ADM began 130 years ago when an Anglican Minister and his wife, Rev. Mervyn and Martha Archdall, set aside a quarter of his stipend for the equipping of Christian women. The Archdalls set up a lay order, the “deaconesses”, modelled on a similar order in Germany, and in 1891 ADM was born.

Through prayer and partnership, sacrificial serving and giving, our work grew from small beginnings over many years to include hospitals, nursing homes and schools. Always at the centre has been a foundation built on Jesus Christ and serving him.

As our society has changed over the years, so has the shape of ADM’s work. ADM continues our legacy through a diverse range of innovative programs for Christian women, to see them equipped and encouraged for gospel work in its broadest sense.

As a Christian organisation, our highest priority is to see people come to know Christ and grow in him. NCLS Research tells us that 60% of the Australian church is female. At ADM, we work to see every Christian woman using their gifts so that God’s kingdom would grow across Australia and the world. We are committed to seeing women growing in Christ, being built up as they serve the Lord  and being provided with the resources they need to reach the world for Jesus.

ADM is proudly a member organisation, with members drawn from a diverse range of settings and interests. All our members share a common desire to see women equipped and encouraged to serve Christ and his Church.

In 2021, the ADM Board and staff worked across the year to plan for the next phase of our organisation. We asked a number of significant questions, but at the core of our inquiry was: ‘What should ADM be doing, under God, for the next five years?’. We asked this question of key stakeholders and of each other. We worked together to discern the best way forward. In November 2021, the ADM Board approved a new Strategic Plan for 2022-2026. Core to this plan are the ADM Strategic Priorities and Principles which form the foundation for all of ADM’s undertakings over the next five years.

Our Strategic Priorities

Over the next five years, ADM’s work will be focus on three strategic priorities:

Strategic Priority 1: Every woman equipped and engaged in serving Christ in the Church, the community and the world

As an organisation we strive to see every Christian woman equipped and engaged in serving Jesus across three overlapping spheres –

• Church – Serving Christ in the Church – church-based ministries including evangelism, discipleship, bible teaching, pastoring and pastoral care.

• Community – Sharing the love of Jesus with our communities – mercy and compassionate ministries serving the marginalised and the vulnerable and responding to real needs.

• World – Engaging our world with the good news of Jesus – equipping and inspiring women to share the good news with our sceptical and hurting world, whether that’s at the school gate, in the workplace, academia, in leadership roles or in the public square.

Our goal is huge! We seek to provide the training, resources and encouragement to see women fully equipped and activated to serve Christ, wherever he has placed them. We want to have this impact for every Christian woman across Australian Anglican and reformed, evangelical churches. What unites us above all things is the gospel of Jesus. 

Strategic Priority 2: In every church an integrated, discipleship-focused mercy ministry

ADM works to see healthy and growing mercy ministries in every church. We are building on the rich foundations laid by the deaconesses who faithfully served Christ in working with the marginalised and the vulnerable. As churches grow in serving their communities and become places that are accessible and welcoming for all, we see God’s love displayed and opportunities for more and more people to meet Jesus and experience his love.

Through mercy ministries we share the gospel, reveal the fruit of the good news in our own lives and live in response to the love we have received through Christ, shown in both Word and deed. They are inseparable from discipleship and a concern to see people, even amid suffering and challenges, come to know Jesus, continue to grow in him, and persevere in him through those challenges.

Our vision is not only to equip and encourage those in existing ministries, but to see new mercy ministries develop, extending the love of Christ in every context and every community.  

Strategic Priority 3: Through every endeavour a sustainable, innovative and effective organisation capable of achieving our goals

ADM seeks to be healthy and growing organisation, with the culture, processes and structures to be able to achieve our strategic priorities.

We ensure careful stewardship of our endowment with a focus on sustainability and the management of risk in a changing environment. We pursue innovative processes and solutions to ensure that we are continuously improving and achieving impactful outcomes. And we seek to understand our program users’ needs combined with strong reach, reputation and partnerships to ensure that women and churches can access the support and resources they need.

Our Strategic Principles

There are four key principles which guide how we pursue our strategic priorities and every aspect of our work as an organisation. 

Strategic Principle 1: Working in, through and for women

Core to ADM’s Constitutional Objects is “to call, train, equip, encourage and support women to serve Christ and His Church”. This focus is central to every work we undertake, and a specific contribution ADM can uniquely make to the growth of God’s kingdom.

Strategic Principle 2: Gospel impact and multiplier effect

Compelled by the urgency of the gospel and shaped by our deep biblical convictions, we keep at the forefront of all our work our desire to see the greatest number of people coming to know Jesus and grow in him, and the greatest number of women effectively equipped and engaged in this task.

We are concerned not only with gospel proclamation, but a gospel-centred framework for our work and lives as disciples of Jesus, as we seek to know, speak and live out his gospel.

We always look for a multiplier effect, prioritising what will grow the greatest number of mature disciples and have the greatest impact for God’s kingdom.  

Strategic Principle 3: Church partnerships

In seeking the greatest impact from our work, over the next five years we are focusing on stronger church relationships and partnerships. We are building significant and mutual relationships with individual churches and where possible, whole networks and Christian organisations. We seek to provide tools and resources to assist churches in their work within our strategic priorities.

Strategic Principle 4: Faithful inputs and measurable, impactful outcomes

At ADM we are careful and faithful with our inputs, keeping the gospel central, dependent on God in prayer, built on biblical foundations, growing a healthy ADM culture and staff team, excellent programs and careful stewardship of the resources God has given us.

We are also concerned to see measurable impact from our programs and activities, ensuring we are not just doing things but are fruitful and effective. We will ask key questions about our impact over the next five years, seeking to move the dial gradually and intentionally in specific areas and being clear about measuring this impact. 

Deaconesses reached out into their communities with the love of Jesus as they served in churches, hospitals, schools and children’s homes, and as missionaries both in Australia and overseas. Their ministry work included teaching, encouraging, caring and training. The last deaconess was set apart in 1991, after the role of deacon was opened to women in 1989. Our deaconesses leave us a legacy of sacrificial service and ministry.

The Rev. Mervyn Archdall and his wife Martha were the founders of the Deaconess Institution ministry in Australia, which was modelled on similar work in Germany and England. In 1885, the Sydney Anglican Diocesan Synod passed ‘a resolution in favour of deaconess work’ (2) and the first Australian ordination of an overseas-trained deaconess, Mary Schleicher, was celebrated in Sydney the following year. While five deaconesses were already at work in Sydney, the idea of operating a training home to equip women to become deaconesses took shape (2). On 17 August 1891, only five years after the first deaconess ordination, ‘Bethany’, a deaconess training school, opened in Balmain. This training school was located in the Archdall's Balmain rectory, with Deaconess Menia Maspero as the first superintendent.

‘Mrs Archdall was content to take up teaching and her equally devoted husband cheerfully surrendered one-fourth of his income that Sydney might have the benefit of a suitably trained body of Christian women workers. Men and women who can thus spend themselves and their possessions for the work of God have always accomplished great things in the world of service.‘ (3)

Deaconesses worked in parishes – visiting people in their homes, visiting and nursing the sick, teaching at Sunday Schools and Scripture in schools and conducting evangelistic meetings, amongst other activities. Read stories from the lives of our Deaconesses in Deaconess Stories below.

(1) Source: The Vision Unfolding. Deaconess Institution 1891-1991
(2) ibid
(3) ibid

In April 2018, many of our remaining deaconesses, along with several female deacons, joined together at ADM for lunch and a time of prayer and sharing. On that day, we asked them to share their advice for the next generation of Christian women, based on their experiences in ministry: