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Educational Requirements | Internship Requirements | Leadership | Acceptance | Accountability Grandparenting | Participation | Future Issues . |
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8.2 This council will serve as the Application Committee for the synodical diaconate, performing those functions described elsewhere in this document. Other individuals may be invited by the Council to serve on the Application Committee, to assist them in their work.
8.3 The SDC will be responsible for making a report on the life and activities of the synodical diaconate to every Synod Assembly, as well as regular reports to the Bishop and Synod Council.
8.4 A Synod staff member, appointed by the Bishop, will be an ex-officio member of the Council.
9. Acceptance into the Synodical Diaconate
9.1 Those persons who desire to be members of the synodical diaconate must have obtained the support of their pastors and congregations (church councils). Applicants will have made their intentions known to the Bishop and to the Application Committee, through the filing of a completed Application for Admission to the Diaconate, Metropolitan New York Synod, and, following an initial interview, a detailed Internship Proposal and Learning Agreement approved by the applicant’s pastor/supervisor and congregation (see #7 above).
9.2 The regular application process
will be conducted as listed on page one of this document. A Call
(either from the candidate’s congregation, or, when specific
gifts and needs for ministry exist, directly from the Bishop),
is necessary for the candidate to be approved for admission to
the Synodical Diaconate. A Letter of Call from the congregation,
signed by the president of that congregation and accepted by
the candidate, must include an overview of the candidate’s
areas of service, along with estimates of hours to be served
in each area. The Letter of Call should also include a statement
of intent from the pastor-supervisor to guide, support, and encourage
the work of the deacon candidate. The Letter of Call should be
renewed annually, by action of the congregation through its voting
membership, in accordance with ELCA by-laws.
A final Approval Interview by the Synodical Diaconate Council,
and recommendation by the Council to the Bishop that the candidate
be approved for setting apart. (The Bishop always has the option
of also interviewing the candidate, and may accept or reject
the Diaconate Council’s recommendation. No candidate may
be approved to be set apart as a Synodical Deacon without the
Bishop’s endorsement.
9.3 The Liturgy for Setting Apart of Synodical Deacons shall
ordinarily take place during a Synod Assembly. Individual installation
services may be held in deacons’ local parishes, but will
not usually take place until after the Synodical Setting Apart.
9.4 Approved applicants will be received into membership in the synodical diaconate along with their ordering for diaconal service by a service of prayer and the laying on of hands, as currently found in the LBW Occasional Services rite for the setting apart of a deacon(ness).
10.1 Members of the synodical diaconate will be accountable immediately to their pastor-supervisors and to the congregations through which they receive their Call, except where working in the wider church, where they would be accountable to the leaders of organizations or agencies within which they are serving.
10.2 They will also be accountable to the Bishop of the Metropolitan New York Synod, as they will be considered part of the ministry of the Metropolitan New York Synod. Further, they will be accountable to the leadership and membership of the synodical diaconate itself.
10.3 Such accountability will include an annual report of ministry, filed with the congregation, the Bishop’s office, and the diaconal council.
11. Grandparenting of Current Deacons
11.1 There are dozens of men and women currently serving as “deacons” in congregations and agencies within the synod. A careful process of grandparenting is necessary, one which will insure fair treatment of these people, some of whom have endured the uncertainties of the ELCA’s frozen roster period (1988-1993) with grace and patience, while also assuring the basic integrity of the synodical diaconate in terms of requirements and expectations.
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