We want to take the opportunity to get to know some of the members of our congregation and staff who serve in different ways. This month we are featuring Bob Ragan, one of our Congregational Care Deacons.
Bob has been a Deacon since 2007, but he recently came on staff at The Falls Church Anglican in 2023. For 31 years, Bob served as the director of Regeneration Ministries’ D.C. office. Regeneration Ministries offers Christ-centered, biblically-based, and clinically grounded help for men and women to walk in sexual integrity. Bob’s own healing journey has enabled him to help countless others through his work in Regeneration Ministries.
Bob first came to know the Lord during the Jesus Revolution of the 1970’s. He walked with the Lord during his college years, but walked away after graduation. In 1987, he rededicated his life to God, making Him Lord over all aspects of his life, including his sexuality.
Regeneration Ministries is part of his own healing journey, as he began attending his first support meeting there in February of 1988, and quickly began leading the support groups and serving as a volunteer. By 1993, he had opened the D.C. office.
Bob was able to lead this ministry and provide help to others because of his understanding of his true identity in Christ. This clarity gave him the ability to walk through life’s challenges in the knowledge and love of God, and who He created Bob to be.
Speaking at conferences around the world, and providing coordinated support groups, discipleship, and healing prayer were all part of the pastoral work Bob did through Regeneration.
Serving the Body of Christ as a Deacon
In 2007, when Bob was still in the heart of his work at Regeneration Ministries, he began to discern the call to ordination as a Deacon. In the Anglican tradition, one of the responsibilities of Deacons is to make Christ and his redemptive love known by word and example to those among whom we live, work, and worship. Bob recognized that he was already doing the work of a Deacon at Regeneration Ministries, and ordination was the next chapter God was calling him to. As a Deacon, Bob’s life and teachings show Christ’s people that, in serving others, we are serving Christ himself.
Although he was ordained, Bob did not immediately begin serving in the congregation. He had been a member of The Falls Church Anglican since 2004, but Regeneration was still his primary ministry. As he was going through a long season of waiting and wondering what was next for him, Bob heard the Lord give him three words for this season: abide, remain, and release. God was working in the waiting, preparing Bob for the new role of serving the body of Christ in Sunday morning worship and through Congregational Care.
In Congregational Care, Bob offers spiritual direction and support to members of the congregation. He also offers support for various ministries in the church. On Sundays, you can usually find him serving at the 8 a.m. services, and he also serves at funerals. In addition, Bob offers topical seminars and support groups to those in the congregation.