The Diaconate in the Diocese of New Jersey:
Resources

Lifting Up the Servants of God: The Deacon, Servant Ministry, and the Future of the Church, by Thomas Ferguson

Deacon Nicholas Ferrar (click to enlarge)

The Deacon in the Reformation The English Reformation continued with the ministry of bishops, priests, and deacons (unlike the theology of ministry developed by the Presbyterian and some Lutheran churches), but the diaconate was still a transition to the priesthood. There were some notable deacons in the centuries following the Reformation. Nicholas Ferrar and the community at Little Gidding (UK) is still remembered as offering a 'counter-cultural' model for living the Christian life.

The Recovery of Diakonia In 19th-century Europe, the Lutheran churches on the continent sought to respond to the social upheaval and economic disparities created by the industrial revolution and the breakdown of traditional political systems. Orders of deaconesses and deacons were formed to perform servant ministry in ways that laid the groundwork for a wider 'social gospel.'