Recommended Reading: Katelin Hansen on the ongoing ministry of deaconesses

Deaconess Dr. Katelin Hansen published an article on UMNews this week entitled "Deaconesses are still here - let's invest in them too!" In it, Dr. Hansen explains the ongoing mission and ministry that deaconesses and home missioners offer to the world through their service as an order of The United Methodist Church. She connects the historical roots of this mission and ministry with its present shape.

As part of that effort, Dr. Hansen offers a corrective to how some of that history was presented in Rev. Dr. Javier Viera's recent article on the mission and ministry of deacons, including its treatment of the Chicago Training School for City, Home, and Foreign Missions, one of the predecessor institutions to Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. Several UM & Global readers, including Dr. Hansen, raised similar points in comments (public or private) on a previous UM & Global Recommended Reading piece calling attention to Rev. Dr. Viera's article.

Dr. Hansen's article is thus well worth reading both for its own highlighting of deaconesses and home missioners and as part of a larger conversation with Rev. Dr. Viera.

Recommended Reading: Javier Viera on Deacons

Rev. Dr. Javier A. Viera, President of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, published a recent commentary on UMNews entitled "To revitalize the church, we must invest in deacons." The piece is worth a read, as it intersects with themes from this blog in at least four ways:

1. Viera roots his reflections in the historical example of the deaconess movement and the Chicago Training School for City, Home, and Foreign Missions.

2. Viera is concerned with the missional nature of clergy, especially deacons, a topic that Ben Hartley has written about on this blog.

3. Viera is concerned with changing trends in the composition and supply of clergy. I have written several pieces in recent years on clergy supply.

4. Viera is concerned with the changing nature of theological education, which multiple authors have addressed on this site.

While many are likely to read Viera's piece in light of recent General Conference decisions on sacramental rights for deacons, as the above list makes clear, Viera's reflection on deacons connects to many and wide ranging issues in the church.

Recommended Reading: Deaconesses in Methodist History

As part of the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women (GCSRW)'s celebration of Women's History Month and its own 50th anniversary, it has published an excellent historical overview of the office of deaconesses in the Methodist tradition, written by Rev. Emily Nelms Chastain. Interested readers looking to supplement Chastain's overview can also check out these biographies of significant early leaders of the deaconess movement in the United States: that of Lucy Rider Meyer, that of Dr. Jane Bancroft Robinson, and that of Belle Harris Bennett. These biographies come from the Methodist mission bicentennial collection. Chastain writes about the spread of the deaconess movement to India, and Isabella Thoburn was an early leader among deaconesses there. She also writes about the significance of the deaconess movement in the Philippines. Institutions like Ka Onang Bible Institute and leaders like Prudencia Fabro helped cultivate the movement there. The deaconess program in present-day United Methodism is overseen by United Women in Faith, formerly United Methodist Women.

Recommended Readings: UMW Assembly

United Methodist Women (UMW), the women's mission organization for The United Methodist Church in the US, held their quadrennial Assembly meeting May 18-20 in Columbus, OH. The event highlighted the foci for UMW's current mission work and celebrated their 150th anniversary, coming up in March 2019. A rundown of various news stories and videos related to the event are below:

Both this UMNS story and this UMW story provide a recap of Assembly

Both this UMNS story and this UMW story reported on the pre-conference day of service and action

The first day's events are covered in response magazine daily edition #1

The second day's events are covered in response magazine daily edition #2

The third day's events are covered in response magazine daily edition #3

UMW shared a story of the deaconesses consecrated at Assembly

UMW shared a story of the involvement of women bishops at Assembly

Video interviews with speakers from Assembly are available on UMW's Facebook page

Images from Assembly are available on UMW's Flickr account

Recommended Readings: United Methodism in Germany

In case you missed it, United Methodist News Service has been putting out a series of stories about The United Methodist Church in Germany. While entries in this series go back a couple of years, many of the stories have been published in the last couple of months. Not only are these stories a chance to learn more about United Methodism in another part of the world, most also deal directly with the church as it is in mission.

Among the stories are several about United Methodists seeking revitalized congregations and new ministries in the community.

Also included are several about the history of deaconesses in the German UMC.

Quite a number of the stories address immigration within society and within the church.

The General Board of Church and Society also met recently in Berlin, Germany. Board members were given another glimpse into the German church and German society. GBCS, UM News Service #1, UM News Service #2, the Germany Episcopal Area #1, and the Germany Episcopal Area #2 all wrote articles on this meeting.