Smethurst Deacons

How They Serve and Strengthen the Church
1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4335-7165-7
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 176 Seiten

Reihe: Building Healthy Churches

How Can Deacons Mobilize Service in the Church? Deacons are essential to a church's health-yet confusion abounds regarding their biblical job description. What's their God-given role in a local congregation and how do they relate to the church's overall mission? In this short book, Matt Smethurst makes the case that deacons are model servants called to meet tangible needs, organize and mobilize acts of service, preserve the unity of the flock, and support the ministry of the elders. Clearing away common misconceptions, Smethurst offers practical guidance for deploying deacons and helping churches to flourish.

Matt Smethurst is lead pastor of River City Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia. He is the author of several books, including Tim Keller on the Christian Life; Before You Open Your Bible; Before You Share Your Faith; and Deacons. He also cohosts, with Ligon Duncan, The Everyday Pastor podcast from the Gospel Coalition. Matt and his wife, Maghan, have five children.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Smethurst, Matt

Leseproben

Introduction

“At Your Service”

I wonder why you opened this book (besides the arresting title that caught your attention). I can envision various scenarios.

1. You’re a pastor.

• You’re an aspiring pastor who wants to study deacons.
• You’re a new pastor who wants to implement deacons.
• You’re a seasoned pastor who wants to rethink or redeploy deacons.
• You’re a frustrated pastor who wants to fire deacons.

2. You’re a deacon.

• You’re a potential deacon who wants to understand the role.
• You’re a new deacon who wants to adjust to the role.
• You’re a seasoned deacon who wants to grow in the role.
• You’re a frustrated deacon who wants to quit the role.

3. You’re a church member.

• You like how deacons function in your church—and you’re curious to learn more.
• You don’t like how deacons function in your church—and you’re curious if there’s a better way.
• You simply desire to better grasp Scripture’s teaching on this topic.

Or perhaps you’ve got another reason altogether. Suffice it to say, the topic of deacons—even just the word—can spark vastly different feelings among Christians. For some, the word is a bit nostalgic, perhaps a throwback to their childhood church. For others, it’s beautiful; the word brings beloved faces to mind—specific servants laboring for the welfare of Christ’s church. Yet for too many it’s a painful word. It’s painful for many pastors. How many times has the work of a church been hindered and harmed by those called to be its most exemplary servants?

Everyone Deacons

If you’ve put your trust in Christ, you are already a deacon in a broad sense. The Greek noun diakonos appears twenty-nine times in the New Testament and is almost always translated “servant(s)”1 or “minister(s).”2 (Same with the related noun3 and verb.4) Here are a few examples from the Gospels, rendered literally:

The greatest among you shall be your deacon. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matt. 23:11–12)

And [Jesus] said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and deacon of all.” (Mark 9:35)

If anyone deacons me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my deacon be also. If anyone deacons me, the Father will honor him. (John 12:26)

Above all, Christian believers are those who walk in the footsteps of the ultimate deacon, the suffering servant who came “not to be deaconed but to deacon, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

In sum, diakonos is usually just a generic term for “servant”—hence the attribution to non-Christian rulers5 and even to demons.6 A small handful of times, though, the word is employed in a narrower, more technical sense—hence this book.7

To “deacon” in this narrower sense—which is how we typically understand the word and how I will use it from now on—is not an informal role. It isn’t simply a ministry job title, like “campus director” or “children’s ministry coordinator.” It is one of two offices the New Testament establishes for the local church. Only elders (or pastors) and deacons are ordained to formal, public service in the life of the congregation.

How crucial, then, is diaconal service to church health? Crucial enough for God to carve out an official position for select members, recognized as model servants, to mobilize practical service in creative ways.

Contrasting Clones

Clint and Tom are two pastors who couldn’t have more in common. Same age, same theological degree, same denomination, same church size, same temperament, same basic level of spiritual maturity, same amount of ministry experience. And both of their churches are doing well. Growth isn’t explosive, but it’s steady. Conversions are happening. Their members are mostly happy. But while Clint is tired, Tom is tanked. For Clint, joy is a battle; for Tom, joy is a distant memory. Clint doesn’t meet his sermon-deadline goal every week; Tom hasn’t in a year. So what’s the difference? What’s draining Tom’s time and energy? Hard thing is, it’s always something different. But always something important.

• Three weeks ago, Tom had to purchase a new sound system for the church. He planned to spend an hour or two researching quality and cost-effective options, and then making a decision. It sucked up his entire Wednesday. Zero energy left for anything else, he thinks.
• Two weeks ago, Tom coordinated volunteers for a local park cleanup, an ideal yearly opportunity for the church to serve its neighbors and strike up gospel conversations. He created an online signup sheet, then notified the church via email, then monitored the response, then got discouraged, then sent a few private requests, then realized Friday afternoon was over. Sermon isn’t nearly done, and thirteen empty slots remain for this stupid cleanup project. What’s wrong with everyone?
• Last week, Tom planned a welcome cookout for college students. This is one of his favorite times of the year. The university is a short walk from his church building, and as someone who got saved in college, Tom loves opportunities to reach incoming students. Or he used to. His excitement finally succumbs to disillusionment as he stands in the grocery-store aisle, adjudicating the merits of hot dog buns. Wait, is the off-brand really more expensive? How is that even possible? I’ve got so much left to buy . . .
• This week, Tom was a man resolved. I will not get sidetracked. I will delegate. I can’t be all things to all people. His phone buzzes. Text from his wife. “Martha called. She’s still in the hospital and wants you to come again. Said she hasn’t heard from you this week.” It’s only Tuesday morning! “Also said she can’t pay her bill. Apparently another patient is getting money from his church. Asked if we can help her.”

Remember happy Clint? His month wasn’t easy, but it was different. It was . . . manageable. So, again, what’s the difference between the pastoral experiences of Clint and Tom? Answer: only one has deacons. Both do, actually, but only Clint’s seem to know—and love—what being a deacon entails. They delight in relieving Clint from shouldering practical tasks so that he can channel his energies to the ministry of the Word and to prayer.

• Tom had to pore over countless customer reviews to find the right sound system. Clint has a deacon who was eager to do the needed research.
• Tom had to recruit volunteers for the park cleanup. Clint has a deacon who finds joy in gathering a team.
• Tom got stressed about hot dog buns. Clint has a deacon who is glad to run point on picking up groceries.
• Tom had to look at the church budget and assess giving trends in order to determine whether money can be spared for Martha. Clint has a deacon who excels at determining what the church can do to help financially.

The complexities of ministry are endless, aren’t they? And when you add the fluidity of people’s expectations to the immovable rock of limited time, you collide with some maddening math. I’ve witnessed this dynamic on both ends, in a sense, as I was privileged to serve in two diaconal positions before becoming an elder.

If you are an elder, and particularly if you are the primary preaching pastor in your church, internalize this: deacons wrongly deployed can halve your ministry, but deacons rightly deployed can double it. They can also build up the whole congregation—or not.

For better or for worse, deacons are difference-makers.

Manifesto and Manual

In the coming chapters, we will consider many pressing questions about this sometimes misunderstood subject. I hope this book will serve as both a manifesto and a practical manual for ordinary churches like yours.

So here’s where we are going. Chapter 1 will briefly sketch the various ways deacons have functioned throughout Christian history, as well as common (not necessarily healthy!) models in churches today. Chapter 2 will examine the forerunners to the office (Acts 6). Chapter 3 will then examine the qualifications for the office (1 Timothy 3). Following this discussion of what deacons must be, chapter 4 will zoom in on what deacons must do. In chapter 5, we will hear stories of real churches that have been strengthened by faithful diaconal service. Chapter 6 will consider the One whom deacons ultimately reflect, followed by a brief conclusion. The question of whether women may serve as deacons, or deaconesses, will be addressed in the first appendix. (Throughout the book I will use male pronouns for the sake of style and readability; but as you will see, I believe the diaconate is open to qualified...