The Deacon office was established in Acts 6:1-6. It helps us understand the nature of the Deacon ministry.
(1) Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. (2) And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. (3) Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. (4) But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” (5) And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. (6) These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.” (Acts 6:1-6)
Who are Deacons? They are faithful brothers and sisters. What do they do? They serve. Let’s look at their ministry of service, why it is important, and how their ministry relates to the Elder’s ministry.
In the first church a division developed. Both Jews and Gentiles were converted, including widowed ladies. However, most likely there were more Jews in the church as well as in leadership. As a result, the Gentile widows were not taken care of as well as the Jewish widows. However, the tension the Apostles felt was that if they gave more time to this important ministry, it would take time away from their primary ministry. They didn’t think it was unimportant to take care of the Gentile widows, but they saw the practical reality that if they devoted the needed time to the widows then it would pull from their ministries of prayer and preaching.
Tables and preaching are both important. It is not a matter of one being more important than the other, it is just a matter of how to do both effectively. They were dealing with some real-world practical issues of ministry. There was a reality that the Apostles could spend so much time doing table ministries that the prayer and preaching would suffer.
Redeemer Church in the year 2020 does not have a problem of Jewish widows being taken care of to the exclusion of Gentile widows. However, we do have other ministries that are important yet if the Elders do them it will take away from their primary ministries. For example, the prayer and preaching will suffer if I am in charge of everything. Related, every church still has a call to develop a Deacon ministry. Every church, including ours, has areas of need. We need servant leaders to rise up or it will negatively impact the other ministries.
Before we move to our vision for Deacons, one of the points we need to see from Acts 6:1-6 is that ministry to widows is essential for a faithful church. The plight of a widow is different today than it was 2,000 years ago. However, it is still a plight. This is why our church funds a Care Ministry which focuses on our widows. Even though we were not ready to establish a Deacon ministry a few years ago, we were not ready to abandon our ministry to widows. Therefore, we asked Gary Carlson to be our Care Chaplain and lead our Care Ministry.
However, there are other table ministries that are important in Redeemer Church. Therefore, we feel 2021 is the time for us to raise up Deacons to help us better meet these important needs. Further, these needs are to be met in a way that enables the Elders to devote themselves to prayer and preaching. The goal is a healthy church that takes care of both tangible needs while also providing the Elders sufficient time to pray and preach.
Maybe it would help to provide an example of what we need. Years ago, I had a conversation with a great Deacon. He told me that he had “the spiritual gift of setting up chairs!” We both laughed at his comment, but I can testify as one of his pastors, it was such a blessing to not have to think about those chairs when my mind was on the sermon. His comment was the perfect snapshot of the heart a Deacon as well as the types of ways they serve.
What do Deacons do? They ministry faithfully to tangible needs in a way that enables Elders to be effective at the ministries of prayer and preaching.