Editing Deacon (section)

====Church of Scotland====
There are two distinct offices of deacon in the [[Church of Scotland]]. The best-known form of diaconate are trained and paid pastoral workers. The permanent diaconate was formerly exclusively female, and it was in 1988, the centenary year of the diaconate, that men were admitted to the office of deacon. The offices of deacon and minister are now both open to both women and men; deacons are now ordained (they were previously "commissioned").

The other office of deacon can be found in congregations formerly belonging to the [[Free Church of Scotland (1843–1900)|pre-1900 Free Church of Scotland]], with a "Deacons' Court" having responsibility for financial and administrative oversight of congregations. Only a few congregations still retain this constitutional model, with most having since adopted the Church of Scotland's "Model Constitution" (with a kirk session and congregational board) or "Unitary Congregation" (with just a kirk session). Most of the Free Church congregations united with the [[United Presbyterian Church of Scotland]] in 1900 creating the [[United Free Church of Scotland]], which itself united with the Church of Scotland in 1929.