South Africa is privileged to have hosted the international conference of the International Society for the Research and Study of Diaconia and Christian Social Practice (ReDi). It was held for the very first time on the soil of the global South. At this conference, Prof. Ignatius Swart was elected as the president of the ReDi society. He is the first Global South president to be elected in this capacity.

The first ReDi conference outside of Europe was a great inspiration and opened “new/other” angles to the conversation. Thank you, ReDi, for taking the bold step to step outside Europe and engage with Africa on her own soil.

The 2025 ReDi conference was held in Wellington, South Africa, from April 1-4, 2025, themed “Diakonia and Christian Social Practice: Challenging Contexts and Emerging Trends”. More than 90 people registered for the conference, and more or less 20 countries were represented. The conference featured 48 papers across three parallel tracks and three keynote presentations. The keynote presentations focused on diaconia in the indigenous church, prophetic diaconia, and conviviality and sustainable development, highlighting the inclusivity and diversity of the conference.

During the evenings, attendees relaxed and experienced South African hospitality by visiting a wine cellar for wine tasting and enjoying a delightful conference dinner. Additionally, there were excursions to various diaconal projects around Wellington one afternoon.

The call for papers took account of the fact that “diaconia” may not be the salient concept used in many contexts and that the notion of “Christian social practice” more appropriately incorporates and defines the practices of Christian social care, social welfare and social development prevalent in those contexts. This led to two underlying themes that were not directly addressed at the conference but featured in many of the question-and-answer sessions.

The first underlying theme featured more in the papers using the concept of diaconia. Here, the question was about theology. What is theology? What theology do we use?

The theologies discussed were closely related to liberation and black theology and focused on the decolonisation of the diaconia concept.

One of the keynote speakers stated it as follows: “I am acutely aware that my understanding of diakonia remains influenced by Eurocentric logics—from which I can free myself, only with concerted effort.”

From the context outside Europe, it becomes clear that diaconia has different meanings in different contexts, as the different contexts ask different questions. It seems as if, in most European contexts, diaconia has become more of a profession than a ministry.

As such, denominations are still actively involved in diaconia through trained deacons in different professions like health, but not so much through local congregations and ordinary members as ministry within their congregational context.

The North-South dialogue around diaconia opened up further questions on how diaconia should be understood as other concepts such as reparation, community development, mission, justice, ecology, social service, healing and health, care, SDGs and more, were also used. Some of the papers also addressed inter-religious social practices and partnerships. This brings us to the second identified underlying theme: What makes Christian social practice Christian? We may even ask if it is Christian.

The conference confirms the impression that it is difficult to compare churches in the Global South and the Global North because of the different contexts and different worldviews. One attendee made the following observation:

I may be mistaken, but my impression is that in larger churches—at least in Europe—there tends to be a stronger expectation from members, asking: “What can the church do for me?” In my home context, however, the dominant question is: “What is my role in the church, and what are my responsibilities within the congregation and toward those around me?” Perhaps churches in the North could learn from congregations in the South how many forms of service can be offered by those who might be considered ordinary believers.

While this observation carries some valuable insights, it is also true that the churches in the South may learn from the North about professionalism in diaconia and diaconal ministries. The conference noted that diaconia and social Christian practice is messy. Not everything is clear-cut.

Diaconia is about relations, mostly broken relations and messy relations, and when “we” serve through diaconia or Christian social practice, we do it from our own brokenness and our own messy places. In this regard, diaconia and Christian Social Practice can and may only happen from the cross of Jesus Christ, where we all are equal and equally pardoned. An important future topic might be: What are the source and the theology behind our diaconia and Christian Social Practice?