Diaconate & Testimony in global society This document was originally published by the Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerken (Christian Reformed Churches), a church denomination in the Netherlands.
Church congregations regularly encounter a contradiction made between diaconal and missionary activities. The basis of this contradiction is often sought in the contradiction between "words" and "deeds".
1. The tension between testimony and service - a retrospective Concerning the relation between ‘words’ and ‘deeds’, the second half of the 20th century is mainly characterized by polarization. This polarization caused a tendency in our churches to characterize anything that just resembled activism for a tiny bit, as non-Biblical and suspicious. On the other hand, it was said that a lack of attention for our actions means that God’s word isn’t taken seriously. Some people proposed to quit our diaconal activities for about five years to create room to focus on the core business of the Church: preaching and understanding the Bible. For them, this means that the churches' efforts should mainly focus on evangelisation: to do everything possible to sustain groups of Bible readers within the congregations. According to them, diaconate hasn’t been effective, because it didn’t add even one soul to our congregations! ‘Diaconate, even with a touch of mission, isn’t the right way to become the face of the church in the world. On the other hand, there are voices that insist that if you put the diaconate on a second place, you lose meaning as a church. Objections could be made to both comments / extremes. But both may well be justified in their own context. Both positions resound something of the unity between word and deed. At the same time, you recognize something from the one-sidedness that characterized the discussion of the last century: the tendency towards an overvaluation of the word and, on the other hand, the tendency to overemphasize our deeds. Someone involved in the unique challenges of urban churches said: ‘It’s a good thing to donate blood, but a church that forgets that she’s more than a social movement, is bleeding out.’ And: ‘We cannot provide water, if we don’t have water sources. So, from the beginning onwards, care for the poor should be an integral part of every new congregation. For this is a core task too.’ Despite the fact that the relation between ‘word’ and ‘deed’ is still a compelling matter, we do agree that this relation should be one of equality and reciprocity. After all, one-sided emphasis on one or the other can only lead to a misunderstanding of what God's Word wants to teach us. This becomes immediately apparent when we raise the question what is most important: word or deed? In that debate, ‘word’ is often spelled with a capital letter (referring to God’s word), while ‘deeds’ is deliberately spelled with a lowercase letter (as if deeds are less holy). We believe that such a discussion is meaningless, because this pair of words (i.e. word-deed) doesn’t constitute a contradiction, but they are closely related to one-another in Biblical terms. Both word and deed refer to living by faith. Of course, this requires some explanation. Our very first premise is that God's Word comes first and stands above everything. However, God's Word never stands on itself, it doesn't come without His acts. He said
‘Let there be light: and there was light’. Likewise, God promises the Savior and sends Him. That is impressive and significant.
2. What the Bible says Our words and our deeds can never measure up to theat, let alone that we can compare our words and our deeds with God’s words and deeds. But, like God's words and His actions always go together, our words and our deeds should also be inseparable. It is striking that the biblical concept for ‘word’ (in Hebrew: dabar) may also be translated by ‘matter’ or ‘thing’ and sometimes even by ‘deed’. For example, Isaia 55:10-11 says: ‘For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.’ By His word, the God of the covenant writes history: His creative deeds in heaven work through His Words on earth and in history, according to His will. Ezekiel 37: 1-14 accentuates what is said in Isaiah 55. The prophet must speak the word (= dabar) of God to the dry bones in the valley: through his words, life and spirit come into the bones. This means that God is reviving Israel. And that is what he does: what He says actually happens. We see the same in John 1: 1-18. The expression “the Word” in this pericope can also be replaced by the name Jesus (for example in verse 14). God speaks to us through His Word and through Jesus (who is the Word made flesh, Who shows us the Father) about how He expects us to live! That’s what we see here too: Word and deed are one and cannot be separated. What God says, He does and what He does, He says. We are convinced that God intended us to be rock-solid people, who may do and say things in different order, but who still have the mission to be one and the same person in thinking, doing and speaking. We call this the "holistic approach". 2.1 How it was meant to be Genesis 1:26-28 shows us which consequences this (holistic approach) should have. Humans receive, as it were in the role of deacon/missionary, the order to take care of all created things in the service of his Creator. He’s performing this care-task in a creation that is completely tailored to it by his Creator and in which he acts as God's steward. Even when man decides "I can do without God", this calling is not reversed. Rather, God will add a new and deeper dimension: He Himself is going to teach man what his task entails. This has enormous consequences for our place in God's creation, for the way we deal with that creation and for the way we take on that task. We shouldn’t do this as world conquerors or world improvers; but as maintainers, as servants who act with care and respect. Because we are created in God's image, we represent God and we are His representatives in His creation. That means that God's command, as stated in verse 28, means more than just spreading the human race across the earth. In summary, the command means:
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We are responsible ourselves for our own behavior and how we handle what has been entrusted to us;
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We should let our lives blossom and use our talents for the benefit of God's creation; We should help each other, encourage each other, support each other, help each other grow, and so on;
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And then we are asked to ensure that all this is known and confessed around the world!
That is what it means to have word and deed as an integral whole; it’s missionary and diaconal at once. This is how justice is done to a human being and how we will blossom: together with the other and never at the expense of another / God's creation. That is how God intended it at the beginning of creation: word and deed as one. But Genesis 3 already shows us that things are going wrong. Later, it is the Savior who teaches us all over again how to keep word and deed together. Our actions and our words must proclaim the honor of our God. Biblically speaking, diaconate is related to missions and vice versa: they belong together. 2.2 Old Testament We find a similar message in Psalm 72:12 - ‘For He will deliver the needy when he cries, The poor also, and him who has no helper.’ In this Psalm, an ideal king really has only one task: to stand up for the poor. To say it with the Bible, that is the poor in the broadest sense of the word: you can be poor in money, but also in love, in faith, in mercy, in justice, and so on. The purpose of Psalm 72 is that the king provides help for those who cannot help themselves. However, the prophets say that the kings did not live up to that standard. At the same time, this Psalm also contains a promise: such a king will come someday. In Luke 4: 16-21, Christ refers to the words of Isaiah 61: I came to bring good news to the poor, to announce their release to prisoners. His performance testifies to this: He came to help those who have no helper, to bring justice back into the world. And because He has given us righteousness in Christ (righteousness, that is, the restoration of the relationship with God), Christians have the task to work on righteousness in this world: restoration of how it should be - following Christ. In this respect, Psalm 72 can be seen as a policy note for the testimony of the Christian Church: God's Church helps those who have no helper. Because God's church is looking for God's kingdom and His righteousness in the world and in the church. For example, there are more texts in the Old Testament that sometimes place diaconate before testimony, see for example the books of the prophets Micah and Malachi but also Psalms 58 and 145. 2.3 New Testament The New Testament deals with it in the same manner. The most know texts are: 1) Matthew 25: ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’; people are deacons without recognizing themselves as such and 2) John 13 (I did not come to be served , but to serve; Jesus said while washing feet. Consider also John 4 (the Samaritan woman who understands that God's Word has everything to do with her everyday life ) and John 8 (Jesus stands up for the rights of the adulterous woman). His last words to her are: Go, sin no more. Also Luke 19, the story of Zacchaeus, makes the connection between word and deeds: Jesus comes to Zacchaeus’ house, speaks to him and thereby changes him, and good deeds immediately result. Also in Acts 4 and 5, this unity of word and deed appears; while at the same time human action seems to break that unity permanently. It is striking that in the first congregation, no distinction was made between word and deed. In Acts 6 only a practical distinction was made. The congregation committed to others because of its belief that the life God has given, has purpose. Paul already wrote: No man lives for himself...! We believe that texts as Galatians 5:22, John 15: 5,8 and Titus 2:14 show that God's Word is more than a sound that evaporates in the wind. God's Word works, does
something and brings to life. It appeals to us and calls us to repentance and faith. From the renewal of our lives by faith and by the grace of the Holy Spirit arises the need and the power to make our words and actions harmonize and connect. The latter has gained attention because of the discussions about personal justice and / or social justice in our country: we, Dutch Christians, cannot help but keep words and deeds together. For even though we know that in imitation of Christ our actions and words should be one, as much as possible, very often we still think that we don’t do so because of activism or a desire to earn our salvation. Despite the fact that our churches added this question to the basptismal form, over 30 years ago: "Do you promise to give this child [...] an example of the Christian way of life?"
3. Keeping ‘words and deeds’ together If we’ll ever be able to fully grasp this unity of word and deed, remains a question. Of course, the damaging effect of sin in our existence, will affect us too. But in the first place, we will have to believe in the unity of word and deed. If we don’t keep that in mind during our discussion of ‘word and deed’, such discussions are in fact useless. We believe that for God, word and deed are so inherently connected that we must see them as two sides of the same coin. That’s why we confess that unity has been broken. We even have to use two different words to discuss it: word and deed. Those two words show our embarrassment realizing that using two different words doesn’t mean they are two different things. They should be one! But in practise, we use two words and we have to prevent overvaluation or undervaluation of either words or deeds. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his book ‘Discipleship’: Only the believer obeys - and only the obeyer beliefs. There is a big tension in that, but it prevents faith from becoming cheap. Committing to others is not an impulse or short-lived idealism, but a result of God's love for us and in us! 3.1 Distinction We can often indicate the distinction between word and deed fairly well. We know that pure diaconate is not a gospel proclamation, because you are just helping people who need something. And we also know that we help others out of love for Christ. That people are going to confess Jesus as their Savior, as a ‘side-effect’, is a great result, of course, but 'seeking repentance' is not our initial motivation to help. Diaconate and evangelization are often seen as interrelated activities of the Church. When non-Christians hear this, it often leads to strong rejections, already at the very moment when help is offered. That should not surprise us either: diaconate is to make Christ present (Loonstra). And although it is not about 'winning souls', the impression that you are trying to convert people is easily made. Even though we also proclaim that ‘we do not repent, but God makes us repent’, the non-believer does not understand that. Depending on the society in which you stand and work, you will therefore have to adjust your jargon in this area. In doing so, we must keep in mind that diaconal aid can never be provided without taking into account the person who provides this aid, motivated by Christian compassion and charity. Diaconate has an independent place, while that place can never be isolated from the church member and / or the church that provides it. For the church, it remains unchanged that the diaconate was initiated by Christ himself.
3.2 Unconditional aid We shouldn’t ‘forbid’ others to give their diaconate a touch of mission. However, becoming a chrisitan shouldn't be a precondition for receiving help. Diaconale help should benefit everyone, even if the receiver rejects the Gospel. We can try to convince our partners that the first aim of diaconate is helping the other, who has no helper; regardless of his/her response to the missionary message. In doing so, we should always keep reciprocity in mind: learn from one another with respect for the culture of the other. Cultural differences will be and may be there. That doesn’t mean that we see diaconate as 'the worm on the evangelization rod'. It does mean that diaconate and mission can’t be separated and that the implementation thereof will be different in different cultures. The conclusion is that there is a stronger connection between diaconate and mission than is sometimes posed from 'our' diaconal angle - they both unconditionally belong to the core activity of God's congregation! The proposition ‘diaconate has a missionary dimension, but no missionary intent’ is in some sense culturally determined, that is: by the Western European post-Christian culture. What is striking is that diaconate and testimony are experienced much more as a unity in about two third of the countries around the world; someone in 'need’' is actually seen as being caught in more than one kind of 'distress'. It often even concerns a spiritual need to a greater or lesser extent. Then you help such a person best by bringing him to Christ, they say. In principle, we as Western churches do not see this differently, but we have to consider three things. First of all, a person, especially from the so-called first world, will not readily admit or want to realize that his or her need also has a spiritual dimension. Secondly, there must be agreement on what is actually his / her need. And finally: who actually decides what the need is? The helper, the one asking for help or Christ? The views of the person asking for help can be limited, as can the view of the helper can be limited too. What matters is what the goal is: missionary or diaconal. The focus of those who start a project is especially important. Christ shows us with authority who we are in relation to the other and vice versa. All people, believers or unbelievers, are equal, and Christ is above men. When we serve Him, we humble ourselves. Therefore it can be said that only Christ determines what is necessary. We must have Christ as our teacher, so we see our fellow man through His eyes and hear him through His ears. It all starts with ourselves and our respect for the other and not with a focus on the shortcomings of the other (compare Rom. 15: 7 - Accept each other as Christ accepted us; see also Heidelberg Catechism, question and answer 111 - What does God command in the eighth commandment? That I promote my neighbor's interest to the best of my ability and treat him as I would like to be treated myself, and that I make every effort to assist the needy too). In the end, our fellow man and we are in the same situation: we stand empty handed before God. Therefore, diaconal help should benefit everyone, including those who reject the gospel. Christ has come to the world. We therefore help without regard to persons, but our motivation does not have to be a secret. It should not even be a secret, if we are asked (1 Peter 3:15)! As we saw above, this can be argued from the Bible, but also from the needs people experience. Spiritual, material and physical distress interact. As said before, it is very rare for someone to have only one need in one area. That is why it is also Biblical to apply a holistic approach in the provision of aid: it concerns the whole person in his distress. In the Bible, there are magnificent examples: the widow who receives back her recoved son, but her social security is secured at the same time. Another example:
Bartimeus who is both healthy again and can take care of his family again after his healing, and so on. It can also be formulated differently. In fact, diaconate done by the christian congregation requires confirmation of the Word. Archeology says that finds can only be dated well, if written sources can be linked to them to confirm. Something similar is going on with diaconate: it requires confirmation of the Word. Our testimony without diaconate remains empty, but diaconate without testimony remains mute. Having said that, we are actually back at where we started: diaconate without testimony does not yield anything... 3.3 Continue to distinguish Based on the above, the thought might rise that the church's department for diaconate and the department for mission will once merge. However, despite the fact that in our churches mission and diaconate have drifted apart, it doesn't seem wise to bring them under the umbrella of one department. The history of the church strongly teaches us not to do so. Diaconal aid often has visible results in the short term. Mission usually takes more time to show results and in the eyes of many, the results are not as visible and not as spectacular as those of diaconal help: e.g. child aid. By merging the two, missions would quickly run behind in terms of publicity, especially when there are ‘popular’ diaconal activities competing for attention and funds. Among others, this aspect justifies a certain distinction. Also Jesus makes a distinction like that, without making it a separation! He helps in great openness and compassion. Yet, for example, He unambiguously tells Martha that Mary has chosen the best part. And He tells His disciples that the poor will always be present, but He Himself will not. Moreover, God also requires us to bring out and show our faith. The one time, testifying in words will work better, another time it will be better to testify with deeds. Sometimes we can speak better with deeds than with words. Moreover, not everyone is given to convey the message in words. Some received different gifts. Jesus came to serve: He washes feet ... He turns relationships upside down... The early Christian congregation stood out because the sick were helped unconditionally. The author of the early Christian writing "Didache", clearly breaks a lance for this. The diaconate is the most powerful testimony of the early church. The starting point for every diaconal action is our Christian concern to present Christ without condition, even if His Name isn’t mentioned. In any case, Christ is presented by our actions if we act out of love for Him. On the other hand, holding the distinction can be beneficial, especially if we as Christians consciously present Christ through our actions to consciously give testimony. Such an attitude can give the impression that it is (consciously or not) about 'winning souls'. It goes without saying that we believe that diaconate should never serve as the aforementioned 'worm' on the evangelizing rod. We don't want to have a hidden agenda. But there is nothing wrong with a clear agenda that is completely open about the motives from which we act and the goals that are pursued. But we must continue to be careful not to replace the missionary work with the diaconal; the diaconal activity is performed unconditionally. In addition, the question is whether it is justified to give help especially to people who are more receptive to the gospel than to others. From a diaconal point of view, this is only justified if those people also belong to 'a forgotten group': help them that have no helper. 3.4 Diaconal aid There is one more point that needs our attention. In the Gospels we read that Jesus speaks more often about "helping" and "giving" (and the like) than about "repenting". Of course there is a lot to be said about this, among which we should say that ‘helping' is very important, perhaps more important than we thought. Our help can therefore be
versatile, especially when it concerns poor people. After all, we have so much to share. The only problem is: how do you reach people that are poor and troubled. We will really have to make an effort to reach them because they are in different circles than most Church members. As soon as we talk about giving meaning is addressed with regard to diaconate, it is again possible in our western world to present God's Word. Conversely, it is certainly true that proclamation of the Word of God always evokes diaconate. That is why we as deputies have made the condition that diaconal projects should be linked to churches: churches help churches. We also strive for diaconal projects to be (where possible) associated with missionary activities, including those of our churches. Our diaconal help will have to be available to all people that have the same need. Only the available budget urges choices to be made. Our care and help is specifically aimed at the poor, vulnerable and people in a pinch and therefore also at vulnerable churches and / or religious communities. In the case of churches, this mainly concerns support in the fulfillment of their vocation, but with the intention of leaving them on their own feet. We believe that is the Biblical line. From a Biblical point of view, we do not need to help the poor in our own country or other first world countries - we assume that they are helped by our own local churches. In essence, this is also one of the main differences between mission/evangelization and diaconate. Mission and evangelism pay attention to every person in society, regardless of his bank account or social status. Diaconate has an eye for the vulnerable in society. After all, mission and evangelism are all about the question: has (s)he heard the gospel? But that contains a diaconal calling for the rich person involved in this evangelisation. Think about Zacchaeus for an example. He was not a poor person, but his possessions made him needy in another sense: he had too much and he had built his trust solely on those possessions. When he (as a rich man) heard and accepted the gospel, he in turn took action for the poor! The diaconate’s appeal to the rich is therefore to share and to help. And if the rich person doesn’t realize (how) (s)has to help, the church's deputies (deacons) also consider it their task to ensure that (s)he is equipped for this calling. For the one who helps, reciprocity is inherent to helping, that’s to say: if I do something with my gifts, am I also willing to receive something? So, for us the main point is: we are ready to serve. That service should be unconditional and at the same time as far as the counselor is concerned, in any case also inseparable from God's message to us. And then you are right back at the beginning of the discussion: who helps, is also involved in testifying: testifying by deeds! We will have to realize (even more) that testifying about our Savior is, as it were, an integral part of helping others and vice versa (!). Diaconate (as a testimony through deeds) can only be done based on the gospel (i.e. the good message) and the good message separated from the diaconate is empty or paralyzed.
4. Practical implications Finally, it is good to translate these policies into practice. But that’s not easy. Rules are drawn up very quickly, but here too it is a process in which we have to learn to take into account both our own cultural setting and that of those who are helped. The few lines we want to draw here are therefore rather examples, suggestions or ideas that might help to translate the unbreakable distinction between diaconate and testimony into practise. 4.1 Working together a. We must be reluctant to impose our distinctions (word / deed) on the people we help. We must respond to their requests for help with a great deal of open-mindedness. We Dutch people don't know any better than they do! We deal with it differently, mainly because of our historical context, but we also have to maintain the balance ourselves.
Since the diaconal work is mainly demand-driven, we also have to cooperate more with partners by asking questions: can we learn from your activities in which we help you? Why are you doing it like this? What do you want to achieve? These questions are important to also understand how our partners think about their own functioning and our help. b. We’ve repeatedly received the question whether there are also Eastern or African theologians who have written about this issue. In any case, there are none that we (as deputies) are aware of. We have asked various theologians who live in the South, but we have not received any names and / or articles. 4.2 A look in the mirror a. We - as Dutch people - should, regarding requests for help, also ask ourselves more questions: what can we, as churches, learn from this for our own situation? For example, if Venda is busy reaching out to young people with HIV / AIDS, we might learn something from it with regard to our young people who are drug and alcohol addicts and vice versa. That translation is not always easy to make, but we can make an effort to do so. b. This is therefore also a matter of consultation and discussion with each other. Visitors to projects abroad should also keep asking these questions. Not only is it instructive to discover how the others think about this, but in this way we actually work on strengthening reciprocity. c. It is good to ensure that there is a regular exchange between our Church members and those who are involved in the projects we support. Stimulating this exchange reciprocally should be a policy. This could include encouraging young people to go on volunteer trips and arranging conversations with people from overseas who visit the Netherlands. Questions that may be addressed are, for example: what do you actually encounter in your society (HIV / AIDS, unemployment and the like)? How do you view the mission-diaconate relationship now? In such conversations we will hopefully discover whether we are asking the right questions. 4.3 In the congregation As soon as we start thinking about how those policies could be translated to the daily practise of the congregation, we first have to address the awareness process. We need that to get everyone on the same line. After all, the problem within our congregations with regard to diaconate and mission is that mission still receives priority, while it should be 50-50 (without ending up in a rigid situation). How are the congregations (living based on faith in the redemptive work of our God) positioned in their city, village or district? Finally, it is important to keep in mind that although the diaconate must be well organized, organization isn’t everything. The congregation (large or small) is motivated by her faith in the risen Savior to show in the surrounding community that she believes in the coming Kingdom: faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected (James 2:22). Not only is it necessary that diaconate has its own place within the congregation. It is also necessary to equip the helpers in order to guarantee that good, relevant and adequate aid is given. And then diaconate may also serve evangelism, but first of all, the help that is needed must be helpful indeed.