Diaconal Papers & Documents

AED has collected a selection of historic and contemporary papers relating to diaconal history, formation and theology.

Diaconal History

• What was happening in Nineteenth-Century Germany that ignited Diakonia?, by Susan Wilds McArver, 2007 
• Historic Documents on the Diaconate, by Deacon Ormonde Plater, 1999. 
• The Ministry of the Deacon: Anglican-Lutheran Perspectives. Nordic Ecumenical Council. 1999
• The Diaconate Renewed: Sacrament, Word, and Service, by Deacon Canon Michael Jackson. 2021

Diaconal Programs & Formation

• Guidelines for Deacon Programs, by Deacon Edwin F. Hallenbeck, 2002
• Deacons in the Episcopal Church: Guidelines on their selection, training, and ministry, edited by Deacon Ormonde Plater, 1991

Liturgy

• Music and Deacons, by Deacon Ormonde Plater, 1995
• Services from the Book of Common Prayer with a Deacon as Officiant, edited and adapted by Justus Van Houten, SSF
• The Deacon in the Worshipping Community, by Deacon Canon Michael Jackson. 2021

Tools for Diaconal Ministry

• Growing in Ministry: Formation for Diaconal Service, by Lutheran Deaconess Louise Williams, 1999
• Deacon as Learner and Mentor for Today's Church, by Deacon John W. Willets, 2005
• Prophetic Voice of the Deacon, by Deacon Susanne Watson Epting, 2008
• Lifting up the Servants of God: The Deacon, Servant Ministry, and the Future of the Church, by Thomas Ferguson, 2001
• Prophetic Diakonia: For the healing of the world. The Lutheran World Federation, 2002

Diaconal Theology

• Ubuntu:The theology of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, by Deacon Clelia Pinza-Garrity. 2022
• Gospel Images of Jesus as Deacon: Upsetting the Hierarchies of his Culture, by Osvaldo D. Vena, 2003
• Formation of Ministering Christians, by Deacon Susanne Watson Epting, 1999
• The Deacon as Para-Cleric, by Deacon W. Keith McCoy, 1998
• Baptism and the Ministry of Deacons, by The Rt. Rev. Richard F. Grein, 1987
• Laos and the Diaconate, by The 1986 Sindicators Meeting, 1999
• The Renewal of the Diaconate and the Ministry of the Laos, by The Rt. Rev. Richard F. Grein, retired Bishop of New York, 1991
• What Do We Bless And Why?, by The Rev. Charles Hefling, 2003
• Are Deacons the Enemy? A sermon, by The Rev. James Lassen-Willems, 1989
• A View from the Omnivorous Presbyterate, by The Rt. Rev. Jeffrey D. Lee, 1991
• An Empirical Look at the Ecumenical Diaconate in the United States, by Deacon Benjamin L. Hartley, 2003
• The Role of the Diaconate and the Unity of the Church, by Richard L. Jeske, Lutheran pastor, 2002
• Citizens of the World - Servants of Christ, by Maylanne Whittall; North American Association for the Diaconate; 1994

The Diaconate

• Exodus from Privilege: Reflections on the Diaconate in Acts, by The Rt. Rev. Thomas E. Breidenthal. Published in The Anglican Theological Review, 2013. Shared with permission.
• Towards a Renewed Diaconate, 2019. Three papers by Deacon Canon D. Michael Jackson 

Ecumenical

• The Diaconate: Seeking an Ecumenical Consensus, by Deacon Canon D. Michael Jackson. 2021.
• Diaconate as an Ecumenical Opportunity: The Hanover Report of the Anglican-Lutheran International Commission. Anglican Communion Publications. 1996
• The shape of things to come, by David Clark, British Methodist Diaconal Order 2020
• Called to Transformative Action: Ecumenical Diakonia, April 2018.
• The Diaconate in the Anglican and Lutheran Traditions, by Deacon Canon Michael Jackson. 2022