Central Florida’s updated deacon formation program revitalizes study, impacts future ministry

Archdeacon Julie Altenbach (front) with new deacon candidates and their leaders at Dayspring Camp & Conference Center. Photo courtesy of Institute for Christian Studies

“I’ve been out of school for 50 years, and if I could do it, anybody could.” Those strong words from prospective deacon Dennis Hartenstein sum up his experience of the newly revamped deacon formation program in the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida. Here, the Ven. Julie Altenbach, with help from her co-archdeacon, the Ven. John Motis, has taken that program to new levels.

On Oct. 10, the first class to follow the revised program from start to finish will transition to ordained ministry in a service at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, Orlando. When this group of five, which includes Hartenstein, entered formation, Altenbach jokingly termed them her “guinea pigs” because, she said, “I was building the program as they were embarking on it.”

The five not only accepted but embraced this identity, even creating various T-shirts featuring the rodents to wear during their journey toward ordained ministry. They celebrated its completion July 24-25 with a guided retreat at the Dayspring Camp & Conference Center in Parrish, Florida. Altenbach planned and led the time with assistance from two rectors, the Rev. Kay Mueller and the Rev. Dr. Rob Strenth. Both teach in-person formation classes at the diocese’s Institute for Christian Studies and serve on the Commission on Ministry.

The new formation program reflects the theology of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Justin S. Holcomb, diocesan bishop, who tells those considering ministry, “We’re all called. It’s just a matter of which path we’re called to.” Altenbach designed Year One, filled with biblical and theological foundations, an evangelism course and another on ministers of the church, to help them discern to which path God is calling them.

Years Two and Three of the new program build on the deacon identity process, with a 20-hour externship at a nonprofit a key component of Year Two. “The externship comes with the purpose of understanding what their role as a deacon might look like … It’s designed to get them into the mindset of a deacon as a servant in the world,” she said. A six-to-twelve-month internship (formerly termed “field work”) under a rector’s supervision at a church other than their own highlights Year Three.

“In addition, they are taking in-person classes at ICS and online through Thirdmill,” Altenbach said. “At every one of our in-person classes, we hold a worship service where the students take leadership.”  She said they handle everything from altar guild duties to the Prayers of the People and homilies, adding, “They’re learning how to serve as deacons, and while they’re in ICS, they’re very involved in practical application of what that means.”

Hartenstein praised both the in-person and the online formation classes, another updated component. At one point, he was unsure if he could finish the program due to his lack of educational experience. But the online courses met his needs so well that he completed them all before finishing Year Two. That summer, his externship at Camp Boggy Creek, which serves children with serious illnesses, moved him so deeply that he spent every Monday there, well over the required hours.

For Jane Surko, another guinea pig, both her externship at an anti-trafficking ministry in Louisville, Kentucky, and her internship at St. Matthew’s Episcopal, Orlando, in which she began a ministry at a skilled nursing center and led the church to support a near-depleted food pantry at a local community college, had a deep impact.

And she agrees: Central Florida’s reworked deacon formation program is top-notch. “We all told Archdeacon Julie, ‘Don’t change a thing,’” she said. “I think that once more people hear about this program, she’s going to have people come from all over the country saying, ‘Tell us more. Come teach us; come talk to us.’ I can’t imagine there being a better program.”

For additional information on ICS and Central Florida’s deacon formation program, visit this link.