These UMC deacons are more like doulas than circuit riders
How Sacred Stones Ministries is bringing new ministry models to birth
Three female deacons in the United Methodist Church in Colorado recently found themselves without any paid position in a congregation. Two of them had been laid off by their congregations for financial reasons, and the other resigned after concluding it would be difficult to work with the church’s newly hired senior pastor.
Nani Arning, Kerry Greenhill, and Denise Bender faced a reality that many deacons face: congregations don’t know how to incorporate deacons in ministry, and if they do know how, they have difficulty paying a deacon a salary. Being a deacon in the United Methodist Church usually means finding your own work, and “that isn’t easy,” Bender said.
The three women, who were already friends, put their heads together to come up with a creative response. Recalling the circuit-riding history of Methodist pastors, they wondered if deacons could be circuit riders of a new kind, offering their skills to churches that lack the resources to hire a full-time pastor or any staff beyond a solo pastor.
