Deacons Stepping in for Absence of a Pastor

[JohnDeereFan]

Baloney, you just did it. The thread is about deacons assuming pastoral duties, not the latest side show you attended.

Ad hominem.

 

[DHK]

I have asked you in private PMs, and now am stating publically, stay out of the threads I start. Your only purpose here is to derail and disrupt my threads.

There is no such thing as "My Thread." Anyone on the board my participate in any thread started by any person. Threads are not "owned" by any person. They are started for debate/discussion for all.

 

[evenifigoalone]

Do deacons in your church regularly step in for the pastor's absence to speak on Sunday morning or night, and Bible study on Wednesday night?

Is there any circumstance where your deacons will conduct a baptism, administer the Lord's Supper, or lead a funeral? If so, do these specific duties require authorization from the local church body?

If deacons do not step in, who does?

My church doesn't have a pastor currently, so the deacons and others with positions in the church have been working together to do whatever needs to be done until we find a pastor.
No voting on the part of the members that I'm aware of--not for these things, anyway.

 

[annsni]

Deacons deak and elders eld and never the twain shall meet!!

In our church, we have a number of elders (pastors) who can step in when a pastor is down for the count but at our little campus, we only have one pastor. We will have pastors from the home church come out as scheduled to preach but if for some reason my husband suddenly became ill or a pastor from the home church couldn't fill the pulpit when we were away, we have a deacon at our campus who can (and has) fill in. Our deacons are kind of a ruling body - not quite to the point of elders but close. They are ordained but not licensed so they cannot do weddings but they CAN administer baptism and the Lord's Supper.

 

[Jkdbuck76]

There is the IGNORE function.......

 

[salzer mtn]

Once upon a time a Methodist deacon took over his pastors pulpit because of inclement weather and a young man, Charles Spurgeon on the way to his church came in also because of the weather, heard the gospel from the deacon and looked to Christ and was saved, and as they say, the rest is history.

 

[annsni]

Once upon a time a Methodist deacon took over his pastors pulpit because of inclement weather and a young man, Charles Spurgeon on the way to his church came in also because of the weather, heard the gospel from the deacon and looked to Christ and was saved, and as they say, the rest is history.

I just read that story.

 

[Jkdbuck76]

Once upon a time a Methodist deacon took over his pastors pulpit because of inclement weather and a young man, Charles Spurgeon on the way to his church came in also because of the weather, heard the gospel from the deacon and looked to Christ and was saved, and as they say, the rest is history.

See? Deacons are AWFUL!!

 

[Rippon]

Once upon a time a Methodist deacon took over his pastors pulpit because of inclement weather and a young man, Charles Spurgeon on the way to his church came in also because of the weather, heard the gospel from the deacon and looked to Christ and was saved, and as they say, the rest is history.

In a barn by an Arminian!

 

[Reformed]

That is a good insight for those of us who do not have elders. So, with churches that only have deacons, do you think it would be unbiblical for them to administer the ordinances even with a vote of the congregation?

Unbiblical in the sense that a particular local church has neglected one of the offices of the church. But it would be worse to contemn the ordinances. I would grudgingly consent to deacons presiding over the ordinances.

 

[saturneptune]

Deacons deak and elders eld and never the twain shall meet!!

In our church, we have a number of elders (pastors) who can step in when a pastor is down for the count but at our little campus, we only have one pastor. We will have pastors from the home church come out as scheduled to preach but if for some reason my husband suddenly became ill or a pastor from the home church couldn't fill the pulpit when we were away, we have a deacon at our campus who can (and has) fill in. Our deacons are kind of a ruling body - not quite to the point of elders but close. They are ordained but not licensed so they cannot do weddings but they CAN administer baptism and the Lord's Supper.

Now there is a concept, we need to start a deacon license program. I just cannot figure out what the test would consist of. LOL On a serious note, would you explain what you mean by "home church" and "campus." Thanks.

 

[annsni]

Now there is a concept, we need to start a deacon license program. I just cannot figure out what the test would consist of. LOL

I'm sure you know but licensing allows a "clergy" to perform weddings. I don't think there are other benefits to it but you don't need to be ordained to the pastorate in order to be licensed.

On a serious note, would you explain what you mean by "home church" and "campus." Thanks.

Sure! We are a church that has been around for many years (it was started in the 40s, if I remember correctly). A bunch of years ago, our senior pastor had a vision to start another church further east on Long Island and so we started doing research to find an area that is not well served with evangelical churches. We found an area and around that time, hubby felt called to lead the start of that church. We weren't sure if it would be a church campus or a church plant - and it ended up being a campus. When we signed the lease on the building, our church was given a historical Baptist church in another town - not in the area that we were focusing on. So another pastor took that campus over. Now we have three campuses of the same church - the home church (original church) and the two smaller campuses that were started in the last 3.5 years. The church campuses have their own campus pastor and congregation (some of whom were people from the home church who decided to give their time to help start the campuses or who live closer to the campuses than the home church. But we are all led by the one senior pastor, deacon board and elders (all of the pastors - 10 of them, 2 of whom are the campus pastors). The home church has the offices, resources, finances and that sort of thing. When we decided to lease this new building as our campus home, our WHOLE church gave a specific offering to the cost of building this warehouse into a worship space and we will be doing the work with labor from all 3 campuses as well. There have been difficulties and there have been great blessing in having this model. Fortunately, we have live preaching at each campus and so they are almost like independent churches that have a corporation over them. But we're really an independent Baptist church with three campuses.

Does that make sense?

 

[saturneptune]

I'm sure you know but licensing allows a "clergy" to perform weddings. I don't think there are other benefits to it but you don't need to be ordained to the pastorate in order to be licensed.



Sure! We are a church that has been around for many years (it was started in the 40s, if I remember correctly). A bunch of years ago, our senior pastor had a vision to start another church further east on Long Island and so we started doing research to find an area that is not well served with evangelical churches. We found an area and around that time, hubby felt called to lead the start of that church. We weren't sure if it would be a church campus or a church plant - and it ended up being a campus. When we signed the lease on the building, our church was given a historical Baptist church in another town - not in the area that we were focusing on. So another pastor took that campus over. Now we have three campuses of the same church - the home church (original church) and the two smaller campuses that were started in the last 3.5 years. The church campuses have their own campus pastor and congregation (some of whom were people from the home church who decided to give their time to help start the campuses or who live closer to the campuses than the home church. But we are all led by the one senior pastor, deacon board and elders (all of the pastors - 10 of them, 2 of whom are the campus pastors). The home church has the offices, resources, finances and that sort of thing. When we decided to lease this new building as our campus home, our WHOLE church gave a specific offering to the cost of building this warehouse into a worship space and we will be doing the work with labor from all 3 campuses as well. There have been difficulties and there have been great blessing in having this model. Fortunately, we have live preaching at each campus and so they are almost like independent churches that have a corporation over them. But we're really an independent Baptist church with three campuses.

Does that make sense?

Thank you for your detailed response, and yes, I understand the structure. A few Baptist churches in West Kentucky have actually gone over to elder government in the last few years, but it is a fairly new concept here.

 

[saturneptune]

There is no such thing as "My Thread." Anyone on the board my participate in any thread started by any person. Threads are not "owned" by any person. They are started for debate/discussion for all.

When he is put on ignore, he uses other people quoting me, which is not blocked. Also, how many infractions has this person received for the language he has used as of late? Does calling someone a liar without evidence merit an infraction if everything is being done fairly?

 

[Salty]

On a quick sidenote: weddings are based on State/commonsealth law.

In NY State a marriage may be prefomed by
1) any ordained clergy
or
2) a (main) leader of a church (even if not ordained

 

[JohnDeereFan]

When he is put on ignore, he uses other people quoting me, which is not blocked. Also, how many infractions has this person received for the language he has used as of late?

None. Please quote any "language" I've used that merits an infraction.

Does calling someone a liar without evidence merit an infraction if everything is being done fairly?

Actually, my pointing out that you lied was corroborated by other posters.

 

[convicted1]

Do deacons in your church regularly step in for the pastor's absence to speak on Sunday morning or night, and Bible study on Wednesday night?

Is there any circumstance where your deacons will conduct a baptism, administer the Lord's Supper, or lead a funeral? If so, do these specific duties require authorization from the local church body?

If deacons do not step in, who does?

Brother SN, I work with a woman whose home church just went through a recent split. She said the church was trying to place some by-laws into that church...not sure what she exactly stated, but it had something to do with this. They lost their pastor ~2 years ago due to an illness, and hadn't found a replacement. She thought the main reason why the angst from doing what they wanted to do was the deacons were "running the show", and she thought they didn't want a pastor over that church. She and her husband left with over half the members as well. I do believe in a pastor led church, but the power is in the church's members. They can vote a pastor in and also vote him out.

 

[Revmitchell]

I'm sure you know but licensing allows a "clergy" to perform weddings. I don't think there are other benefits to it but you don't need to be ordained to the pastorate in order to be licensed.

Licensing is what happens before ordination and they are not yet allowed to perform weddings. It gives pastors their training wheels so to speak.

 

[convicted1]

My home church has a deacon who is also liberated to preach. He was ordained a deacon, then later on, felt God's call to the ministry. His gift has proven him to be called, imo.

 

[saturneptune]

Brother SN, I work with a woman whose home church just went through a recent split. She said the church was trying to place some by-laws into that church...not sure what she exactly stated, but it had something to do with this. They lost their pastor ~2 years ago due to an illness, and hadn't found a replacement. She thought the main reason why the angst from doing what they wanted to do was the deacons were "running the show", and she thought they didn't want a pastor over that church. She and her husband left with over half the members as well. I do believe in a pastor led church, but the power is in the church's members. They can vote a pastor in and also vote him out.

Deacons should never run the show under any circumstances. They are servants, not a governing authority. Shame on the congregation for letting them get by with it.