Leadership in the Church pt 1 - The role of Elders and Deacons

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This sermon provides a brief overview of the emergence of the roles of Elder and Deacon in the early church as an ongoing pattern for church leadership today. This provides a basis for a more detailed examination in future messages of those roles and the qualifications required of those who are given the responsibility of carrying them out.

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The classic text when it comes to understanding the roles of Deacons is found in the book of Acts 6:1-7…

In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. ^2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. ^3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them ^4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

^5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. ^6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

^7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. ^[1]

The interesting thing about this text is that it does not mention Elders or Deacons! It mentions 12 men who had the responsibility pray and teach and 7 men who were given responsibility to overlook the daily distribution of food to widows who were in need.

This passage is important because it describes for us the way that the first leaders of the church – the 12 Apostles – delegated some of the tasks of ministry so that they were able to focus on the task that they had been entrusted with – prayer and the ministry of the Word.

As God continued to grow the Church under the guidance of the Apostles these ministries became better defined as the roles of Elders and Deacons.

By Acts 11 we read of Elders in the Church at Jerusalem. In Acts 15 we read that important decisions were made by a council of Elders together with the surviving Apostles. As they discussed what was a very controversial topic at the time, the two prominent people mentioned were the Apostle Peter and James the brother of Jesus, who is never given the title Apostle, but rose to a position of leadership because of his obvious spiritual qualifications.

In Acts 14:23 we read that as they returned from their first missionary journey, “Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.”

In Acts 20:17-38 we get a great picture of this process of the Lord’s Apostles handing over responsibility for spiritual leadership to Elders – men who had not been appointed by Jesus personally as the Apostles had, but rather men who had been appointed to leadership because of their maturity, holiness and firm grasp of right doctrine.

^17 From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. ^18 When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. ^19 I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews. ^20 You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. ^21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

^22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. ^23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. ^24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.

^25 “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. ^26 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. ^27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.

^28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. ^29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. ^30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. ^31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

^32 “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ^33 I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. ^34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. ^35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

^36 When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. ^37 They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. ^38 What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

This passage teaches us a lot about the ministry of Elders, which we won’t explore in detail today. I want to just pull out some of the big ideas though. You can see in this passage that Eldership:

· Continues the ministry of the Apostles in the teaching and governing of the Church. (Interestingly, the Apostle Peter calls himself a “fellow elder” when writing to Elders in 1 Peter 5:1. The Apostle John simply calls himself “the Elder” in the letters of 2^nd and 3^rd John).

· Follows the example and teaching of the Apostles ministry (v. 18-26)

· Involves watching over their own lives first and the lives of those who God has entrusted to their care (v. 28)

· Involves guarding the church from error and attack (vv. 29-31)

· Is hard work! (v. 35)

So getting back to Acts chapter 6, let’s apply the pattern of what happened in that situation and apply it to our own context.

As the church in Jerusalem was governed and cared for by Apostles at that stage, we are governed and cared for by Elders. They have oversight of the church. However just as the Apostles were unable to personally supervise every area of ministry within the church in Jerusalem, our Elders are unable to personally supervise every area of ministry in our church. As we know, not only would it distract them from fulfilling their primary duties, but it would actually stunt the growth of the church as others are not entrusted with ministries for which they are gifted and qualified.

So in this particular situation, which was to do with financial administration and distribution of food, the Apostles invited the church to bring forward 7 trustworthy men, who the Apostles then commissioned for that task, giving them the authority to carry it out. Notice that the Apostles specified for the church to choose men “Full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom”. In other words men of demonstrated spiritual maturity and the discernment necessary to make good decisions in carrying out their role.

Over time the word “Deacon” was applied to people serving in these recognised capacities within the church. Deacon simply means “Servant”. Of course we are all servants of Christ and of His Church. We are all to serve one another in love, and we have all been shaped by God in order to do good works which will build up the Church.

So the word deacon is applied in Scripture both as a verb – an action word describing what people do; and a noun – a title given to people who have been recognised as having a particular role in serving the Body.

It’s important to recognise that the Apostles apply the word “deacon” to themselves also in this passage. In verse 2 they say it would not be right for them to neglect the Word in order to serve tables – that’s not their area of service. In verse 6 they describe their area as prayer and to serve, or minister, the Word.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:5

^“There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.”

Paul calls himself a servant (deacon) of the gospel in Ephesians 3:7, and there are many other references that we could look up where this word is being used.

So what does this actually teach us about the role of Deacons in the church?

Simply this, that we all have different areas of service, and that it is important for our leaders to be able to delegate responsibility to other believers who demonstrate suitable Christian character and suitability for the tasks which they will be given responsibility for.

In our church, we have a Deacons Board which serves the church by looking after administrative matters which are mostly to do with finances and property. Other people serve as deacons – but without the title – in areas such as overseeing children’s ministry, youth ministry, music ministry, ladies ministry, missions and so on. These must all be people full of the Spirit and wisdom, appropriate to their specific roles. We would not want a spiritually immature or unwise person serving in any of these positions, which is why we have a formal process of appointing people to those roles. I wonder if it would help us to understand the spiritual significance of these roles if we were to hold a commissioning service in a similar way to that which we see in Acts 6 where people appointed to these roles are consecrated for ministry by prayer and the laying on of hands by the Elders.

Other churches have different ways of organising the ministry of Deacons. For example in some churches the Deacons Board consists of people who are in charge of different ministry areas in the church who do not often meet together. They may have a finance team, property team, children’s ministry team, worship team and so on, and the leaders of these teams meet together every so often to talk about resourcing and other issues that they have in common.

However it is that we organise our Deacons – the main thing to keep in mind is that being a deacon means being a servant. It is not a title to pursue. It is not an office by which you get to have a say in what goes on. It is being entrusted by the congregation to serve faithfully in a particular area.

Likewise, being an Elder is also being a servant, but where deacons can be appointed to serve in whatever areas the church has need, Elders have a very clearly defined role in Scripture, and must be careful to not let anything deter them from fulfilling that Scriptural mandate.

So to wrap up the different roles, we could summarise to say that Elders have governing authority in the church and are to watch over it as under-shepherds to Jesus Christ. Deacons are people who have been entrusted with a particular responsibility within the church and have been given the authority necessary to carry out that responsibility.

How should we appoint people to these roles of service?

It should be remembered that it is God who divinely appoints people for roles of service. Our task is to recognise people who God has gifted, matured and ordained for particular roles within His Body.

In Acts 14 we read that Elders were appointed by the Apostles Paul and Barnabas in every town where there had been a church established. It should be noted that the Greek word being used does not tell us specifically how they did it. They may have elected the elders by mutual consent between themselves, or they may have had the congregation elect the elders and then ordained them in a similar way the first deacons were ordained in Acts 6. Acts 14:23 tells us they did this with prayer and fasting, such was the seriousness of the responsibility entrusted to these elders to watch over the fledgling churches.

It’s worth noting that Paul & Barnabas appointed these Elders on their return trip, passing through churches that had already been planted and had an opportunity to grow under their own supervision. In such circumstances, men who held on to the true teaching of the Apostles and who showed transformed character would have had a chance to become easily identified.

The lists of qualifications for Elders and Deacons are found in the letters written to Titus and to Timothy. Paul wrote to these men to help them teach the churches they were responsible for how to identify suitable candidates for these ministries. It’s possible that Timothy and Titus simply appointed Elders and Deacons with the Apostolic authority that had been delegated to them by Paul in keeping with his instructions, but it’s equally possible that their task was more to supervise the process and make sure the churches knew what sort of people they should be appointing to the roles.

In our church, we invite members of the congregation to identify people suited for service as either an Elder or Deacon, and with that person’s consent to nominate them to serve in that capacity. The nomination then must be approved by the Elders, since Elders by virtue of their ministry may be aware of issues that may render a person unfit for a particular role. If the nomination is approved, it is brought before the church at a members meeting so that the whole congregation has an opportunity to express their confidence in the character and calling of the person. Deacons serving on our Church Board are elected for a 3 year term, while other positions of recognised service are renewed annually.

The role of Elder is not for a defined period, but for life unless an Elder disqualifies himself by his conduct or else chooses to resign the position for some other reason.

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^[1]All Scriptures from The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.