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It may be common knowledge to you, but sometimes it's important to state the obvious. We need help. We - as deacons - need to have experts around to support us through the many unique situations we find ourselves in. We always like to believe we can do it ourselves, and maybe we can, but we may be able to do it even better by calling for some assistance.
In Canada we have Diaconal Ministries of Canada (DMC) with loads of information online, as well as staff members scattered across the country willing to come meet with you, or available to answer your questions via phone or e-mail. This resource is a gift!
Did you know there are other organizations like DMC? Volunteers in Service (VIS) is located in Grand Rapids. They also work to equip deacons and church volunteers, connecting people, caring and loving our neighbours. (They are pretty clear about that on their website!). VIS has training and resources available - plus staff members willing to come to your church to speak!
So, we've revealed two diaconal support networks, which are available to local churches who want to get visionary about their deacon work, need some advice, or are looking to get some help with something they are experiencing. I'm wondering if there are more out there.
Do you know of an organization that does deacon training?
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Communities First Association, a nonprofit birthed out of CRWRC, provides training for asset based community development primarily in the U.S. Many of its members used to do diaconal training under CRWRC's North America Ministry Team, and although their focus is now on helping churches to do community development, a number of them also do deacon training http://communitiesfirstassociation.org
Wendy - this is a great resource! Thank you for sharing.
Wendy is willing to present the webinar "Getting Going in Helping without Hurting" if it gets enough votes. See http://network.crcna.org/webinars/ and click on the "Proposed" tab.
yes, I'll be asking for votes in an upcoming blog post :-) I'm really excited about the second edition of When Helping Hurts. So many churches ask me what to do once they've read it.
Excellent! Webinars are a great way to get additional training. There is one coming up in less than a month for deacons "How To Be An Effective Deacon In Today's Church". Should be good too!
I love finding out about all these different resources! Thanks for highlighting this!
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