Diaconal Resources

All the books in this section are available through the Diocesan Resource Center 

  1. The Diaconate – A Full and Equal Order Revised Edition (1995), James Monroe Barnett. ISBN 1-56338-093-5**
  2. The Deacon’s Ministry edited by Christine Hall,   (1992) ISBN 0-85244-182-7**
  3. Deacons and the Church Making connections between old and new, (2002) John N. Collins, ISBN 0-8192-1933-9          **
  4. Many Servants An Introduction to Deacons, Revised Edition, Ormonde Plater, (2004) ISBN 1-56101-270-X**
  5. Servanthood: Leadership for the Third Millennium, Bennett J. Sims (2005) ISBN 1-59752-075-6
  6. Being a Deacon Today – Exploring a distinctive ministry in the Church and the World, Rosalind Brown, (2005), ISBN 0-8192-2201-1**
  7. A Deacon’s Heart – The New United Methodist Diaconate, Margaret Ann Crain & Jack Seymour, (2001), ISBN 0-687-09036-6**
  8. Let Your Life Speak – Listening for the Voice of Vocation, Parker J. Palmer, (2000), ISBN 0-7879-4735-0**
  9. A Hidden Wholeness – The Journey Toward an Undivided Life, Parker J. Palmer, (2004), ISBN 0-7879-7100-6
  10. Unexpected Consequences – The Diaconate Renewed, Susanne Watson Epting, (2015) ISBN 978-0-8192-2979-3**
  11. Calling – A Song for the Baptized, Caroline A. Westerhoff, (1994), ISBN 1-56101-101-0
  12. What Makes Us Episcopalians, John E. Booty (1982), ISBN 0-8192-1302-0**
  13. A People Called EPISCOPALIANS, Rev. Dr. John H. Westerhoff, 1993
  14. The New Church’s Teaching Series
  • The Anglican Vision – James E. Griffiss
  • Opening the Bible – Roger Ferlo
  • Engaging the Word – Michael Johnston
  • The Practice of Prayer – Margaret Guenther
  • Living with History – Fredrica Harris Thompsett
  • Early Christian Traditions – Rebecca Lyman
  • Opening the Prayer Book – Jeffrey D. Lee
  • Mysteries of Faith – Mark McIntosh
  • The Christian Social Witness – Harold Lewis
  • Ethics After Easter – Stephen Holmgren
  • Liturgical Prayer – Louis Weil
  • Christian Wholeness – Martin L. Smith, SSJE
  • Horizons of Mission – Titus Presler
  1. Anglicanism: A Very Short Introduction by Mark Chapman
  2. What Is Anglicanism? by Urban Holmes**
  3. 16. The Cross in Our Context: Jesus and the Suffering World by Douglas John Hall
  4. Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, by N.T. Wright
  5. Healing in the New Testament by John J. Pilcon
  6. Jesus for the Non-Religious by John Shelby Spong

 Deacon Competency and Preaching Resources

  1. Lesser Feasts and Fasts, 2004
  2. Holy Women, Holy Men
  3. Enriching Our Worship series
  4. Strong’s Concordance or another comprehensive concordance
  5. The Interpreters One-Volume Commentary on the Bible, Abingdon Press, cp 1971
  6. The New Testament, A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, Bart Ehrman, Oxford University Press, 1997
  7. “Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church”, http://episcopalarchives.org/CandC_ToC_2012.html
  8. The Episcopal Diocese of Western Washington, “Clergy Manual,” http://www.ecww.org/sites/default/files/ClergyManualMay2011.pdf
  9. Introduction to Christian Worship, James White, Abingdon Press, cp 2000
  10. The Reformation, Owen Chadwick, Peguin, cp 1972
  11. The Anglican Spiritual Tradition, John Moorman, Templegate, cp 1983
  12. The Oxford Guide to The Book of Common Prayer, Charles Hefling, Cynthia Shattuck
  13. Commentary on the American Prayer Book, Marion Hatchett
  14. Faith Seeking Understanding, Daniel Migliore, Eerdmans, cp 2004
  15. How to Think Theologically, Stone and Duke, Fortress Press, cp 1996
  16. The Great Emergence, Phyllis Tickle, Baker Books, cp 2008
  17. Holy Curriencies – 6 Blessings for Sustainable Missional Ministries, Eric Law, ISBN 978-0-827214-92-7, cp 2013
  18. Leadership Can Be Taught – A Bold Approach for a Complex World, Sharon Daloz Parks, ISBN 1-59139-309-4, cp 2005
  19. The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, Marty Linsky, ISBN 978-1-4221-0576-4, cp 2009
  20. Feasting on the Word – Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary (all volumes – Year A, B, C), David L. Bartlett & Barbara Brown Taylor, Editors
  21. Treasures Old & New – Images in the Lectionary, Gail Ramshaw, 2002, SBN 0-8006-3189-7**
  22. Kairos Preaching: Speaking the Gospel to the Situation, David S. Jacobs and Robert Allen Kelly (recommended by Judith McDaniel, Jan. 2017)
  23. Preaching from Memory to Hope, The Witness of Preaching and Accompany Them with Singing, Thomas G. Long (3 books by Long recommended by Judith McDaniel, Jan. 2017)
  24. The Four Pages of the Sermon:  A Guide to Biblical Preaching, Paul Scott Wilson (recommended by Judith McDaniel, Jan. 2017)

 General Reading

  1. Leaving Church (a memoir of faith – Barbara writes of her discernment to leave the Episcopal church as a rector/priest and move into another type of work) , Barbara Brown Taylor, (2006), ISBN 978-0-06—98263-2
  2. Ragman, revised and updated, (Stories, Parables and Prayers which explore the power and meaning of love within an often inhumane urban landscape) Walter Wangerin, Jr. (2004), ISBN 0-06-052614-9
  3. Faith Works – Lessons from the Life of an Activist Preacher, Jim Wallis (2000), ISBN 0-375-50176-2
  4. Five Sutras of Jesus – Discovering the Christ the Church Forgot, 2012, Robert Michael Mayor, ISBN 9780615803036**
  5. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hossenini, 2003, ISBN 978-1-59448-317-2
  6. Take This Bread, (wrestles with questions of church, ministry, diaconate, Eucharist, life and discernment) Sarah Miles
  7. Girl Meets God, (A story of spiritual pilgrimage through life experiences and study that inform us of what Jews and Christians seeking God in their lives can teach each other.) Lauren F. Winner, (2002), ISBN 1-56512-309-3
  8. The Book of God – The Bible as a Novel, Walter Wangerin, Jr., (1996) ISBN 0-310-20005-9
  9. Traveling Mercies – Some Thoughts on Faith, ( Her journey as to how, against all odds, she came to believe in God and then miraculously, in herself) Anne Lamott (2000), ISBN 0-385-49609-5
  10. Plan B – Further Thoughts on Faith, (Spiritual antidote to anxiety and despair in our increasingly fraught times) Anne Lamott (2005), ISBN 1-59448-157-1
  11. The Great Awakening – Reviving Faith & Politics in Post-Religious Right America, Jim Wallis (2008), ISBN 978-0-06-136407-5
  12. After Sunday – A Theology of Work, Armand Larive (2004), ISBN 0-8264-1591-1
  13. Practicing Resurrection, (wrestles with discernment and call) ,Nora Gallagher
  14. Things Seen and Unseen, A year lived in Faith – the road to the sacred is paved with the ordinary, Nora Gallagher
  15. The Passionate Troubadour – A Medieval Novel about Francis of Assisi, Edward Hays
  16. Eucharist and the Hunger of the World, (a Meditation on Eucharist, life, ministry and ethics), Monika Hellwig
  17. The Liberation of the Laity, (speaks to the nature and work of baptismal ministry, leadership, the Church and the building up of the Body of Christ), Anne Rowthorn**
  18. Three Cups of Tea, (Seeing a need; making it happen) Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
  19. A Life of Being, Having and Doing Enough, Wayne Muller
  20. Sabbath, Wayne Muller

Other authors – Eric Law, Bruce Feiler, Barbara Kingsolver, Edward Hays, Karen Armstrong

All books with ** are especially recommended for your personal library