1 “Consecrating Methodist Deaconesses: History and Influences” Laceye C. Warner Associate Professor of the Practice of Evangelism and Methodist Studies Duke University Divinity School Box 90968 Durham, NC 27708 [email protected] Abstract Drawing upon reflections and study on the role of deaconess by John Wesley and Lucy Rider Meyer, this paper explores the historic roots and influences upon the role, particularly its initiation rituals. The paper traces the use of an ancient prayer in rituals for initiation to demonstrate the nuances of this lay role’s responsibilities and authority. Set apart through services of consecration, the deaconess provides a formal lay role inclusive of women, later broadened to include laity generally in United Methodism through the lay missioner. [The Candidates rise, and the Minister, taking the right hand of each Candidate, shall say:] “I admit thee to the office of Deaconess in the Church of God, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”1 Introduction This paper explores select history of and influences upon deaconesses and their initiation rituals including roots in Scripture and Christian antiquity to John Wesley in the eighteenth and Lucy Rider Meyer in the nineteenth centuries. This paper offers a frame within which to understand use and implications of initiation rites to the roles of deaconess and lay missioner in United Methodism. The role of deaconess was first formally recognized among Methodists by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1888. While a small number of similar Protestant groups preceded this modern recognition of deaconesses,2 this was the first recognition of a lay ministerial office inclusive of women in Methodism. It was soon followed by other significant Methodist deaconess organizations in the United States—for example the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, German Methodists and African Methodist Episcopal Church. Lucy Rider Meyer, founder of the Chicago Training School and fervent advocate for the office of deaconess within the Methodist Episcopal Church, provides a thoughtful historical study entitled Deaconesses, Biblical, Early Church, European, American (1889), in which a consecration rite for deaconesses appears. A number of documents from Meyer’s era, as well as earlier, use the language of ‘ordination’ for the initiation of those into the role of deaconess. However, most often such services are considered ‘consecration’ rituals, including the service 1 Doctrines and Disciplines of the Methodist Episcopal Church, ed. Bishop Goodsell, et. Al., “Form for Consecration of Deaconesses,” (New York, NY: Eaton and Mains, 1908), ¶ 470, 412. 2 Among those earlier deaconesses are the deaconesses established by Pastor Theodore Fliedner at Kaiserswerth, Germany in 1833. Fleidner’s establishment of the role of deaconess modeled after English efforts in prisons and work-houses led by Elizabeth Fry and Thomas Chalmers, grew widely to include schools, hospitals, orphanages in the decades to follow. Most would insist the Kaiserswerth deaconesses were not ordained, the initiation rite to the role is described by Lucy Rider Meyer as “consecrated to the work, and in connection with this there is an imposition of hands.” Lucy Rider Meyer, Deaconesses, Biblical, Early Church, European, American (Chicago, IL: The Message Publishing Company, 1889), 37. 2 appearing in Meyer’s text as well as the service included in the “Deaconess Manual of the African Methodist Episcopal Church,” (1902).3 Interestingly, the prayer for consecration in the service included in Meyer’s text, as well as in a similar service later included in the appendix of the MEC Discipline beginning in 1896, and in the main body of the MEC Discipline in 1908, share links with a document from early Christianity with which John Wesley was familiar. The following is a translation of the prayer: Eternal God, Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Creator of both man and woman, you who filled Miriam, Deborah, Anna and Huldah with the Spirit, you who did not judge it unworthy for your Son to be born of a woman, you who in the Tent of the Testimony and in the Temple designated women to guard your holy doors; let your gaze now fall upon your [female] servant here present, who has been designated for the diaconate, and give her a holy spirit, cleanse her “from every defilement of body and spirit” [2 Corinthians 7:1], that she may carry out in a worthy fashion the task confided to her, for your glory and for the praise of your Christ, with whom…4 This prayer most likely first appears in the Apostolic Constitutions, a document of the early church composed around 380. In subsequent pages we will follow the appearance and use of this prayer to explore the role and initiation rituals of the deaconess (and eventually the lay missioner in Methodism in the United States). John Wesley and the Role of Deaconess The office of deaconess within Methodist traditions enjoys a rich history drawing on John Wesley’s innovative re-appropriation of practices from Christian antiquity. John Wesley’s interest in practices of the early Church, such as sick visitors and his introduction to this prayer from the Apostolic Constitutions, received inspiration from Thomas Deacon, a leading Non-Juror, as well as the Moravians Wesley encountered on his voyage to Georgia. John Wesley’s affirmation of the role of deaconess grew from his interest in and reverence for the early church. During the initial years of his ministry, Wesley intended to implement the role of deaconess along with additional early church practices, such as the use of hymns, lay leaders, and extemporaneous prayer and preaching, to recapture the spirit of the early church.5 Wesley’s readings, writings, and practices surrounding the time of his journey to Georgia as a missionary for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel demonstrate his view of the Georgia mission as an opportunity to restore ancient Christian practices and liturgies, particularly among Native Americans in a context with similarities to that of the early church.6 The implementation of the role of deaconess while in Georgia was one of Wesley’s initial experiments. 3 These two consecration rituals appear as appendices to this paper. 4 Aime George Martimort, Deaconesses: An Historical Study (San Francisco: CA: Ignatius Press, 1986), 70. 5 Paul Chilcote, John Wesley and the Women Preachers of Early Methodism (Metuchen, NJ and London: The American Theological Library Association and the Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1991), 22. 6 Ted Campbell, John Wesley and Christian Antiquity (Nashville, TN: Kingswood Books, 1991), 34. Similar to the context of the early church, particularly Native Americans in Georgia had not encountered the gospel in substantial ways beyond earlier Spanish traders. 3 Throughout his ministry in Georgia, Wesley referred to Thomas Deacon’s work, particularly Deacon’s treatment of the Apostolic Constitutions in his Compleat Collection of Devotions.7 Wesley first met Deacon in June 1733 while traveling to Manchester with John Clayton, a tutor from Brasenose College, Oxford. Clayton had convinced Wesley and the Holy Club of the importance of following the practices of the apostles in the earliest days of the church.8 Correspondence shared between Deacon and Wesley demonstrates Clayton’s success and a persistent interest on the part of Wesley in early church practices.9 Deacon eventually enlisted Wesley to assist with the compilation of the Compleat Collection of Devotions, with Wesley contributing “An Essay upon the Stationary Fasts” from which Deacon included several excerpts.10 Deacon’s compiled work included a service for the ordination of deaconesses from the Apostolic Constitutions, including the prayer quoted earlier. Deacon included the provision for ordaining deaconesses to assist with the administration of baptism by immersion and ministry to women. Deacon based his allegiance to the early church on two principles stated in the preface to his Compleat Collection of Devotions: First. That the best method for all churches and Christians to follow, is to lay aside all modern hypotheses, customs, and private opinions, and submit to all the doctrines, practices, worship, and discipline, not of any Particular, but of the Ancient and Universal Church of Christ, from the beginning to the end of the Fourth century… Second. That the Liturgy in the Apostolical Constitutions is the most Ancient Christian Liturgy extant; that it is perfectly pure and free from interpolation; and that the book itself, called the Apostolical Constitutions, contains at large the doctrines, laws, and settlements, which the three first and purest ages of the gospel did with one consent believe, obey, and submit… 11 Wesley shared Deacon’s inclinations and likewise emphasized the lay role of deaconess as an aspect of his evangelistic ministry in the Georgia colony.12 The Moravians, a group of Lutheran pietists Wesley encountered on the journey to Georgia, also informed Wesley’s ideas regarding the participation of laity and women in Christian ministry. While sailing to Georgia, Wesley acted as chaplain for the ship, The Simmonds.13 These Moravians introduced Wesley to their deep spiritual resources of a simple piety, joyful hymns, as well as their communal life—all reminiscent to Wesley of early church practices.14 In their communal life, the Moravians separated men and women, also similar to the early church, prompting a need for ministry roles by and for women—such as the role of deaconess.15 Wesley implemented the role of deaconess in his evangelistic plan for the Georgia colony, both for the purpose of baptism by immersion of newly converted (often Native American) women as 7 Ibid, 22-23. 8 Frank Baker, John Wesley and the Church of England (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1970), 31. 9 Campbell, John Wesley and Christian Antiquity, 29. 10 Baker, John Wesley and the Church of England, 31.