Deaconess Student Chris Stephenson

People have often told me, "Lady, you’ve got an incredibly hard job!" And I respond, "Yes, and I wouldn’t change it for the world!"

have always felt called to a ministry of service to others. Even as a child growing up in rural Nebraska, I’d often pick out the person in the room who was sad to offer a little cheer and encouragement. Called by God first as a wife and mother, it took many years before I followed that other call. It was then that I entered the Lutheran Deaconess Association education and formation process.

I’d envisioned becoming a missionary and working in distant countries where God might send me. I never thought the "distant country" would be the local nursing home! I remember pausing on the front steps where I’d arranged to do my required fieldwork, thinking, "What am I doing here? I don’t like nursing homes." But somehow, forcing my feet onward, I knew I’d have to do this if I wanted to be a Deaconess.

I fell in love with my work in just three days. I realized how much I was being blessed by serving the residents of that facility. I knew I’d found the ministry God had called me to do as a Deaconess Chaplain.

I have just completed a year-long chaplain residency in the Clinical Pastoral Education program at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. While Omaha is not a distant country, God has brought the world to my doorstep. With the gifts God has given me, I bring peace, companionship, and healing to people from far corners of the globe – and from just around the block.

I am tremendously blessed to be able to witness the Spirit’s movement in the lives of so many. Among the unexpected traumas were the 

• woman who just suffered her seventh miscarriage,
• a baby who was still-borne at 18-weeks and fit perfectly in my cupped hands,
• young Hindu student from Nepal who faced kidney failure far from home, and the
• extended families of gang violence victims.

God has even led me back to that first nursing home to accompany and learn from people in its Hospice program. In learning to serve on bended knee, I have been blessed beyond all measure.

But please know this: I could not have done this without your help. I am immensely grateful for the financial resources you have shared, that I might follow the calling the Lord placed on my heart as a child. I never forget that the ministry I do is in partnership with you. Through your gifts supporting deaconess students, your heart for serving has accompanied mine. Thank you for believing in us and trusting God’s call in your life. 

Deaconess Student Carmen Colon-Brown

Carmen is serving as a Bi-Lingual Community Health Worker at Santa Maria Community Services in Cincinnati, Ohio.  She spends her day helping people navigate the health care system by using the gift of speaking her first language, Spanish. 

Often Carmen will work with undocumented immigrants giving them information they need to achieve independence for them and their families.  From glucose testing, dental or vision screening, prenatal care and mammograms to leading health fairs and workshops, Carmen is knowledgeable and connected with the community hospitals and clinics to point people in the right direction.  Her goal is to help her clients achieve independence and understand the importance of preventative health care. 

Reflecting upon her deaconess formation through the Lutheran Deaconess Association, Carmen is grateful for the various experiences integral to the student program.  Her field work experience at an ecumenical food pantry opened her eyes to the needs of the larger Hispanic community in her own county.  She learned to be a bridge between the American and Latino cultures, educating about cultural differences.

Commenting about the required student seminar week, Carmen says, “It is phenomenal!  It opens my mind and my heart to so many different things.  Learning from professors like Walter Wangerin and hearing from other deaconesses and students, helps me hear God’s voice and direction.” Click here to make a donation.

Deaconess Student Shannon Speaker

This year, the Lutheran Deaconess Association has 33 students from a wide variety of ages, locations, and backgrounds.  One of our newest students, Shannon, (bottom) has just completed her first student seminar—an annual weeklong component of the Education and Formation program. She is energized by what she has learned and by the opportunity of a practical application of her faith through social work.

Shannon first came to Valparaiso University as a Theology major. But then she took a social work class.  She liked that this class taught how to “do,” not only “examine.”  Here was something she could get excited about. In this field, she could make a difference!

The Social Work major led Shannon to an Urban Studies Semester in Chicago. She worked in an HIV/AIDS clinic and helped patients apply for funding for medicine and care.  “Wow! This is the type of work for me,” she thought. But still, something was missing.

Back on Valparaiso University’s campus, she went with some friends to talk to Diane Marten, Director of Education and Formation at the Lutheran Deaconess Association. She knew the LDA well and didn’t expect to hear anything new, but she tagged along anyway.

Diane was telling about how deaconesses serve to make a difference today!  More than 450 deaconesses serve as teachers, nurses, chaplains, parish staff, volunteers, nonprofit directors and even social workers. Suddenly, Shannon realized that deaconess ministry was the missing link.  She heard God’s call to serve.

Deaconess ministry combines faith and service, ministry and vocation.  Skills and concepts from theology classes, spiritual and communal growth, and real-world experience prepare Shannon and her classmates to respond to the needs of the world with Christ’s healing love.

You can help the students serve to make a difference!   Click here to make a donation.

Deaconess Colleen Teeuwe

Located just a mile and a half from downtown Houston, Zion Lutheran Church was in a good position to help the community after being struck by Hurricane Ike in September. Deaconess Colleen Teeuwe, family life director, quickly found herself coordinating volunteers, parishioners, and airport security as they worked to distribute food, water, and ice to more than 5,000 residents from a FEMA pod stationed at Zion.

"It was a good feeling to actually accomplish something," Colleen says of distributing the life-sustaining items during the week after the storm hit. Houston residents were without power for about two weeks while recovering from the damage of the powerful hurricane.

In addition to her disaster relief efforts, Deaconess Colleen leads an after-school program at a nearby elementary school for about 20 students ages 8-10. She is happy to provide them a safe and fun escape in which the children can grow in spiritual community.

Whether serving 20 or 5,000, deaconesses like Colleen make a real impact on the lives of those they serve. These women care for the lost, forgotten, and marginalized because they have followed God’s call to servant ministry.

You can make a real impact too.

With home foreclosures, job layoffs, and poverty levels increasing, the world needs the love and care of deaconesses during these tough economic times now more than ever. Your gift to the Lutheran Deaconess Association is important to support deaconesses and educate students for ministries of service and advocacy. Click here to make a donation.

Deaconess Intern Linda Davis

Ever since her first cross-cultural mission trip to Mexico at the age of 16, Deaconess Intern Linda Davis has had a passion to serve Christ while helping those less fortunate than herself.  It was because of this passion that Linda felt called to become a deaconess.
 

Linda spent her internship with medical missionaries in Papua New Guinea providing health, wellness, and spiritual care in completion of her education and formation requirements. Linda tells of the challenges, heartache, and hope she faced as a missionary.
 

Dependence would be the course of the rest of Lee’s life, and the prospect of this type of existence had left him utterly desperate. Lee had sunk into a deep depression and ate and drank very little. He was now suffering from renal failure. Dr. Steve was at a loss. My mind and heart set, though not wholly prepared for the days ahead, I went to visit Lee and his family in the hospital.

Lee had lost the use of both of his arms in a battle with a relative over a land dispute five weeks prior.  In a culture dependant on subsistence farming, the self-inflicted damage to his psyche of being a useless burden to his family was devastating.

Over the course of a few visits, I visited with Lee and his family offering comfort and hope.  Lee’s wife confessed her frustration and sorrow at Lee’s anxiety over not being able to care for his family. Although not a church-going man, to him, heaven seemed better than a life without arms.

During my last visit with Lee, his brother asked me to say a prayer. Having never spontaneously prayed in Tok Pisin before, I trusted the Spirit to slowly guide me. “Peace, my friend. God is holding you in his hand. Jesus died for you and he will not leave you. I will see you again, tomorrow or in heaven.” Lee responded, “I will see you.”  
 
He died the next day, joining Christ in heaven.

Linda was able to offer Lee and his family comfort and hope, translating Christ’s love to him in his last days on this earth. For nearly 90 years, the LDA has taught deaconess students like Linda diakonia—a ministry of service to those in need.

Like Linda, many deaconess students humbly serve wherever they’re needed at any given time. They do this not for fame or riches, but for the love of Christ.

This year, the Lutheran Deaconess Association will have 32 students, of all ages and backgrounds, participate in the education and formation process. The process takes most students 2-4 years to complete before becoming consecrated. With program fees, annual student seminar, and the annual conference, total costs for a student can exceed $16,000. And that is in addition to her theology courses!

You can help. The LDA strives to provide a scholarship of 50% of the program fees to each student with financial need, bringing the student’s cost down to $9,000. Your generous gift to the scholarship fund will provide the assistance these extraordinary women need to complete their training. Click here to make a donation.