Engaging Community
ENGAGING WITH YOUR COMMUNITY – Part 2; Make Love Your Goal!
Now while Frankie Goes to Hollywood may get credit for our title above, it actually goes back to a verse in 1 Corinthians 14 (RSV): “Make love your aim…” and the ever-popular verses from the previous chapter as well: “If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to…
Read MoreGoing from Good Neighbour… to Great!
“Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there!” I’m sure while reading this line you were singing the jingle in your head, right? It’s a familiar one to many. And what a nice sentiment. As a corporate slogan, it totally works. And why? Because when we read the words ‘good neighbour’, I think most of…
Read MoreENGAGING WITH YOUR COMMUNITY, Part 1 – Why Bacon & Monorails May Not Be Working
Before any church can truly begin to engage with their surrounding community, it’s important to take time to listen and get to know who they are! While this may sound like a no-brainer, I think if we’re honest we can all tell a story from our own personal lives of a time when we didn’t…
Read MoreLearning to Live Out Reconciliation – A DOE Story
(Pictured above: Mike Hogeterp (left) and Jonathan Maracle exchanging gifts and greetings in the indigenous tradition) Anita Hogeveen was one of the participants of “The Dance of Reconciliation” workshop led by Mike Hogeterp (Director of the Centre for Public Dialogue) and Jonathan Maracle at the Day of Encouragement (DOE) held on April 7, 2018, in Brockville, ON.…
Read MoreListening to Our Communities
As mentioned in our previous blog post, New Month… Same Theme!, we’ll continue looking at listening this month, and in particular, listening to our COMMUNITIES. But perhaps we need to first name what we envision when we hear those words. What does listening to our community LOOK like? Sitting in the mall food court and…
Read MoreNew Month… Same Theme!
For the month of April, we will be continuing our theme of LISTENING! Last month we looked at some of the benefits of listening, the how-to’s of listening and how deacons can listen better to each other and to their congregants. As leaders in the church, most of what you do is listening and many…
Read MoreChurch Holds First “Serve Saturday”
This past weekend, a total of 60 participants came out bright and early on Saturday morning for Brighton Fellowship CRC’s (BFCRC) first-ever “Serve Saturday”. Members of all ages were encouraged by the Diaconate of BFCRC to come and help out some local seniors, both inside and outside their congregation, with their fall clean-up. The morning…
Read MoreA Deacon’s Experience
As part of our mission to inspire deacons in the work that they do, Diaconal Ministries Canada (DMC) works to share various deacons’ experiences. Our hope is that these stories from across the country will help deacons learn from each other and feel connected to a broader group beyond their own church. This month we…
Read MoreSea to Sea: Cycling to End Poverty
Have you considered the ride? Diaconal Ministries Canada (DMC) is a partner in the Sea to Sea tour this coming summer 2017 and we hope you will be riding with us! Because of DMC’s partnership, you can, by riding, support the Operation Manna program. Interested? Click here to learn more or contact us at dmc@crcna.org
Read MoreDMC and World Renew Collaborate on “Helping Without Hurting” Workshops
Diaconal Ministries Canada and World Renew have collaborated a number of times to lead an interactive “Helping without Hurting” workshop, most recently in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. At that event, DMC’s Diaconal Ministry Developer (DMD) in that region, Jean deBeer felt that participants “left the workshop enriched and challenged to ask themselves if [the ministry] they were…
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