Conference Report and Recommendations
Representatives of the communion of the Porvoo Churches gathered for this Consultation in order to deepen their churches’ understanding of and collaboration in the diaconate.
The Porvoo Declaration, the foundation document of the communion between the Porvoo Churches, commits its signatory churches “to work towards a common understanding of diaconal ministry.”
The Consultation was encouraged to learn of developments which are taking place in the Porvoo Churches. Both traditions are moving towards one another in their understanding of diaconal ministry, one of the fruits of the growing together of the churches. In the Lutheran tradition, there is a growing awareness of the link between the deacon’s ministry and the worship of the church, and in the Anglican tradition, there is a growing awareness of the importance of the deacon as a herald of the gospel in word and action.
Within the strong Lutheran tradition of caritative diaconia, steps are currently being taken in some of the Baltic and Nordic Porvoo Churches towards integrating this into the ordained ministry. Discussion is continuing in each church, and on the practical level there has been some sharing of diaconal ministries. Within the Anglican tradition, there is a concern to take further the study and development of the distinctive diaconate which is flourishing in some dioceses. In both traditions, there is on-going work on the understanding of ministry, ordained and lay.
Read further on Report and Recommendations
Papers:
One ministry – three commissions
Introduction by Rt Revd Dr Ragnar Persenius, Bishop of Uppsala
What Do We Mean by “Order”? A Lutheran Perspective
The Revd Dr Matti Repo, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
One ministry or two?
The Right Reverend Dr Michael Jackson, Bishop of Clogher (Ireland)
The Diaconal Ministry in the Church of Norway – Ecclesiological and Ecumenical Reflections on Recent Developments
Prof. Turid Karlsen Seim, Church of Norway
Diakonia’ in the New Testament:A Dialogue with John N. Collins
Paula Gooder, Church of England
Response to Paula Gooder’s paper on the scholarship of John N. Collins
Revd Peter Hayler, Church in Wales
What diaconate does the presbyterate have and exercise?
Revd Canon Rosalind Brown, Church of England
What is the relationship between the ministry of the Anglican Reader (and Catechetist?) and those of Deacon and Priest?
Revd Dr Anne Tomlinson, Scottish Episcopal Church
Holy Order
Revd Canon Dr Paul Avis, Church of England
Lutherans – The relationship between the caritative and liturgical functions of the deacon
Revd Tiit Pädam, Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church
What theological questions underlie the interchangeability of diaconal ministry?
Revd Dr Stephanie Dietrich, Church of Norway