Deacon and the Deacon Board

[Bob Farnaby]

Firstly, the use of examples of individuals who have abused 'power' or 'authority'is irrelavent. They should never have been given the position. This applies to pastors, teachers, elders, deacons or any other position in the church.

Secondly, I essentially agree with what Karen has written.

Deacons are called to be servants in the church, isn't that true of the pastor and elders as well?

The examples of Phillip and Steven used above show that the distinction between the different roles arn't fixe din cncrete, they are supportive of one another and at times people will move from one position to another as the Lord leads and provides for each church.

Using the gifyts God gives the deacon can well be dealing with all the finance and administration of the church, while leaving the pastor to preach (assuming you don't seperate the positions of 'pastor' and 'preacher') each doing what they are equipped for.

In the end, the formal official church title isn't that important. God will raise people to do His work in each church weather they have the title or not, usually commonsense and spiritual maturity leads to acknowledgement of who is appropriately gifted.

Regards
Bob

 

[TomVols]

Baptist deacons have become a deliberative body, functioning like elders. I believe this is largely due to the authority granted and implied by the codification of the phrase "deacon board." I banished that term from my vocabulary years ago and so should everyone else IMHO. I would rather eliminate the office altogether than have a poor substitute. The church can exist without deacons. It cannot exist without elders.

 

[Deacon]

So talking and discussion among men should be discouraged???
Perhaps it's only appropriate for women (and elders).

Diliberation: definition
1. discussion of all sides of a question
2. Careful consideration
3. Planning something carefully and intentionally
4. A trait demonstrating an absence of haste or hurry
5. The trait of thoughtfulness in action or decision

Shouldn't a pastor be attempting to teach and train his flock to have these traits?

I understand you point about eliminating the term, "deacon board".
In putting together a church personnel manual years back, I avoided the term "deacon board", choosing to call them simply "the deacons".

I have to confess that there have been times when our "board" has functioned like an elder board, particularly when we only had one young pastor.

As he matured (and I must say he has surpassed all of us in his spiritual growth) he has continued to use his deacons in the manner I put forth in the OP.

Tom, I would further disagree with your statemment, "I would rather eliminate the office altogether than have a poor substitute. The church can exist without deacons. It cannot exist without elders."
I think that without a deacon or elder there would be a void that would eventually be filled. You may not call it a deacon or elder, but there would be one there none the less.

Rob