The role of deacon

Rick Warren tells the story about a man who was rushed to the hospital and once he arrived at the hospital the staff would not let him in the room to visit the man because so many people showed up before he could get there. He was the man's pastor. If you were the pastor would you not rejoice that the people in the congregation took their rsponsibility seriously?

 

Acts 2:14-21
(14) But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all [ye] that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
(15) For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is [but] the third hour of the day.
(16) But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
(17) And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
(18) And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
(19) And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
(20) The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
(21) And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

 

No he did not. I serve in the same church as Tom, and he has an excellent description of what a deacon should be. You do not.

Tom said a deacon should support the pastor, and except in rare circumstances, share the vision the Lord has given the pastor. We are to serve the congregation, and support the pastor, and do everything we can to promote love, harmony and unity in the nuture and admonition of the Lord. A deacon should be humble, ready to help, and ready to give advice if asked. A deacon should be part of the local church in a way that furthers the ministry God has put it in. A local church should reflect the love of God, help the poor, tend to the needs of the sick, and spread the Gospel with the pastor. This is what I think a deacon should be doing, and not to speak for him, but this is what I believe Tom basically believes.

Your posts on the other hand paint an entirely different picture. You are projecting a very harsh, cold, unloving, rigid set of rules. Each situation about the hospital and sickness are different. If circumstances demand it, the pastor, our pastor will be at the hospital no matter what hour or day. There are fellow pastors or deacons who can take his place if need be. On the other hand, there are situations where it is best if the deacon is present at the hospital.

This is not a matter of looking for excuses to not attend church. It is called common sense and being a loving pastor. You have contiuned your rant from the thread about attending church three times a week into this one.

Your mindset on this whole matter is amazing to me. How can anyone read the Bible, be in the minsitry, observe people's problems everyday, and think such as your posts reflect?

 

Apparently you do not believe the same way Tom does then, saturn. Here is what he said earlier.

Notice the end of that quote? They are to take the load off the pastor so he may spend his time in preparing to teach and preach.

Exactly what I have been saying. It is the deacon who needs to do visitation to hospital so the pastor can have ample time to study. If after the pastor has studied, he has time to do visitations, then by all means, he can do visitations... but it is not his responsibility.

Too many make demands of the pastor that take away from his quality study time.

Scripture tells us it is not reason that they should leave the Word of God to serve tables. That is the function of the deacons.

 

Thank God that Pastors across the world have permission to PASTOR as long as they have dug into their books for the proper amount of time.

You aren't living in the real world...but sound more like someone who likes to hear themselves preach. You are too cozy in your American CEO-type Pastor views who stays in his office with a secretary fetching him coffee so he can study. This isn't the description of a Pastor.

 

Since it is so popular among people here to "demand a verse", show me Scripture that proves what you believe so strongly that a Pastor must spend so much time studying in order to preach and teach.

Keep in mind, I understand you have not demanded a specific amount of time, but also understand that the way you've been saying sounds like their should be little time of anything else during the pastor's job.

 

sure looks like it to me.

Acts 6:2-3 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.


And by the way... I get my own coffee.

 

And you really see nothing wrong with taking that verse and applying it the way that you are? I'm not so sure about that. We'll have to agree to disagree.

I'm not saying that a pastor should not be prepared...but you seem to be placing that in a hierarchical order of things where I'm not sure there should be a hierarchy.


I get my coffee too!

 

The appointed deacons to do the serving of the tables, dan. That word appoint means they set them up for that specific office.

 

In the majority of cases the people do not know how to make disciples and neither does the pastor. So he ends up doing all the work. It is a fact that pastors who make disciples study more, spend more time with their family and the church does better because the people do more work.

An old pastor once told me one time to make sure I visit the people a lot because it will help to keep your job. It was obvious in his preaching too. He should have never been a pastor but rather an assistant pastor. He truly loved people and helped them in every way he could but the church was full of people who were either helped or supported his ministry. He had not trained the people to do ministry. The church was centered around his ministry and strengths. He drove over 100,000 miles each year to help people. Not one of his children were living for Christ. He was so focused on ministry that he had forgotten his children.

A lot of times the way I get to know people is to ministry with them rather than alone. Two things happen: You get to know them and show them how to do ministry. Many of them have gone onto be missionaries and pastors. Almost all of them are doing some kind of ministry today. When I pastored there were a group of men and women I could count on. It allowed for a lot of quality ministry to be done far better than I ever could. It also gave me time with my family and people in the community.

 

....................................okay.

 

Here's a thought:

It seems that the bible has more to say about the qualifications
of the deacon and less to say about the duties of a deacon.

Surely, we must do more than wait on tables. But a lot is said
about the qualifications for the kind of man that can be a deacon.

 

The word "pastor" means "shepherd"...I think we would all agree on that. That alone should settle all of the debate...but knowing Baptists, probably not!

A "Shepherd's" job is to...

-Feed and water the sheep (teaching and preaching the word)
-Protect the sheep (Guard against doctrinal heresy from within & without)
-Tend to the sheep (Help in birthing, growth, development)
-Lead the sheep (By example in word and life)
-Rescue the sheep (when they have gone astray)
-Love the sheep (sacrificing time, sleep, whatever it takes to meet needs)

...and much more.

A "deacon's" job (servant)...

To help the Pastor perform these duties effectively. However, that does not relieve the Pastor of these responsibilities. The Pastor (shepherd) who is also the Bishop (overseer) is the one who will be ultimately held accountable for the ministry.

For you pastors out there that use your deacons for all of these other tasks so you can study and pray more... I sure hope that is what you are doing with your time. That church at Jerusalem didn't even call deacons until they numbered 8000 to 10000 people.

Just my thoughts.

Max

 

Good thoughts.


You're right though....you're dealing with Baptists.

 

That is what I have been saying all along... you just said it better...
Thanks

 

Hey Bro. Tim,

That's kind of like when you have a special speaker in to preach and your people rave about the wonderful message and yet it is the same thing you have been preaching and teaching for the past year. Go figure!

The joy of ministry...crazy people!

Max

 

I sometimes stumble over words, and I love it when someone else makes sense...

I don't think I have said this, but right now, we only have 1 deacon.. he is almost 70 yrs old, and is not in the best physical shape... but.... he is the best deacon I have ever seen...

He will do whatever possible to help whenever he can...
And is a true blessing, and source of wisdom....

I could really take advantage of his generosity, but there is no way I am going to burn him out...especially at his age...

We are praying that God will raise up more deacons... but so far, there are none that God has given us.
Although, I have an eye on one...

Here is a question what about deaconesses?

The last church I served in had them... they didn't ordain them, but they served the women where a man wouldn't be able to... Like assisting them in getting dressed for baptism...
meeting female needs that a man has no business meeting, etc...

We don't have them where i pastor, but I have no problem with the title.

 

I am just enough of an old time fundy that I cringe at the "title." That is not to say that there is anything wrong with them performing those ministry positions that men can't or shouldn't perform...you make a valid point. The "title" thing is just something I have to overcome as I learn to swim against the flow of the old party line. You know it is sometimes difficult to learn that you are responsible to the Book personally and you are not going to be held accountable to the teachings of the group you run with. We would all do well to pick it up and study it for ourself...but I'm rambling now...hope you get what I am trying to say.

God bless you,

Max