I am continuing to immerse myself in the whole subject of church leadership and the great ignorance that exists in so many churches about the respective role of elders and deacons. As I was preparing for the coming Lord’s Day and a sermon on 1 Timothy 3:8-13, I thought of the example of two deacons I have known – one who epitomises the problem and the other who exemplifies the solution.

Deacon 1.

A friend of mine was retiring from pastoral ministry and greetings were being brought to him by other churches. One of these was by a Church Secretary who said, and I only slightly paraphrase, ‘Most people think it’s the Minister who runs the church, when actually it’s the Secretary’. Now, he may say it was said with his tongue firmly in his cheek, and it elicited a ripple of amusement, but he has actually ‘seen off’ at least two Pastors that I know of because of his sense of being the man in charge.

Deacon 2.

Back in 1982, I was beginning my first pastoral ministry in Kentish Town, London. On my first Sunday morning, I was sitting in the vestry, gathering my thoughts and praying, and Will Strange, one of the two Deacons in the church at the time, and a man probably 25-30 years older than me came to join me in prayer. He had been influential in keeping the church going for many years and I thought to myself, ‘this is where I get put in my place and warned not to upset everything’. What he actually said was, and I quote, “John, you’re the Pastor, and what you say goes.”

He stuck by that completely during my 7+ years there even though we didn’t always completely agree, but he always gave my me place as the Elder and backed me at every turn.

Deacon 2 clearly understood the difference in roles between elders and deacons. Elders lead and rule and oversee and direct, to use biblical terms, and Deacons are there to support the Elders, enabling them to prioritise the ministry of the word and prayer, and facilitating the vision of the Eldership.

Some will say that this gives the Elder(s) too much unaccountable power and can lead to oppressive and bullying on their part, and sadly it does and can happen. But that is largely down to the failure of the church to ensure that the man, or those, who they set apart as Elders fulfil the biblical requirements in terms of character and calling.

Deacons are not there to act as a check on the Elder(s), but to support and serve them.