About Us

Diaconal Ministries Canada is a partner agency of the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA) that promotes diaconal work in Canada.

Deacons serve by leading and equipping the church to minister to its members and the world in a rich diversity of ministries — awakening compassion, demonstrating mercy, seeking justice, and collaborating with God’s Spirit for the transformation of persons and communities.

Diaconal Ministries Canada partners with deacons, churches, and ministries to demonstrate God’s love in the community.

Vision

Transforming communities in Christ.

Mission

Relying on the Holy Spirit, Diaconal Ministries Canada exists to inspire, empower, and equip deacons as they animate their churches to join in God’s transforming work in communities across Canada.

Core Values

To carry out this mission, we value...

Prayer: We believe in prayer as our overarching value. It’s as important as the air we breathe. It’s how Jesus provides direction for our ministries and the vehicle which the Spirit of God uses to guide and empower us. Therefore, we bathe everything we do in prayer.
Asset-Based: We believe that everyone has something to offer others. Therefore, focusing on strengths, gifts, diversity, and collaboration rather than needs, weaknesses, uniformity, and individualism is essential to everything we do.
Celebration: We believe that joyful celebrations give expression to what God has, is, and will be, doing through His creation and our work. Therefore, sharing and reveling in growth stories is an essential part of our organization.
Justice: We believe that God cares deeply about everything He created and we strive to be wise stewards of all that He has gifted us with. Moreover, we believe that every human being has been created in God’s image and therefore merits equal treatment.
Hope: We believe that God is a God of abundance and love and that every person and situation contains glimmers of who He is and the hope He provides. Therefore, we approach every person and situation with a hope-filled attitude.

Four Key Focus Areas

Our work is driven by the charge given to the Deacons when they are installed as office-bearers; also known as the Deacon’s Mandate.

We see four (4) distinct ministry areas that fall under the scope of the deacons.

On top of this, we provide leadership development and help deacons with their administrative tasks (like making workplans).

Community Engagement

Deacons lead and equip the church to get involved in the life of your church’s neighbourhood

Benevolence

Deacons model to the church how to appropriately walk alongside individuals or households while responding to situations that require assistance

Stewardship

Deacons train and empower their congregations to faithfully use and care for all that God has entrusted us; including time, talents, treasures, and trees (creation care)

Justice & Service

Deacons lead and encourage the church to amplify the voices of their community and globally that face systemic barriers and obstacles

Leadership Development

In order to help deacons be at their best and fully understand their role in the church, we also provide leadership development support.

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How We’re Funded

Diaconal Ministry Shares form the main revenue stream that helps support the activities of Diaconal Ministries Canada each year.

While our primary funding comes from annual Diaconal Ministry Shares, Diaconal Ministries continues to break new ground and extend our reach. These new initiatives take extra time and money.

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A Brief History

Believe it or not, our roots go back to the 1950s when some of the first Diaconal "Conferences” were organized by deacons for deacons. From the Maritimes to British Columbia, deacons formed conferences and met to share experiences and resources, develop workshops and training events, and find ways to assist each other and their congregations. In these early years, World Renew (CRWRC at this time) worked very closely with diaconates on both sides of the border, speaking heavily into the diaconal work churches were doing.

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