One In Jesus

I’m an elder, but I was a deacon before that, and for quite a long time — although I really can’t remember when I became a deacon. It was that long ago.

I don’t disrespect deacons as such. I mean, I was a deacon for many years, and most of the deacons I know are very good men, doing very good work for Jesus.

But the system is broken. It’s never really worked that well.

The Church of Christ deacon tradition was invented when we had churches of 50 members, when nearly all members were married and nearly all married members had children (birth control came later, people married much younger). And the theology, such as it is, was largely invented in an effort to show ourselves saved and Baptists damned based on who had the “scriptural” pattern for church organization. Continue reading →

Continuing to consider our traditions with regard to deacons —

7. “Deacon” is an honorific title.

By “honorific,” I mean a title that causes one to write home to mom.

Or let me put it this way. Imagine an elders meeting where the topic is whether to have deacons at all. One elder suggests having no deacons, just “ministry leaders,” so that the leadership can have ministries led by gifted women and single men — or men who’ve not fathered children.

Another elder speaks up. “But we have several young men here who are wondering why they’ve never made deacon. Their parents are concerned that they’ve fathered children, are raising them well, and volunteer in the lawn care ministry and yet haven’t been made deacon yet. It’s an expectation. It’s part of our heritage, and I don’t know how to explain to these young men that they won’t ever get to wear that title.” Continue reading →

Continuing to consider our traditional understanding of the role of deacons …

Tradition 6. The deacons should meet as a body.

Well, if the deacons as a group oversee a specific ministry of the church, as in Acts 6, of course they should meet as a body.

But if the deacons have involvement in several different ministries, no, there is no need for them to become a governing board. Again, we keep trying to convert “important” to “management,” whereas in scriptural thought, “important” is much more about service. Continue reading →

We need to dig a little deeper into the text regarding the work of a deacon.

Obviously, the work of the seven men in Jerusalem was very important. But it’s a peculiarly Western bias to imagine that important = management. I think the apostles would have laughed at the thought and said that important = serving those in need.

You see, the point of the text isn’t: This is how you must organize or else go to hell. Rather, it’s more like: This is how important caring for widows is — important enough that the Spirit will surely call members into that kind of service — and the leadership should recognize what the Spirit is doing among them and allow the Spirit-equipped to do the work they’re equipped to do. Continue reading →