Kolby’s Ordination

Kolby was ordained as a deacon in mid-November.  He has felt God calling him into ministry for most of his life now, and this was the next step in that journey.  The ordination itself was a wonderful service and it was great to celebrate with family and friends! 

Me and the Rev

So, what is a deacon? 

When I was growing up in a Baptist church, deacons were congregation members who led the church’s governing body.  In the Anglican Church, we call those people vestry members.  The role of a deacon is a ministerial position that requires discernment of God’s calling and a long process of preparation.  The term deacon comes from the New Testament Greek word for servant.

This definition is from the Book of Common Prayer and was spoken over Kolby at the ordination service:

As a deacon in the Church, you are to study the Holy Scriptures, to seek nourishment from them, and to model your life upon them. You are to make Christ and his redemptive love known, by word and example, to those among whom you live, and work, and worship. You are to interpret to the Church the needs, concerns, and hopes of the world. You are to assist the bishop and priests in public worship and in the ministration of God’s Word and Sacraments, and you are to carry out other duties assigned to you from time to time. At all times, your life and teaching are to show Christ’s people that in serving the helpless they are serving Christ himself.

Kolby’s sense of God calling him into ministry has been around since I met him, but this specific discernment process involved lots of conversations with our pastor, church members, and friends, followed by formal interviews with church leaders within our congregation and outside it.  There was lots of reading and study, three exams, and even a psychological evaluation and marriage assessment.  (Good news:  Kolby’s not crazy and we are as happily married as we think we are!)  While it is more common for deacons and priests to hold seminary degrees, Kolby’s theological training in his undergraduate, his Bible knowledge (for which he rightly credits Baptist Sunday School!), and his own individual study allowed him to pass the exams and the interviews. 

He was ordained as a transitional deacon, meaning after a matter of months or perhaps a year, he will be ordained as a priest.  This is as opposed to vocational deacons, who feel called to remain in that particular ministry.  He is also a bi-vocational minister, meaning he’ll keep his day job at least for the foreseeable future.  It allows him to teach (which he’s always felt was such a big part of his calling to begin with) and keep serving our church on the teaching (preaching) team, and taking on a few extra roles here and there.  Our church is a missional church with a vision for planting more churches in the area, so there’s no telling what the future might hold for us.  For now, Kolby and I are trying to be faithful to the call God’s placed on us.

Cue the “Son of a Preacher Man” chorus…

As a side note, many of you aren’t familiar with the Anglican denomination.  I wasn’t either until we started going to an Anglican church!  I’ve written out an Anglican 101 blog post that explains what I think you all might be interested in knowing :)

Also, if you are interested in hearing Kolby preach, he preaches about once a month and we'd love for you to come visit our church, or you can listen to the archived sermons online here.