Deacons in the Uniting Church in Australia

Introduction

The twentieth century has seen the impact of the ecumenical movement within most Christian churches in the world. As part of the manifestation of a renewed understanding of unity in Christ, some churches emerged as examples of the theological and practical considerations behind ecumenism. The Uniting Church in Australia is one of these churches.

In the journey of the Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian denominations towards union in 1977, the ordering and ecclesiology of the church was significantly affected by contemporary ecumenical thought. In particular, the ministry of deacon became an example of the new thinking about ministry. The Basis of Union captures this moment in church history, by specifically referring to the emergence of what was called the “renewed diaconate”, and maintained its willingness to allow its forms of ministry to be transformed.

…The Uniting Church recognises that at the time of union many seek a renewal of the diaconate in which women and men offer their time and talents, representatively and on behalf of God’s people, in the service of humanity in the face of changing needs. The Uniting Church will so order its life that it remains open to the possibility that God may call men and women into such a renewed diaconate: in these circumstances it may decide to call them Deacons and Deaconesses, whether the service is within or beyond the life of the congregation …
The Uniting Church recognises that the type and duration of ministries to which women and men are called vary from time to time and place to place, and that in particular it comes into being in a period of reconsideration of traditional forms of the ministry, and of renewed participation of all the people of God in the preaching of the Word, the administration of the sacraments, the building up of the fellowship in mutual love, in commitment to Christ’s mission, and in service of the world for which he died.

Not only has the Uniting Church in Australia allowed ecumenical writing to transform its approach to the diaconate, but also continues to participate in the ongoing development of the diaconate, and of ministry generally, and to feed its innovations back into ecumenical dialogue.

Ecumenical thinking about ecclesiology and the diaconate

The emergence of the concept of the renewed diaconate did not occur in a vacuum, but arose out of new thinking about the nature and ordering of the church.

This appears to have been precipitated by a number of different events, not least the two world wars. However, even prior to this, ecumenical activity was alive and well in the diaconal community, with deaconess movements, and international organisations supporting deacons across countries and denominations. While not all churches were involved, such movements illustrated the ability of people from different churches to work together for common causes. Brodd writes, “It is significant, however, that the ecumenical impact made by the diaconate was not as a result of ecumenical dialogues which had hardly been invented at the time: it arose out of the diffusion of ideas mentioned above.”

The theology of Karl Barth also had tremendous impact on the ecumenical movement. Webb points to his significant influence on the environment in which the World Council of Churches (WCC) was formed in 1948. She writes that “Barth saw the Church…as a dynamic event, the earthly historic form of the mission of God in the world…After the War, F&O (the Faith and Order Commission of the WCC) continued Barth’s concerns for the unity of the Church visibly expressed as one mission of God in the world against ‘scandals of division’ and Churches claiming to be the only true church.”

Significant too, was the impact on the Catholic church of discussions by Catholic priests interned in Dachau prison camp. They considered “how to revitalise the church after the war so that it would serve a crushed and defeated people in Europe. Their vision included the diaconate.”

Within this time of post war turbulence and the theological and practical reordering of the church, the concept of diakonia was re-examined. Spencer points to the influence of a Dutch theologian Hordijk, who argued that “the church had no end in itself, but that its purpose was to be at mission, announcing the kingdom of God’s Shalom which was ‘proclaimed and made present in kerygma, lived in koinonia and demonstrated in diakonia’”.

Brodd writes that in 1964 the Faith and Order Commission started to form its thinking in terms of two distinct concepts: diakonia, which was a ministry of the whole church; and the role of deacons as “signs of what church is.”

Spencer also points to the influence of sociological factors, citing the impact of theologians from Africa, Asia and Latin America and their theological focus on the liberation of the oppressed. Thus she argues “diakonia as a concept went out, and in came service, relief and developmental aid.”

Equally important was Vatican II. Referring to the broad range of publications that emanated from the churches and the WCC around the nature and theology of the church McRae highlights in particular the understanding that Vatican II brought to the debate. She says “the term ‘people of God’ was used as a central metaphor to describe an understanding of the church as it moved from a dominant institutional model to that of seeing the work of the church as a servant of the people with an emphasis of the influence of the triune God within any understanding of the church and its relationship to the wider community.”

Mc Kee summarises the sum of these approaches when she writes, “The implications of the ecumenical movement for diakonia are many…Perhaps most vital is the fact that…the nature of the church is to be a servant as Christ was a servant, then no Christian, no church member, can escape the obligation to diakonia and still claim to be faithful to Christ and the church…”

It was in this context that the WCC produced its paper on the theology of Diakonia in 1966. The focus was to break through creedal and traditional forms of the diaconate to find the concept of service as the will of God. It also distinguished the concept of justice from the concept of diakonia, noting that diaconal service involved the discernment of God’s activity in the world, and the presence of God’s love in the giving and receiving of help. Tellingly it reaffirmed the concept of diakonia as an ecclesiological imperative stating that, “Wherever the church has the freedom to develop organisational structure, there Diakonia for the poor and the world must find adequate expressions in ministerial office.”

Thus an understanding of the diaconate emerged which included the idea of the servant hood of the whole church, with the role of deacons to be the concrete expression of that servant hood.

The formation of the Uniting Church in Australia

Within this organizational and theological milieu, the Uniting Church in Australia was forming. Significantly, a member of the Joint Commission on Union, Davis McCaughey, was also a member of the WCC’s Faith and Order Commission and it appears the impact of this cannot be underestimated.

McCaughey writes “At the time when the Basis of Union was being drafted the historical, theological and sociological roles of deaconesses and deacons was being widely discussed in Churches throughout the world. The Joint Commission was reluctant to come to conclusions prematurely on this matter. Where much was uncertain it was better to leave the way open for further discussion.”

The document The Church, its Nature Function and Ordering, circulating in the early 60’s certainly took up the thinking on the nature of ministry, stating that it did not see ministry to be static and saw the union of churches as an opportunity for “creative re-interpretation and broadening” of the ministry of the diaconate.

Dutney explains that the title of deacon was to be conferred on those who were exercising representative ministries. He writes that this was seen not just as a convenient catchall term, but rather as an opportunity for the renewal of such ministries. Thus the idea of the deacon at this stage went beyond the “Reformed understanding of the ministry of the representative laity. But they broadened this historical base by relating the diaconate more closely to the ministry of the Word and Sacraments than was the case of any of the uniting churches.”

The influence of ecumenical writing then appeared to be taking the idea of the diaconate beyond any previous thinking in the Reformed tradition. Dutney notes, “The Joint Commission’s Reports …were not narrowly Reformed, still less narrowly Presbyterian or Methodist or Congregationalist, but were the fruit of a genuinely ecumenical dialogue. They took into account the tradition of the church, in the widest sense, informed by the contemporary needs of the missionary Church.”

Webb however sees the idea of the Joint Commission as less creative than this assessment infers. Webb argues that “The Basis of Union, although needing deacons for a threefold pattern, did little with them except gather up roles from previous traditions.”

Indeed, despite the radical creativity inherent in the idea of the renewed diaconate, hints to the perceived limits of that ministry were still apparent. The Church, its Nature Function and Ordering states “Ordination of deacons implies a limited but genuine participation in the one order of the ministry of the Word and Sacraments; and therefore in preaching and teaching. Liturgical and sacramental life, pastoral care and discipline.”

It was this idea of “limited ministry” which was to exercise the UCA for many years thereafter.

1977 - Union

The Basis of Union is a founding document of the Uniting Church in Australia. Paragraph 14 included the commitment to exploring the possibilities of the renewed diaconate, and a clear understanding that forms of ministry in the church could vary.

The church took its commitment to exploring how the diaconate might look seriously and in 1979 the first paper on the establishment of the renewed diaconate was circulated. It was at this time that McCaughey was writing his commentary on the Basis of Union and he gives some insight into how he envisaged the diaconate. He wrote, “Some men and women are endowed with special gifts of service for the needy world; and no doubt the church will see to it that those charismata, gifts of grace, will be developed by training. The gifts are not identical with those of other ministries: indeed it is part of the theological principle underlying our understanding of church that they should be different, characterising particular people… their calling, their gifts of grace, do not lift from every Christian the responsibility to love the neighbour and to do so willingly. But there are some who…must ‘offer their times and talents, representatively and on behalf of God’s people, in the service of mankind (sic)’. Just as the profundities of our faith and the complexities of our life call for an educated ministry….so too the sophisticated character of our society calls for a diaconate which can give special attention to men and women and children in need.”

Dutney, writing in 1986, provides a useful study into the ecumenical influence of the discussion surrounding the diaconate during the early 1980’s. “The establishment of the diaconate is an exciting prospect – both in terms of its significance for the life of the UCA, and in terms of its wider ecumenical significance. The process which has led to this decision is continuous with the proposals of 1963, especially in the way it has involved a deliberate participation in ecumenical discussions on ministry through the Faith and Order Commission of the WCC.”

1982 - Baptism Eucharist and Ministry

In 1982, the fruits of decades of ecumenical thinking on the nature and ordering of the church culminated in the publication of Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (BEM) by the World Council of Churches. It explicitly named deacons as signs of the service of the church to the world, naming the ministry as one of “love within the community.” However, the document was still perceived to limit the concept of ministry in its broader form, although commentators agreed that the document itself called for continued reform across the threefold pattern of ministry.

Brodd names this document as a breakthrough for the discussion of the diaconate in the framework of the WCC. He argues that the fact that the diaconate was given a place in the flexible understanding of ministry was a radical shifting of position and notes that despite the critical responses to it, churches are still moving toward the ecclesiology as found in BEM.

Brodd has analysed the ecumenical conversations that arose in response to BEM and characterises the themes of the dialogue as follows:
• “a moving away from the debate about church order towards an increasing ecclesiological awareness;
• A critique of the medieval mono-presbyterate in favour of a diversified ordained ministry;
• An emphasis on the epiclectic (an invocation of the epiklesis) character of ordination;
• A recognition of the diaconate within the threefold ministry as a fundamental structure in the church;
• The deacon as a bridge between liturgy and diaconal work; and
• The demand for a renewal of the diaconate.”

In 1994, the UCA wrote, “The three texts contained in Baptism Eucharist and Ministry…are among the most important in the history of the modern Ecumenical movement. The text on ministry is the longest, but also the most controversial of the three, since it is read from strongly conflicting and deeply held views about the structuring of ministry in the church.”

According to Thompson, the major impact of BEM was the “theological recovery of the ministry of the whole people of God.” Its effect he explains was to more explicitly orient “all discussions about ordination towards the roles ordained ministers have in guiding, leading and equipping all God’s people for their ministry.”

Webb suggests that BEM had little immediate impact on the grassroots of the Uniting Church, but points to the fact that it opened again the discussion on episcope and the diaconate. Significantly she notes that BEM highlighted an unresolved issue in the UCA, citing the various papers on the diaconate that had been circulated through the church at that stage, but which had encountered opposition at every Assembly. This unresolved issue was how to make the diaconate a distinctive ministry, as opposed to a minister of the Word, and to the ministry of the laity.

1988 The Lavender report

In 1988, the Uniting Church received at its triennial Assembly a report on the renewal of the Church’s diaconal ministry, known now as the Lavender Report. This report acknowledged the resources and material of a number of other churches across the world, and from material available from the WCC. However, it also commented, “little is known about the discussions in other churches concerning the renewal of the diaconate…despite the wide circulation of the report on Baptism Eucharist and Ministry, from the World Council of Churches.”

Nevertheless, it appeared to accurately reflect the thinking about the diaconate over the previous decades. It stated, “The responsibility of the Deacon is to provide theologically informed leadership to the Church in response to human need…The Deacon, therefore, needs to be actively involved where people are suffering. The Deacon also needs to be actively involved in the Church, challenging, enabling and equipping the people of God, and caring for those who suffer within the Christian community.”

However, the Assembly rejected this report. Rowan Gill wrote about the Lavender Report, “The draft that was neither received nor given approval by the 1988 Assembly had some obvious weaknesses. There was insufficient relation of the office of deacon to scripture, tradition and history. The chief difficulty is discovering from the draft how the office of deacon differs from the minister of the Word.”

Emilson writes, “Standing Committee found itself unconvinced by the proposed model, which it saw as both too narrow (in that it defined a range of ministries out of the diaconate) and too broad (in that it contained too much overlap with ministry of the word). Against the objections of the Commission on Doctrine, the Fifth Assembly approved a motion from the Standing Committee that implementation of the renewed diaconate was ‘inappropriate at this stage’.

1991 - A Vision for Ministry

The 1991 Assembly considered a further report on Ministry in Australia. This report included the note that “Many deaconesses are hurt by the inability of the Assembly to reach agreement on the reshaping of their ministry, especially as other churches in Australia and overseas are moving to renew the diaconate…”

Assembly accepted the proposals contained in A Vision for Ministry in Australia, which addressed the overriding concerns about the distinctive nature of the ministry of deacon. It noted, “The diaconate was to be a distinctive ministry, complementary but not inferior to the ministry of the Word. The major difference was to be in location…” Such a position meant that it was accepted that the ministry of the Word and ministry of deacon had similar sacramental capacity and function, but with a different orientation.

It became apparent after this Assembly, the Uniting Church was still not confident about its position on the renewed diaconate. The proposal had also contained a process for one ordination and two accreditations. The Commission on Doctrine opposed this model, despite its acceptance by Assembly, particularly because of its “ecumenical implications for questions of ordination.” In the following three years more work was done on questions about ordained and specified ministries.

1994 – Ordination and the Ministry

At the 1994 Assembly, the paper on ordination and the ministry strongly affirmed baptism as a call to ministry, and the ordination of people to specified ministry as “further commissioning to one of those specified ministries by which the church solemnly and thankfully sets them apart for such ministry.”

The ministry of the Word and ministry of deacon were distinguished “in terms of their primary concern or sphere of activity (gathered or dispersed) and primary orientation (toward the gathered community or towards society at large).”

There was an exploration of the way that diaconal ministry worked, with the broad themes emerging that the diaconate did not primarily minister to congregations, but was “more typically the expression of solidarity with oppressed and marginalised people.” As well as proposing the reversal of the one ordination, two accreditations model, the paper concluded that the diaconate might not be considered primarily a sacramental ministry, and proposed that deacons be given limited authority to preside over the Eucharist.

According to Mostert, this position was reached by reflecting on historical, theological and ecumenical considerations, however “(t)he proposal to give deacons only a limited sacramental ministry, and especially the idea that authorisation for such ministry should come from Presbyteries in respect of particular circumstances, galvanised deacons and others into strong opposition to the report.” And the proposition to limit the sacramental ministry of deacons was rejected.

Ironically, both sides of the debate on this issue drew their insights from the ecumenical sphere. While on the one side deacons drew their ideas of ministry from decades of ecumenical dialogue about the nature of the renewed diaconate; on the other, allowing deacons to preside at the sacrament of Eucharist was seen as a barrier to ecumenism. Webb writes, “The ‘traditional’ (threefold order) deacon exercises specific liturgical roles but only the presbyter presides at the Eucharist…Since the UCA is in the midst of negotiation for mutual recognition of ministries…To ordain deacons to preside (although they can baptise) (was seen as) an ‘ecumenical anomaly’.”

Contemporary thinking

Despite what appears to be a significant focus on the nature of ministry within the Uniting Church in Australia, there still appears to be an incomplete understanding of ordination within the Uniting Church in Australia, let alone the specified ministry of deacon. As such, the questions of a distinct and separate ministry of deacon appear far from settled.

However, what is also clear is that such an unsettled condition in relation to the nature of the diaconate is not new, and one might argue inevitable. For, “(i)n spite of the existence of different traditions, the diaconal ministry is generally considered to have three main tasks – the socio-caritative, the catechetical and the liturgical – but diakonia is seeking everywhere new forms of service.”

What can be said about the Uniting Church is that it can now feed its experience into the ecumenical sphere. In 1996 Mostert wrote, “Empirical evidence suggests that many deacons in the UCA are exercising a ministry that is different from the ministry of most Ministers of the Word. More time is needed to see how well the theology and the practice of diaconal ministry accord with each other.”

In 2003 a report was brought to Assembly by a task group that had been set up to clarify the UCA’s understanding of the diaconate. This report noted that despite the concerns relating to the ability of deacons to preside at Holy Communion, this had not resulted in ecumenical isolation. Instead it suggested that the authority to preside over Eucharist, whilst recognised as pioneering, had allowed the ecumenical partners of the UCA to “locate the deacon within the category of minister”.

In 2005, Thompson wrote, “The fact is that the UCA has developed a very particular theology of ordination – it overlaps with, but is also distinguished from, that of other churches”. In particular he notes “Discussion about ordination in all the churches has been vigorous during the twentieth century, largely as a result of the ecumenical movement. The consequence of this is that no theology of ordination today could be presented which didn’t have as its governing framework the ministry of the whole people of God.”

The Uniting Church, through its continuing work on its ecclesiology continues to engage in this theology.

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