Deacons Page

Diakonia is the principle by which our Lord describes His entire ministry, and of the life and ministry of His followers. George Stob states in Deacons and Evangelism, “Everything that was done by the Son of Man who came, Jesus Christ, including humiliation, self-emptying, cross and death is summarized in eight letters: d i a k o n i a. The same single word also indicates the pattern of life for all who followed Jesus. Diakonia: they go into service . . . . They are other-directed . . . . They find themselves among those in need; it has become their natural milieu . . . . They discover that they are being drawn into Jesus’ diaconate and start participating in it. Diakonia is essential for the life and well-being of the Church. “ James Barnett says his book The Diaconate, “The Diaconate is about what the church is or should be.” Again, it is not something optional, or peripheral or auxiliary to the main thrust of the church's ministry, but stands at the heart of the Gospel and its mission to the world. It is a reasoned concern for the well-being of another. Diakonia is active compassion through service.

Those concerned with benevolence are not merely concerned that no one is without food, but encouraging members to full joy in the Spirit. They should be concerned that each member of the church has a place, feels cared for, and can function according to the responsibilities each has been given. The ministering service of love not only includes taking care of the financially poor, but also sees to the relieving of other forms of oppression and affliction so that these “needy” can function in the covenant community. We must show ourselves to be a holy people who by our care for the poor, stand apart from others.

There are several ways diaconates or Church service ministries can serve its membership and its community:

Deacons are to collect the gifts of God's people and distribute them. Moses writes in Leviticus 27:30, “A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord.” Luke tells us in Acts 4:32, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.” Paul shares in 2 Corinthians 8:4, 14 that the saints “urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing . . . .” He says this should be a mutual concern for one another: “At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality.” This is God’s way. Men and women are only stewards of the material possessions they have. They own nothing in any absolute sense. It all belongs to God, and he has given it to his people by grace alone without their earning it. Dr. C. Van Dam writes in The Reformed Diaconate, “All the resources God had given were to be used to keep all His people free, unburdened by poverty and want. God taught Israel as it were to put a distance between themselves and their possessions”.

Deacons are to collect data on the talents of God's people—that is, develop a talent bank and a network for bank “withdrawals.” The Apostle Peter tells us in 1Peter 4:10, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.” A conscious and definite giving of spiritual gifts, talents, vocational skills, and time is an example of appropriate and biblical stewardship of God’s provisions for the benefit of others. The Apostle Paul commends this in 1 Corinthians 12:7, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” And he reminds the Church of its essential unity, “. . . in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others” (Romans 12:5). In the New Testament every member of the Church has received the gift of grace and has been called to service. The writer of Hebrews says “[God will] equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” The gift of the Spirit’s grace brings…“varieties of service” (1 Cor. 12:5). Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:5-6, “There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.”

Deacon’s are to stimulate…a diaconal lifestyle [for the use of these gifts]. They have to take care that the available charismata—spiritual gifts--of the congregation are used on behalf of people or groups with unsolved needs and problems. God's people have received all the material things by grace alone. Similarly we should not work to insure one's own benefit alone, but to bring about the good news of God's kingdom. Man is but a steward of his material possessions, and must never be in bondage to them, but remain truly free as God's possession and use his material possessions for the well-being and the freedom of the children of God. Israel's wealth and possessions were entrusted to them for the benefit of all. James, the brother of Jesus, writes in James 2:24, “You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.”

Deacons are to serve the distressed with good counsel—they must be good listeners. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:3-5, “. . . the God of all comfort . . . comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” In Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking when they should be listening. But he who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God. Anyone who thinks that his time is too valuable to spend keeping quiet will eventually have no time for God and his brother, but only for himself and for his own follies.”

Deacons are to come alongside those who are hurting. To show the extent of help required of us, Luke 10:33 shares Jesus’ narration of “The Good Samaritan.” We are told that that a man (presumable a Jew) was beaten and left lying on the ground. Three people had the opportunity to help. Two of these, “full time church workers” ignored him fearing they would become “unclean.” Luke tells us that the fallen victim’s enemy was the one to stop, help, and see that his future needs were cared for: “But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.”

Deacons are to be prepared to build up those in need. King Solomon tells us, “A man's spirit sustains him in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?” (Proverbs 18:14). The Apostle Paul says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4). To comfort others we have to get close to them and not be fearful of that contact. Andrew Purves quotes Henry Nouwen in The Search for Compassion, “We all need people who will not be too quick to take our pain away but will have the spiritual and mental toughness to walk with us, sharing in the journey to the point where woundedness can be confronted at its source. Shared woundedness becomes mobilizing. The sting is drawn because the secret is shared.” Deacons are in a position to restore people and community. They are catalysts for healing. By being with those who suffer, they are able to really pray and not just pray in the abstract.

Deacons are to prevent poverty of those in the Body. They are to seek after the poor, the sick and elderly, the fatherless and widow. In Ephesians 4:28 the Apostle Paul indicates that one of the benefits of working/earning a living is to help those in need: “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.” The Heidelberg Catechism says this: Q. What does God require of you in this [the eighth] commandment? A. That I further my neighbor's profit wherever I can or may... and labor faithfully that I may be able to relieve the needy. Deacons must be good stewards of the Lord's resources. Paul commands that we use our gifts for the benefit of others and God’s honor and glory—because the gifts are his and on loan to us. “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2). “The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it….” (Psalm 24:1). Deacons must be pacesetters in teaching and providing wisdom and guidance to the needy. Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:11-12, “He . . . gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” The church is challenged to prevent poverty. This requires the church to go beyond feeding the hungry, clothing of the naked, and rescuing the oppressed. The church must actively seek to expand the kingdom in its community, that is bring of the will of God to bear upon the lives of all within the scope of its influence. The roots of poverty are not confined to the one who is poor. Predominantly, the roots and causes of poverty are oppression, greed, deliberate abuse by the powerful of the week, theft, hopelessness, racism, inadequate training, and indifference of the church to the plight of the poor. The poor “are God's challenge to the church to engage all [its] resources, spiritual and material, verbal and political, to extend his kingdom by attacking poverty at its roots . . . .”

Deacons are to understand how local community resources work. The government administers help massively, not individually. Here is where the church of Jesus Christ fills in. Also, the church must see that the municipal, state, and federal government are good stewards of the Lord's resources. The prophet Haggai reminds us that these resources, too, belong to the Lord. Here, God states, “The silver is mine and the gold is mine” (Haggai 2:8). This understanding allows the Church to make good use of federal, state and municipal resources while seeking to minister to people in a holistic way.

Deacons are to empower the needy to make good use of all available institutions of mercy. The Church need not develop a co-dependent relationship with those coming for help. One principle to follow is this: “Don’t work harder than the person(s) coming for help.” Churches should develop a list of community resources and offices of public advocacy so people know exactly where to go for help. Kenneth Haugk says in Christian Caregiving, a Way of Life, “Christians are responsible for care. God is responsible for cure.”

Deacons are to cooperate with neighboring churches. Service ministry should not be duplicated or be redundant if another local church is doing the same thing. Churches should obtain information on what resources and ministries are available within its geographic area and beyond. Then it should partner for mutual care of the people in its community. Cooperation will also prevent a major portion of “scams” from taking place (i.e., people seeking cash money for “tyranny of the urgent” type emergencies).

Deacons are to equip and mobilize the saints. One of the most important responsibilities of the diaconate is teaching the how-to's of ministry to the members. By doing this and by being good stewards of our own gifts and talents we can actually "unleash" the church. It is our job to encourage and motivate others to use their gifts in an evangelical witness of word and deed. Ephesians 4 calls for “. . . some to be teachers for the equipping of the saints.” For the health and maturity of the Church, deacons must become those teachers. Teaching, equipping, and motivating members to volunteer in a church's ministry is vital and the numbers involved will usually indicate the spiritual temperature of a congregation. Although the dictionary definition of the word volunteer is “One who enters into or offers himself of a service of his own free will” those who follow Christ do not have a choice. The Scriptures say that "we have been bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:20). Everything we are and possess belongs to God. The Heidelberg Catechism states that “I am not my own but belong to my faithful savior Jesus, both in this life and the next.” Christ says "If you love me keep my commandments" (John 14:15). In other words, “if you will follow me do as I do.”

Diakonia has to do with our style of life and its influence on our relationship with Jesus the diakonos and his representatives on earth, people in distress and in unjust situations. The quality of life is more important than the quantity of acts. Since Jesus qualified his life as diakonia, diakonia ought to be essential for us.

The Church needs to be those equipped with towels, ready to clean the wounds and sores of a suffering world. Church leaders must stimulate deacons in helping the Body of Christ follow their Master, who said the He came to serve (to deacon), not to be served (Matt. 20:28). Christians must be taught the full Word of God in order to develop spiritually and experience renewal. Then God will use them will in a way that will expand geometrically for joyfully bearing others’ burdens. The ministry of diaconia stands at the heart of the gospel and its mission to the world. Diakonia is a total surrender of life for the benefit of others. The basis for Christian discipleship is not knowledge or power or wealth. The basis for being a disciple is service. The model for the disciples in their following of Christ is therefore not the secular ruler nor the learned scribe. The only valid model is that of a person who serves (Luke 22:2). There are four aspects in which the church's life and ministry, patterned after Christ, come into view: a) Surrender of self-regard or concern for self-service. b) Assumption of the servant character. c) Full identification with those whom we are called upon to serve. d) Obedient-unto-death servanthood. To be Christian is to be merciful, even as our heavenly Father is merciful. “The issue for any congregation,” as Lewis Smedes is quoted above, “is whether it really wills to be His Body, suffering with Christ in the ghetto of human history.”

The role of the deacon and deaconess is to model Christ while discipling and apprenticing others. It is not their job to do all of their ministering. But it is their job to see that ministry gets done. A simple summation of the deacon's and deaconess's role is 1) to be an evangelical witness of word and deed in worship and service and 2) to encourage and motivate others to use their gifts in an evangelical witness of word and deed in worship and service.