Timeline of Female Deacons in the RPCNA

In 1888 the RPCNA became the first conservative Presbyterian body to ordain women to the diaconate.

  • 1845: Synod resolves the deacon/trustee controversy: rejects trustees, affirms deacons for both poor relief and temporal management.1
  • c. 1845: James McLeod Willson publishes The Deacon, defending the diaconate as a distinct, divinely instituted office.1
  • 1870s–1880s: RPCNA expands into foreign and domestic missions (Syria, Cyprus, Selma, Indian Territory); women take on substantial operational roles in missionary societies and benevolence work.23
  • 1888: McKeesport, Pennsylvania congregation, “feebly equipped with male members,” elects Martha J. McConnell, known for “efficiency in temperance and evangelistic work,” as deacon. Presbytery refers the question to Synod.45
  • 1888: North Cedar Ladies’ Missionary Society congratulates McConnell, urging “conscientious acceptance” and asking Synod to “lay no obstacles in her way.”6
  • 1888: Synod votes 93–24 that ordaining a woman deacon is “in harmony with the New Testament and the Constitution of the Apostolic Church.”5
  • 1888: Synod committee publishes “Women and the Deacon’s Office,” arguing from Romans 16:1 (Phoebe as diakonos) and 1 Timothy 3:11 (“women likewise”) for women in the diaconate while excluding them from ruling office and church courts.7
  • 1888: D.B. Willson defends women’s ordination to the diaconate in a seminary lecture, citing demographic need and women’s proven reform work.4
  • 1888: Thomas P. Stevenson surveys early-church deaconesses, marshaling patristic and conciliar evidence while confining their roles to non-priestly functions.8
  • 1888: D.S. Faris attacks the decision, alleging Synod acted by “sentimental overflow” and warning of a slippery slope toward women in all offices.9
  • 1888: Christian Nation editorial places the decision alongside Covenanter reform causes (political dissent, abolition, prohibition) as the next question “pressing for solution.”5
  • 2002: RPCNA Synod reaffirms women deacons: deacons hold “no legislative or judicial powers”; the diaconate is “neither a ruling nor a teaching office.”10

Sources

  1. “The History of the Broomall, PA Congregation of the RPCNA” ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. “Our History”, RP Global Missions ↩︎

  3. “Introducing the RPCNA” ↩︎

  4. “Should a Woman Be Ordained Deacon?”, D.B. Willson ↩︎ ↩︎

  5. “Women in the Church”, Christian Nation (1888) ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  6. “Congratulations to the Woman Deacon” ↩︎

  7. “Women and the Deacon’s Office” ↩︎

  8. “Women Deacon in the Early Church”, Thomas P. Stevenson ↩︎

  9. “The Female Deacon and the Sentimental Overflow of Synod”, D.S. Faris ↩︎

  10. “Synod 2002 on Women Deacon” ↩︎