LOOKING BACK DOWN A LONG ROAD (3)
Over those first few years of pastoring, maybe right through the 70's, I developed a conviction that most churches were not Biblically structured and out of that came the revelation that if churches are to grow, deacons should deak.
Each of the AG churches I pastored had a deacon board, which was called by different names, but was made up of generally good lay people who were there to assist the pastor. This normally meant that if the pastor wanted to sneeze, change his underwear or run to the loo (old English word there folks), he needed to get the approval of this group of well-intended but totally unqualified individuals. These were teachers, mechanics, fishermen for any sake, not people with any idea of what leading a church was about.
Any change of direction, any new program, any improvement to facilities, any special event had to be sanctioned by the oversight, church board, church council or whatever they called themselves.
It was thought that the role of these people stemmed from the New Testament, but sadly it did not. A lot of churches still function this way, so let me blow up this myth as speedily as I can without boring any reader too much.
There are those who say deacons originate in Acts 6 when the Jerusalem church had grown so much that the workload was too great for the apostles and they then appointed helpers. I can live with that.
But let's see what the first deacons did - they took over the running of the soup kitchen. They did not run the church! They made sure meals were served to the needy in an appropriate manner so that the leaders could go on and lead.
Churches do not grow if leaders cannot lead. People sometimes ask if we have deacons in our church and I tell them they are all over the place. We don't use the word "deacon" - who the heck does in 2006? But we have any amount of folks who are looking after areas of ministry and so doing what deacons did in the book of Acts.
They're ministering, not leading. The pastors lead.
I spent too many years battling to get boards of lay people on board with the vision God had given me. I gave that stuff up over 20 years ago. Life is too short to waste it arguing with people who can't see the point.
Let deacons deak and let leaders lead!
Each of the AG churches I pastored had a deacon board, which was called by different names, but was made up of generally good lay people who were there to assist the pastor. This normally meant that if the pastor wanted to sneeze, change his underwear or run to the loo (old English word there folks), he needed to get the approval of this group of well-intended but totally unqualified individuals. These were teachers, mechanics, fishermen for any sake, not people with any idea of what leading a church was about.
Any change of direction, any new program, any improvement to facilities, any special event had to be sanctioned by the oversight, church board, church council or whatever they called themselves.
It was thought that the role of these people stemmed from the New Testament, but sadly it did not. A lot of churches still function this way, so let me blow up this myth as speedily as I can without boring any reader too much.
There are those who say deacons originate in Acts 6 when the Jerusalem church had grown so much that the workload was too great for the apostles and they then appointed helpers. I can live with that.
But let's see what the first deacons did - they took over the running of the soup kitchen. They did not run the church! They made sure meals were served to the needy in an appropriate manner so that the leaders could go on and lead.
Churches do not grow if leaders cannot lead. People sometimes ask if we have deacons in our church and I tell them they are all over the place. We don't use the word "deacon" - who the heck does in 2006? But we have any amount of folks who are looking after areas of ministry and so doing what deacons did in the book of Acts.
They're ministering, not leading. The pastors lead.
I spent too many years battling to get boards of lay people on board with the vision God had given me. I gave that stuff up over 20 years ago. Life is too short to waste it arguing with people who can't see the point.
Let deacons deak and let leaders lead!
posted by Roger Blackmore | 3:00 PM
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