The Diaconate (our group of deacons/deaconesses) has now been in place for three months, and we’re beginning to get our feet under us. Let me briefly sketch how we have organized ourselves. In Acts 6 we see that the first deacons were created to help relieve some of the responsibilities being placed on the apostles and we believe this principle applies to us today.
The Diaconate is here to help relieve the pressure on our elders, primarily by focusing on the physical needs of our church and community. To that end, we have broken down our responsibilities into three basic areas and created corresponding committees within the Diaconate (”committee” sounds dreadfully boring, yet fitting for this town). We have broken our responsibilities into stewardship and finance, internal mercy and care, and ministry to the city.
Stewardship & Finance:
For some, this may be what first comes to mind when talking about deacons. The Diaconate is responsible for both stewarding the physical and financial resources of the church and helping the members of the church to do the same in their personal lives. In the future this will mean that the Diaconate is responsible for the church budget as well as interacting with our accountant, keeping track of our physical property, establishing the best possible means for depositing the offering, as well as possibly organizing seminars on financial management. [Joe Moore and Stan Austin]
Internal Mercy & Care:
Acts 6 explicitly lays out this responsibility–taking care of the needs of our church body. When you, the members and regular attenders of our church have needs, our church body should be the first place you turn. Whatever the need may be, the church is eager to help. The Care Team, which is now under the guidance of the diaconate, has representatives in each Community Group and will work with the diaconate to meet needs. Our view of “needs” is broad and includes spiritual, physical, financial and social needs. As well as working with the Care Team, the Diaconate will also be praying with individuals after the service on Sunday and be seeking to encourage an attitude of brokenness and loving care within our congregation. This committee also will respond to mercy needs that arise on Sundays (both from walk-ins and our regular attenders) and will be working with the ICU Team (which helps people who walk in while the service is going on) to develop our ability to respond on Sundays. [Joe Kaufmann, Arney Walker and Brandi Yee]
Ministry to the City:
As a church that desires to serve our city, this committee will be working to extend and develop how our church is doing this. We don’t serve our city just for fun, but do so because the ministry of Jesus was one of word and deed, and our ministry should follow that model. The mercy we extend to the community around us should both meet needs (in a holistic and constructive way) and present the good news of the Gospel. To that end, the diaconate will be working to develop a vision and strategy for how we should be serving our city. This will include recognizing partnerships that we currently have with ministries as well as developing new partnerships that match the skills and abilities of our congregation with the needs of our city. At the same time, we will be working to encourage and support the work that our Community Groups are doing in their monthly service projects.
[Justin Johnson, Ashley Poole and Genevieve Wood]
In the near future, look for some of the following things we hope to do:
• update and expand on our vision/philosophy of mercy ministry. We want to have a clear statement of why and how we should be seeking to do mercy.
• establish a regular prayer meeting to pray for our city.
• develop a library of city and mercy ministry books and materials so that we as a congregation can work to develop our understanding of where we live and how we can best serve those around us.
• survey the congregation to develop a list of skills and interests that we can use to match members of our church to the needs of our city.
While we are starting to get organized, the Diaconate is small in number and any attempts at serving our church body and our city ultimately depend on the involvement of the whole church body. Even more importantly, all of this is meaningless unless God is active and present in our efforts. We can organize and plan and work and serve, but only God can accomplish true change. Please be in constant prayer for us as a Diaconate, and for us as a church. We desperately need the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:36)