Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
In 1984 the General Conference established a Commission for the Study of Ministry to conduct a broad and comprehensive study of the church's historic and contemporary theological understanding of ministry, with emphasis on the meaning of ordination, the relation of ordination to the sacraments, the meaning of itinerancy, and the nature of conference membership. The Commission was to study the effectiveness of the church's present structure of ministry, consider the possibility of a permanent order of deacon and recommend any necessary restructuring for effective ministry.
The Commission was continued in its work by the 1988 General Conference and in its report of 1992 recommended, among other topics, the creation of a permanent order of deacon, replacing the then current order of deacon which was a stepping stone to elder.