Deaconess Margaret Rodgers

Deaconess Margaret Rodgers AM (1939-2014) was a leader in the Deaconess community, an historian and researcher, and a shrewd, media-savvy tactician within the Anglican Diocese of Sydney.

She served as Principal of Deaconess House, the CEO of Anglican Media and the Archbishop’s Media Officer, and had the distinction of being the first woman elected to the Synod’s Standing Committee. Despite poor health, she used her aptitude for committee work to contribute to a wide variety of corporate governance in the Anglican world and beyond.

Presented as the Donald Robinson Library Lectures in 2023, these essays provide the first scholarly assessment of Margaret’s life and work, and include a chapter on the history of the Deaconess Institute in Sydney.

Driven yet reserved, fearless yet gracious, Margaret Rodgers seems to be an enigma as a powerful woman in a complementarian diocese. However, this book reveals her to be servant-hearted and dedicated to using her gifts to serve the church.