IMPROPER DEACON MINISTRY MAY STUNT CHURCH GROWTH

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Vol. IX, No. 6, June/July 1996

[Reprinted form the South Carolina Baptist Courier, 18 January 1996,]

In more than a handful of Baptist churches, the "board of deacons" seems to rule the roost at business meetings – no longer waiting tables, instead exercising great authority in the midst of congregational rule.

"What this means is that all the recommendations of the church have to come back through the deacons before they go to the congregation," says Robert Sheffield, deacon ministry consultant at the Sunday School Board. "They basically are the financial managers of the church. Out of 40,000 churches, it's hard to know how many are still operating like that, but there are thousands."

Ironically, this managerial model insures that the church will not grow, says Gary McIntosh, an associate professor at the Talbot School of Theology, La Mirada, CA. Rather than developing a "culture of service" and meeting the needs of people, the church's strategies become "technical, intellectual, and sterile: they do not appeal to the heart of the issue - sacrificial service," McIntosh writes in his book, The Exodus Principle,

On the other hand, McIntosh said the deacon model found in Acts 6 is based on service. When these seven original deacons accepted their ministry, four church goals were met: Conflict was settled, the apostles were freed to focus on prayer and preaching, those in need were served, and many were saved,

And the core of church growth is spiritual, not technical, says McIntosh, "All experience shows that even a superbly organized and planned ministry will eventually fail without the active care, love, and service of people toward others."

Which is why there is no such thing as a rapidly-growing congregation that is solely committee-led or deacon-led, says Paige Patterson, president of Southeastern Seminary and for 19 years a local church pastor. "When we made a move in our churches from the servanthood motif of the deacon to the concept of a board, we made a move that was in total violation of the New Testament principle," Patterson says,

Adds William Bell Jr., dean of Dallas Baptist University's college of Christian faith: "There is absolutely nothing in the New Testament to indicate that the deacons were ever to have anything other than a servant capacity. The deacons were to serve the elders or pastors, They were to have no ruling function whatsoever."

Patterson cites deacon bodies at First Church, Jacksonville, FL, and Second Church, Houston, as evidence that a New Testament perspective of deacons can be an asset, not a problem.

"These deacons lead in spiritual ministries, particularly in evangelism. They have virtually nothing to do with the business of the church, except as they function as individual church members,” Patterson said.

Edmond Whittaker, deacon chairman at First Church, Jacksonville, says, 'Deacons in this church are not nominated on the basis of their being prime businessmen; they are nominated based on their spiritual walk. We only meet when we have something to meet for. And when we do, we get down on our knees and pray."

The selection of deacons for their business acumen or popularity is a perversion of the early church's model, Bell says. "It is an honor to be a deacon ... but it isn't something which is given to all worthy and mature Christians just in recognition of their service. We don't have honorary Sunday School teachers. We don't have honorary janitors. We don't have honorary choir members.

"If a need exists, then let's appoint some people to meet it; if a need doesn't exist, then don't appoint them. I am thoroughly convinced that most Baptist churches have way too many deacons," Bell says,

Sheffield suggests that the Southern Baptist "board of deacons" is a tradition developed outside of scriptural truth. 'We as Southern Baptists sometimes lapse into our traditions without checking them by Scripture. The Scriptures are to inform our traditions, not our traditions interpreting Scripture for us."

Patterson concurs, "'What may have happened in Baptist life is that we went to seed on concepts such as democracy, church autonomy, priesthood of the believer – all of which are concepts that are absolutely biblical. I fear that what we have created in our Baptist churches is a fierce individualism that is so autonomous that it is autonomous from the Holy Spirit."

There is a way for errant deacons to get back on track, according to Bell. "Instead of having retreats, trying to figure out what exactly they're supposed to be doing – they really ought to just go to the pastor and say, 'How can we help?'"