In the

Methodist Church of Great Britain The Methodist Church of Great Britain is a Protestantism, Protestant List of Christian denominations, Christian denomination in Britain, and the mother church to Methodism, Methodists worldwide. It participates in the World Methodist Council. M ...

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

s (a term used for both men and women) are members of an order called the Methodist Diaconal Order (MDO). The MDO is both a

religious order A religious order is a subgroup within a larger confessional community with a distinctive high-religiosity lifestyle and clear membership. Religious orders often trace their lineage from revered teachers, venerate their Organizational founder, ...

and an order of ministry. One distinctive feature of the Methodist

ecclesiology In Christian theology, ecclesiology is the study of the Church, the origins of Christianity, its relationship to Jesus, its role in salvation, its polity, its discipline, its eschatology, and its leadership. In its early history, one of th ...

is that a deacon has a permanent ministry and remains as a deacon – it is not a transitional step toward becoming a

presbyter Presbyter () is an honorific title for Christian clergy. The word derives from the Greek ''presbyteros'', which means elder or senior, although many in Christian antiquity understood ''presbyteros'' to refer to the bishop functioning as overseer ...

. The diaconate is regarded as equal yet distinct from the

ate, but it places a particular emphasis on Christian service. the MDO reports to have "over 280" deacons, who follow a common Rule of Life.

History

Wesleyan Deaconesses and the

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

Deaconess Order were founded by the Rev. Thomas Bowman Stephenson in 1890. Stephenson saw that women had a unique role in Christian service, as they could visit homes that were inaccessible to men. They worked in association with his Children's Homes. The Deaconesses began to work overseas from 1894 following a request for a deaconess to serve in South Africa.Graham, Dorothy (2004)
Relations between the Wesley Deaconess Order and the Missionary Society
''Methodist Heritage''. Accessed 26 December 2016. After Methodist Union in 1932, the Wesleyan Deaconesses were joined by the

United Methodist The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...

Deaconesses and Primitive Methodist Sisters to become the Wesley Deaconess Order (WDO) of the Methodist Church. In the 1960s, the Order decided that membership would be lifelong, ending the previous practice of leaving upon marriage. The 1973

Methodist Conference The Methodist Church of Great Britain is a Protestant Christian denomination in Britain, and the mother church to Methodists worldwide. It participates in the World Methodist Council. Methodism traces its origins to the evangelical revival le ...

decision to open presbyteral ministry to women had a profound impact on the Order, initiating debates about its future. As a result, Conference agreed to cease recruitment for the WDO from 1978. However, there were still Methodists who believed themselves called to a diaconal ministry. Eventually in 1986 the Order was re-opened to both men and women. In the late 20th century, the diaconate was restored as a vocational order in many

Western churches Western Christianity is one of two subdivisions of Christianity (Eastern Christianity being the other). Western Christianity is composed of the Latin Church and Western Protestantism, together with their offshoots such as the Old Catholic Ch ...

, with deacons gaining recognition as equals to presbyters. Accordingly, the Methodist Conference of 1998 admitted all existing members of the renamed Methodist Diaconal Order into "full connexion"—becoming

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

to a full-time, life-long ministry. Members of the MDO gather annually for a

convocation A convocation (from the Latin ''wikt:convocare, convocare'' meaning "to call/come together", a translation of the Ancient Greek, Greek wikt:ἐκκλησία, ἐκκλησία ''ekklēsia'') is a group of people formally assembled for a specia ...

, echoing the practices of its predecessor, the WDO. In 2018, it was reported that there were 127 deacons active, 9 student deacons, and 118 supernumerary (retired) deacons.

Form of address

Formerly, deaconesses were addressed as ''Sister'', but since the admission of men to the order, and once it became an order of ministry as well as a religious order, all members are now officially titled "Deacon". The term "deaconess" is no longer used.

Habit

There is no formal

habit A habit (or wont, as a humorous and formal term) is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously. A 1903 paper in the '' American Journal of Psychology'' defined a "habit, from the standpoint of psychology, ...

or uniform for a Methodist deacon: some deacons may decide to wear what is regarded as 'traditional dress' for the MDO – a navy blue suit and a white shirt of blouse, particularly for formal occasions, while others may feel that they would prefer to wear the polo shirts and sweat shirts commissioned by the MDO particularly if the circumstances are less formal. Deacons are permitted to wear clerical shirts; however, these must be navy blue or white and deacons must wear the diaconal order badge they were presented with at their Ordination. The badge of the MDO is an important identifier for Methodist deacons.

Footnotes

Explanatory notes

Citations

References

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External links

The Diaconal Order
– The Methodist Church website {{DEFAULTSORT:Methodist Diaconal Order Diaconal order