Reciprocity is the key word in this study of the diaconate: van Klinken maintains that diakonia is a joint undertaking in which both the helper and the helped have much to learn and to gain while building a healing community characterized by justice, mercy and reconciliation. The book includes an analysis of diakonia as it has been historically understood, as it currently viewed and as it might be freshly appropriated in three major Christian tradition Orthodox, Catholic and Reformed.