The Ministry of Deacons, Pt. 3 September 19, 2011
Last week I sketched in an overview of the Bible’s storyline: creation, fall, redemption, new creation. God created a paradise, sin ruined it, and God has been working ever since to restore what sin ruined. One of the phrases Jesus used for this new creation God is bringing about is “the kingdom of God.”
But this is supposed to be a column about the ministry of deacons. What does the kingdom of God have to do with that?
The answer is easier to see when you realize that the local church is intended by God to be an outpost of His coming kingdom, where Jesus reigns and His people flourish in body, soul, and spirit. A church that doesn’t care for its members’ physical needs is not living up to its calling. True, God’s kingdom has not yet come in fullness, and so we don’t see perfect healing in all of these areas quite yet. But the King has come, and His kingdom is advancing through the work of His church.
This is where the ministry of deacons comes in. God intends the church to be a place, not just of spiritual wholeness, but physical wholeness as well. Deacons are the church’s first responders to the physical needs of the saints.
In Acts 6:1-7, the apostles separated the work of the church leaders into two functions: 1) the ministry of practical needs and 2) the ministry of the word and prayer. The apostles (and later the elders) oversaw the latter and the deacons oversaw the former. Both roles are invaluable. The difference is simply in gifting and calling. God calls and gifts some for word ministry and others for care ministry.
This is not to say that the elders have no responsibility to care for the poor. James 5:14 instructs the elders to meet with the sick, and Acts 20:35 calls the elders to help the weak. So the elders must remember the needs of the people. It’s simply a matter of priority. The elders’ first priority is the ministry of the word, and the deacons’ first priority is the ministry of the saints.
It’s an important distinction. Both are involved in serving the church, but in two different ways. Failure to recognize this distinction often results in confusion of roles and the neglect of one or the other of these ministries: either the service of the word or the practical care for the needy members.