Office of Deaconess and Home Missioner Program
Greetings from the Deaconess and Home Missioner Program Office. We hope that you find this information of benefit as you may be discerning your own calling, seeking to support others in mission and ministry or exploring the rich history of lay ministry and women in The United Methodist Church.
While the Office of Deaconess has been a part of our tradition as a church since 1888, the Office of Home Missioner was established at the 2004 General Conference providing lay men with an opportunity to serve in a life-time relationship in The United Methodist Church. This has been the first opportunity for lay men to be in an official life-time relationship in ministry since the closing of the option of Diaconal Minister by the 1996 General Conference. The Office of Deaconess and Home Missioner is the only currently active recognized office in The United Methodist Church for those called to full time vocations in servant ministries as laity.
It is important to understand that the Office of Deaconess and Home Missioner is a unique relationship to the Church. Employment is not provided directly through the Office of Deaconess and Home Missioner. Deaconesses and home missioners find their own positions in a helping profession or church-related vocation. Current ministries include but are not limited to issues related to prison, environment, refugees, immigration, health care, education, homelessness, women and children, youth and families, senior adults, peace with justice, working poor, and a wide variety of church and community ministries.
Together, deaconesses, who are lay women, and home missioners, who are lay men, form a covenant community that is rooted in scripture, informed by history, driven by mission, ecumenical in scope and global in outreach. This is a community of laity who has responded to the call of God in their lives and has been commissioned by The United Methodist Church to full-time ministries of love, justice and service. We are a strong community committed to the mission and ministry of the Church.
If you are interested in learning more about this exciting ministry for lay women and lay men in The United Methodist Church, do not hesitate to write, call, or email the Deaconess Program Office for more information, qualifications, and an application.
Sincerely,
Becky Dodson Louter
Executive Secretary, Deaconess Program Office
deaconess@gbgm-umc.org
