Are
you being called to serve in the church in ways that are somehow different from
the calling of a pastor? The Florida-Bahamas Synod has a Diaconal Ministry in
which deacons are consecrated for a ministry of Word and Service that flows from
the pastoral office of Word and Sacrament and is accountable to it.
According to the
constituting documents for the program (1998): "A Synodical Deacon is one who is
inwardly compelled and outwardly affirmed for service in both the congregation
and the world.... We understand a deacon as a particular minister with gifts and
a calling for providing vision and practical leadership for the congregation's
ministries. Through their common calling and theological training, deacons,
exercising their teaching responsibility, would assist the pastoral ministry in
underpinning the particular ministries of their calling to the ministry of Word
and Sacrament."
Deacons
in the Florida-Bahamas Synod serve only within the geographic confines of this
synod and are not rostered as lay ministers in ELCA. |
