2018 DEACON NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN!
The Nominating Committee is now receiving your nominations for men to serve as Deacons for a four-year term beginning on January 2018.
What’s a ‘Deacon’ anyway? (Or some things to consider as you pray about your Deacon nominations.)
It is clear from the New Testament book of Acts; Deacons are to serve the Church body by conducting an important caring ministry of the church: doing benevolence work, promoting unity within the church, and facilitating the spread of the gospel.
Luke writes, “So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” (Acts 6:2-4 NIV) And, then Luke characterized the first Deacon, Stephen as a man ‘full of faith and the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 6:5 NIV).
The original ‘core qualifications’ for the office of Deacon were men of good reputation, men full of the Holy Spirit, and wisdom.
The office of Deacon was established within the New Testament church to allow the benevolent needs of the church to be effectively addressed while at the same time allowing the Apostles to focus on ‘prayer and the ministry of the word.’
From this passage in Acts; there are two clear results to the establishment to the office of Deacon:
- The Church was Unified. It is clear from Acts 6, that Deacons are to encourage and maintain the ‘Unity of the Church body.’ When the Apostles laid out the plan for the creation of this Deacon office, “This proposal pleased the whole group” (Acts 6:5 NIV). The complaints about the benevolence ministry stopped. The complaints between differing groups stopped. It seems the plan and implementation of the ‘Deacon’ solved the problem and healed the fracture of disunity. It is still true today: When Deacons serve, they serve to maintain and work toward unity in the church. It does not mean we avoid decisive issues, but Deacons address those topics and work hard to create unity. (Like the first Deacons who healed the fracture between ‘the Hellenistic Jews and the Hebraic Jews. (Acts 6:1 NIV))
- There was Widespread Evangelism. From Acts 6, the immediate impact of a deacon ministry was the elimination a particular controversy in the New Testament church. Then Luke writes, “So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.” (Acts 6:8 NIV). When a church has Deacons who are serving in God’s will, the Word of God is spread and disciples will rapidly increase in number!
As you pray about the men you will nominate, ask God to lead you to ‘men of good reputation, men full of the Holy Spirit, and wisdom’
2018 Deacon Nomination forms are now available in the Connect Center and online at fbctlh.org/deacon_nomination, or fill out the form below.
Join me as we pray for our Deacons!
— John Rice