God, literally) whereas you can't teach passion -- passionate love for everything that is! -- and an innate sense of justice and the willingness to put your money where your mouth is."
"Look below the surface (of the person) at the POTENTIAL!"
"...stress two central issues-- the need for dedication to unrecognized service . . . and the personal cost to and involvement of the candidate, spouse, and the larger family."
Advice
"Be open to dreams . . .look for a open and honest partnership in the development of individual gifts."
"Write a personal spiritual autobiography to see a call and a sense of direction."
"Look for ministry in a person that is seeking completeness."
"Identify those in the congregation who show signs of leadership in service."
"The defining role of the deacon is to model and point to a Christian life of service in the world and in the church."