Another form of Baptismal Ministry

Many years ago, a friend was ordained Deacon.  His ministry was to assist the priest of his parish.  My friend, before his ordination, had many and varied roles in his parish church.  He served on the vestry, was a leader and preached occasionally, shepherded ministry to New Canadians particularly for the parish and the diocese and visited and took the sacrament to assisted living homes and the hospitals.  In one of our conversations, after his ordination, I asked him if his role and ministry had changed.  His answer was ‘No’.  Then why were you ordained, was my next question.  He responded by telling me that being a deacon gave his ministry more legitimacy and access to other congregations.

Since that conversation, I have specifically followed, with sadness and angst, ordinations of incredibly gifted and involved lay persons as deacons.  All of them to whom I spoke were asked to see ordination as a reward for lay ministry, a tool of recognition and legitimacy and a way forward in their ministry. Neither one has told me what different things will do as a deacon or could not have offered as a lay person.  The diaconate has been relegated to a reward for faithful service to the church.  Some might argue, that it is not a reward but rather a commissioning of a person to extend the kingdom of God through words, ministry and actions. My sadness and angst is because of my conviction that these actions and as a result we fail to recognise the legitimacy and importance to every form and level of ministry as another aspect of the baptismal call to make a difference in the community.

Baptism unites the baptised with Christ and with the community and is a sign and seal of our common discipleship.  Furthermore, it unites the baptised to the church universal which is of every time and place and anoints the person to exercise his or her ministry as a reflection of and in response to the Holy Spirit and in gratitude for the forgiveness of sin.  If baptism and the holy spirit are the unifying agents then all the baptised regardless of their ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, social status, ordained or not belong to a wide circle and are equal and beloved in the eyes of God and the church – and everyone in the circle is called to exercise their baptismal ministry in many and varied ways.  By doing so, not only do they complement one another but they extend the kingdom of God.

Thus, ministry of lay and ordained (deacon, priest, and bishop) are different forms of baptismal ministry with the sole purpose to serve God and God’s people.  All should be embraced and neither should be elevated as a gift or reward for faithful ministry.  Historically deacons have a distinct and unique role in the church.  Diminishing it down to a reward for faithful lay ministry is neither beneficial to laity or the ordained as it creates a hierarchy in the community gathered around the word and the sacrament.