Claim: The Methodist Diaconal Order, founded by Thomas Bowman Stephenson in 1890, is both a religious order and an order of ministry Methodist Diaconal Order where currently, the order reports to have about 280 deacons, who follow a common Rule of Life.
Evidence: Thomas Bowman Stephenson in 1890. The MDO is both a religious order and an order of ministry (or in other words, an order of clerics regular). In the Methodist Church of Great Britain, deacons (a term used for both men and women) are members of an order called the Methodist Diaconal Order (MDO). Currently the order reports to have about 280 deacons, who follow a common Rule of Life.