Most were older men, locally trained as sacramental and pastoral assistants. In the fourth wave, beginning in 1971, men and women were ordained as deacons with a liturgical base in a parish and social care outside the church. The current emphasis is on deacons who enlist, train, and support baptized persons in ministries of care. The typical deacon is a highly trained and skilled professional. A few deacons have been trained in seminary.
Some deacons serve the church in a full-time capacity such as archdeacon or educational specialist.
Today there are some 2,200 deacons in the Episcopal Church and about 100 in the Anglican Church of Canada, and the number is growing. In the Episcopal Church about seventy dioceses have a diaconate program, and several have programs in the Anglican Church of Canada.