The ancient order of deacons is alive and well in North Carolina! The newest deacons, shown with Bishop Curry in June 2008, bring to over forty the number serving in all parts of the diocese. Ordained to a special ministry of servanthood directly under the bishop, they are called, in the name of Jesus Christ, “to serve all people, particularly the poor, the weak, the sick, and the lonely.” Going from the gathered church into the world with the people, they are symbols for all the baptized “to love and serve the Lord” – in hospitals and prisons, with the hungry and the helpless, as advocates and helpers, they work to live out the charge at their ordination that at all times, their “life and teaching are to show Christ’s people that in serving the helpless they are serving Christ himself.”

 
Ordained, but not priests, they discern a call with the support of their clergy and congregations, serve internships in local parishes, and, guided by the diocesan ordination process with the support of the Commission on Ministry and the Bishop, participate in the deacon formation program. After ordination, they are assigned to a congregation or other ministry of the diocese, working to model for the people, and to lead them into, the servant ministry of Jesus. This brochure outlines the discernment, formation, and ministry of deacons in the diocese.

The PowerPoint presentation at left describes the growing ministry of deacons in the Episcopal Church. Other resources can be found at the Web site of the North American Association for the Diaconate (NAAD): www.diakonoi.org .

For more information, please contact Deacon Ty Smithdeal, Chair of the Bishop’s Committee on the Diaconate, tsmithdeal@stmartins-charlotte.org, Deacon Bobbie Armstrong, Director of Deacon Formation, bobarmstrong@mindspring.com, or Archdeacon Bill Joyner, william.joyner@src.org.