Dancing and Drumming with Diakonia
This past July, deacons, deaconesses, and diaconal ministers from around the world gathered in Moshi, Tanzania for the 2025 DIAKONIA World Federation Assembly: Dancing the Faith, Drumming Up Hope. The DWF Assembly meets every four years, but this particular conference, organized by DRAE (Diakonia Region Africa and Europe), was the first time the assembly has been held in Africa. CCS folks (including Interim Principal Marcie Gibson, students Jenni Krall and Kristie Pilling, and various alumni and friends of CCS) seized the opportunity to connect with the global diaconal community.
For both Jenni and Kristie, the event was inspiring. “From powerful speakers to thought-provoking conversations and workshops that both challenged and encouraged,” says Jenni, “it was clear that the work of Diakonia is diverse, broad, and vibrant, and that the spirit was moving in Africa, dancing the faith and drumming up hope!”
The Tanzania event was part of Jenni and Kristie’s Global Perspectives Experience, a component of the CCS Diaconal Ministries program that encourages students to broaden their understanding of the world and form meaningful connections internationally. In addition to the 6-day assembly, Jenni and Kristie spent an additional six days in and around Moshi learning about the local context, culture, and creation.
Kristie was particularly interested in environmental issues and often found opportunities to hear people’s fears and concerns around climate change, plastics, pollution of the ocean, flooding, and food security. “But with all the fear and chaos, I found hope in the people I spoke to – people I still connect with via WhatsApp now that I am home. It is that hope that inspires me to be a better advocate, a better ally, a better spokesperson, a better Jesus-follower.”
Marcie was on-hand for the GPE students, providing support, debriefing, and theological reflection on behalf of CCS, as well as co-facilitating a workshop for the Assembly on diaconal education. “It was a joy to accompany students’ learning up close, to visit and hear about other diaconal formation programs, and to recognize both the continuity and distinctiveness in our approaches.” Marcie compares the relationship between CCS and global diakonia to a Venn diagram: CCS is a part of diakonia, and diakonia is a part of CCS, but they are also each their own things. Experiencing the overlaps and differences was informative.
Joining Marcie in facilitating the GPE was (Companion of the Centre and soon to be CCS Principal) Marlene Britton. Marlene brought her previous experience from DOTAC (Diakonia of the Americas and Caribbean), and at the Assembly was elected as the new President of the Diakonia World Federation. (Congratulations, Marlene!) Marlene is the first Canadian and the first Black woman to be named President.
The four of them (Marlene, Marcie, Jenni, and Kristie) were an intentional CCS cohort within the concentric circles of United Church diaconal community > Canadian participants > DOTAC-affiliates > and the World. During their post assembly travels these four were joined by other CCS alumni and friends (including Jen Dresser, Linda Ervin, Eric Tusz-King, Sharilyn Upsdell, Margaret Tusz-King, and Ed Schiere) doing their own learning about the local context.
Some of these alumni and friends had also travelled together in the two weeks before the Assembly. Eric Tusz-King was particularly impressed by the Training for Transformation model used by diaconal ministers in projects he visited in Zambia and South Africa (including focuses on food security, climate change, home construction, gender justice, financial cooperatives, etc.). The Training for Transformation model started during the apartheid era in South Africa as a way of empowering local people and has since spread into a network of people who have been trained and now train others. “What a wonderful model of diakonia,” says Eric.
The Diakonia conference felt like a homecoming for Linda Ervin, who had previously served on the World Executive. “There is something that touches my heart when I am reconnected with my diakonia colleagues from all over the world; a sister/brotherhood where we do not need to explain What is a diaconal minister??”
The theme of the DWF conference was “Dancing the Faith, Drumming Up Hope.” Each day participants heard courageous speakers challenge them to drum up hope in their lives and communities followed by Bible study and conversation with diaconal colleagues from around the world. Rev Dr Prof Jerry Pillay, General Secretary of World Council of Churches, spoke about public witness. Daimon Mkandawire, Secretary of the Council for World Mission on Ecology and Economy spoke about environmental justice. And Deaconess Mable Kifwabantu Sichali, Community Development and Social Justice Secretary, spoke on gender justice. (See the Diakonia-World website for copies of their keynotes.)
For Helen Reed, attending a World Federation gathering such as the one in Tanzania and meeting deacons and deaconesses from around the world is an eye-opening reminder of how privileged she is as a United Church of Canada diaconal minister. Many in the global diaconal community are not paid for their work. Many know that to raise their voices for justice can put their lives in jeopardy. Choices and resources that Helen can take for granted are a luxury out of reach for others. “However,” she says, “one of the lasting impressions was the friendliness of the people, their willingness to be hospitable, and that they offered their best to us with wide smiles as we all offer the best of this diverse community to God’s world.”
These kinds of awarenesses – of privilege, of resilience, of connections, of shared purpose and networks for change – are exactly what CCS’s Global Perspectives Experience is about. That it could overlap with an immersive exposure to the worldwide diaconal community this year was a rich gift and points toward a deeper and more intentional focus on combining global experience and diaconal community for CCS students going forward. CCS is grateful to the DRAE members who organized this conference, to DUCC who helped pay registration costs, to the agent who coordinated travel, to the various community members who welcomed us, to Marlene and Marcie for co-facilitating the GPE, to Jenni and Kristie who fully engaged, to the DUCCs and others who journeyed with, and to the supporters of CCS who make this kind of learning possible.
