Meeting with MDO in London, June 2016

It was a delight to meet in London with Deacon Karen McBride (currently Deputy Warden MDO and incoming Warden MDO in September) and Deacon Richard Clutterbuck (incoming Deputy Warden MDO in September). The MDO office is in central London, part of Methodist House.

Karen gave me a copy of a well-researched history of diaconal ministry in the Methodist Church - I'll enjoy dipping into it. Karen also gave a copy of the recent publication prepared to help congregations better understand diaconal ministry - it's a really helpful resource.

Deacon Karen McBride, Rev (Deacon) Sandy Boyce, Deacon Richard Clutterbuck

The MDO is a religious Order and an order of ministry with the Methodist Church. The Methodist Church has two orders of ministry: presbyteral and diaconal. The two orders are equal in status yet with certain difference in focus, style and character.

In the Methodist Church, deacons are ordained:
* to assist God's people in prayer and worship;
* to hold before them the needs and concerns of the world;
* to minister Christ's love and compassion;
* to visit and support the sick and the suffering;
* to seek out the lost and the lonely;
* to help those served to offer their lives to God.

A deacon's main focus is to take care of the community's needs and to help God's people make the most of their faith in every day life, through:  

Service
Taking as their model the way that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, deacons 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.
Free from responsibility for pastoral charge of churches, deacons are able to work at grassroots, alongside people within and beyond the Church community and to offer a prophetic voice from the margins.

Witness
Deacons seek to connect faith with life in today's world in such a way that people are encouraged to articulate their experience and deal with the practical problems they encounter. They draw attention to and help interpret God's activity in the world and daily life.

MDO - Methodist Diaconal Order UK

MDO convocation

The Methodist Diaconal Order (MDO) in the UK has been holding the annual Convocation (5- 8th May, 2015). Here are some of the diaconal ministry agents sharing their stories. 


On the final day of the Convocation, May 8th, Methodist Deacons will take part in an act of re-dedication.

Below is an extract from the order of service which will be followed:

Warden:
Sisters and brothers we have been called by God to a holy ministry within the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we were ordained we pledged ourselves to that calling and the Church, with prayer and the laying on of hands, called upon the Holy Spirit to keep us faithful in it. Today, in this act of re-dedication, we renew our obedience and trust and ask afresh to be sustained by the power of God.

Let us pray:
Let us give thanks to God for the privilege of this ministry to which we have been called, within the fellowship of the Order:
For Gods sovereign love promising to make all things new;
for the good news of Jesus Christ crucified and risen for all the world;
for his abundant grace, our example and hope;
for the power of the Holy Spirit at work in the people of God and for the church which has nourished and sustained us;
for the call which we heard and the ways in which it has since been renewed;
for the power of Christs gospel to search us out and reclaim us when we have lost the way;
for the ways in which God has sustained us in times of doubt and difficulty and enabled us to learn from weakness and failure;
for the joy of serving others in the name of Christ;
for the privilege of sharing in the pilgrimage of faith and the ministry of others;
for what we have received from those we sought to serve. 

Amen! 

Methodist Church of Southern Africa

Vernon van Wyk is the Warden of the Methodist Order of Deacons. and oversees the training of deacons throughout the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA). The vision statement of the Deacons in the MCSA is: 'To share Christ's love through service, and to help the church respond to the needs of the wider community'. Deacons are service-oriented and build bridges between churches and communities.
Vernon is also the HIV/AIDS Coordinator for the Highveld and Swaziland District of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa.  Education is high on its agenda, with 47 schools, mostly in Swaziland. AMCARE is one of its flagship programs. It was established by the Alberton Methodist Church as a community outreach program, with 8 social workers and 30 home-based care-givers. AMCARE feeds approximately 3,000 people a week.  It feeds and nurses over 350 HIV & AIDS patients, and cares for some 350 orphans and child-headed families.  The HIV Voluntary Counseling, Testing and Wellness Clinic has 2 registered nurses and 3 full-time counselors and locum doctors. Twice a week, AMCARE supplies about 400 litres of soup and 800 loaves of bread to 5 clinics and 240 children at 2 schools. Facilities also include a fully equipped training center, which accommodates up to 60 people and 3 large vegetable gardens to provide patients with fresh vegetables in food parcels. AMCARE also has a Victim Empowerment Shelter in Alberton which houses up to 20 abused women and children, and provides social work and early childhood development services. (Source: Game for the World). 

Please remember Vernon and his ministry in your prayers.

Recently, Vernon visited Deacons in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), comprising the Natal Coastal District and Natal West District, as part of his role as Warden of the Methodist Order of Deacons. Wendi Tiedt (see photo below) will be one of the Deacons ordained at the Methodist Church of Southern Africa ordination service on Sunday 21st September, 2014. She is involved in a number of mission and outreach projects including a primary school reading programme, a municipal clinic feeding scheme, AIDS Outreach, hospital library ministry, and economic empowerment, in addition to preaching and pastoral care and visitations. Please remember Wendi in your prayers, and especially as she prepares for ordination. 

KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa

Back row (L to R): Harry Gerber, Ernie Nightingale (former warden), Vernon van Wyk (Warden). Front row (L to R): Jackie Foster, Wendi Tiedt (Ordinand) and Bruce Templeton (Probationer 2015)

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