MI-331 Diaconal Ministry

Every church meets someone at its door who needs help. Learn what the church owes that person, and how it can give without doing harm.

Following Diaconal Ministry, this course follows one question through Scripture, the church's history and the practice of churches in many countries. It asks where mercy comes from, how a church learns to see before it helps, and how it guards money, dignity and children. It ends with working with partners, and with telling outside help that builds a church up from help that weakens it.

What you will study

• The God of mercy: the Law, the Prophets and Jesus on the vulnerable
• The first deacons in Acts 6, and how the church organised care
• Mercy in the church's history, and three warnings
• Word and deed belong together
• Seeing before helping: listening, and starting from what is already there
• Mercy as the work of a team, and care for the carers
• Money, children and trust: open, accountable care
• Partners, local ownership, and small means in many hands

Course materials

• Diaconal Ministry, a WWES textbook
• The Bible