To revitalize the church, we must invest in deacons

Key points:

• General Conference’s decision to extend sacramental authority to deacons in their contexts of ministry was inspiring, given the energy and enthusiasm of students pursuing ordination to that order.
• Particularly as churches and vocational ministers find themselves in increasing economic precarity, deacon ministry is swiftly becoming a sustainable home for clergy.
• If we can invest in a new generation of deacons, we can ignite a wave of service leadership that revitalizes the church.

 

The Rev. Dr. Javier A. Viera. 
Photo courtesy of Garrett Seminary.

When Lucy Rider Meyer founded the Chicago Training School in 1885, its inaugural class was just four students. By the time the school merged with the Garrett Biblical Institute to become Garrett Theological Seminary in 1934, it had trained more than 5,000 women to become deaconesses in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Meyer is rightly remembered as the woman who dramatically expanded the reach and influence of the diaconate, and of women in ministry, but the scope of her contributions to Chicago far outstrips that already-sizable accomplishment. In the 30 years she served as the training school superintendent, the institution birthed more than 40 philanthropic institutions, including an orphanage, a senior center and a free medical clinic that evolved into what is now Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Now a world renowned, university medical center and medical school, its origins can be traced back directly to the work of early deaconesses in Chicago.

It's no secret that The United Methodist Church is at a pivotal moment in our history. The actions of this generation may well determine whether our church finds new vitality or fades into obscurity.

As we navigate this critical juncture, Meyer’s legacy is worth revisiting, a model for how social engagement can ignite vibrant faith leadership. Then, as now, the ordination of deacons plays a central role in how we live out the gospel and extend Methodist values to where they’re needed most.

I was deeply inspired by the General Conference’s decision to extend sacramental authority to deacons in their contexts of ministry because I have witnessed firsthand the energy and enthusiasm of students pursuing ordination to that order. These students are at the center of the church’s future, as they help the church recover or rediscover ministry as it was practiced from the church’s earliest days.

Particularly as churches and vocational ministers find themselves in increasing economic precarity, deacon ministry is swiftly becoming a sustainable home for clergy. Garrett Seminary, where I serve as president, has seen robust growth in our Master of Arts in Pastoral Care and Counseling program. This degree helps students become licensed clinicians, in addition to providing a broader theological foundation to their work.

By weaving together trauma-informed care, non-Western healing traditions, best practices from psychology and social work, and a biblical ethos of Christ-like love, we teach a unique set of skills that care for the whole person, and students are answering that call. As more and more ministers serve bi-vocationally, work as a clinician can help make their lives economically viable while still prioritizing gospel values.

Amid a national shortage in mental health providers and an epidemic of loneliness and isolation, it’s a way for deacons to meet one of the world’s greatest needs and crises.

Crucially, deacons are also the office primarily tasked with enacting the church’s social justice commitments. Research shows that, especially for younger generations, their interest in church hinges on our ability to live out the values we proclaim from the pulpit.

If we can invest in a new generation of deacons like 19^th-century social reformers, or even like first- and second-century Christian communities, we can ignite a similar wave of service leadership that revitalizes the church by mending fractures in our communities. For this to be effective, these leaders must be trained to ground their work in the ministry of Jesus.

Consistently through Scripture, we see Christ deliberately center people whom society has pushed to the margins. Women, children, sick people, disabled people, poor people, persecuted minorities and political outcasts — these groups and more formed the early Jesus movement’s beating heart. In programs like our Master of Arts in Public Ministry, we offer students the chance to focus their study around this call because we are convinced that it is essential for the thriving of the church and the healing of the world.

The United Methodist Church cannot, however, continue to treat deacons as a second class within the ordination hierarchy. Making elders and deacons equal in our polity is one of the Wesleyan tradition’s greatest strengths, yet deacon formation has not always been prioritized in formal church thought or practice in how we train clergy. The two orders of ministry have unique and essential roles to fulfill, and these are complementary. However, current hierarchies, spoken and unspoken, treat one as primary and the other as of secondary importance. The moment is ripe for our denomination’s seminaries to correct this historic error and treat the diaconate as an essential order of ministry.

“Few can give diamonds,” wrote Meyer in “For Jesus’ Sake” (1885), “but all can give something. We can join this definite movement, we can wear the badge, and thus our influence may reach others.”

One posthumous tribute to Meyer said, “It is not an easy, nor a small thing to begin any new movement in this old world.” After Meyer’s death in 1922, thousands of the women she helped and trained organized a vigil. In an age when most homes still did not have telephones, they simultaneously lit candles — a living testament to how her love illuminated their path. One hundred years later, that candle is ours to light, as we prepare the next generation of deacons who will channel God’s abundant spirit to flow out of the church’s doors.

Viera is president of Garrett Seminary.

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