Tentpegs

Make sure you read the last blog and comments before coming here. That way, I don’t have to repeat myself. (and, sadly, when I repeat myself, I often find myself in violent disagreement with myself…)

I was asked by those in the comment section if I thought a single person could serve as a deacon. Let’s work on this with the information we already have from the last column. When I am asked if a single person or a faithful man/woman who has no children can serve as a deacon, I ask a simple question: “Can a single person be a minister?” The answer to that is almost always “yes.” That is when I bring up the fact that the word diakonos is not a magic word. It isn’t a special Bible-only term used to designate special people. It is a simple, generic term for someone who takes care of the needs of others. You can translate it “servant” or “minister” or “helper-type person” but you can’t translate it “deacon” because that isn’t a translation; it is a transliteration in the same way that “baptize” and “hallelujah” are. Transliterations obscure. They don’t enlighten.

This causes some heart palpitations in some very sincere, sweet hearts. They see the list of “requirements” in Timothy and Titus and, not noticing that they don’t match, they fear heavenly repercussions if they ignore the legal list. That’s when I pull out the illustration I used last time about “who is a Christian?” Once they see that the Bible is a narrative and should be read that way, they know that they best people to lead ministries are those who are successful in other areas of their personal life such as their marriage, parenthood, social relationships, business, etc. but that those aren’t the only ones allowed to serve the Body of Christ. God used single people as prophets/evangelists (Jeremiah, Paul) and He used women and men in various stages of their lives as servants/ministers (Priscilla, Dorcas, Paul, etc.).

Reading the Bible as a legal document causes all kinds of pain and division. There are people who believe we can only use one cup for the Lords Supper because Jesus only used one (which is actually not a settled fact, by the way. The language is slightly ambiguous and can be read to say that they were to divide and then drink the wine). Others will not take the bread unless it is broken first since Jesus broke it. Others will not take the Supper unless there is a prayer for the bread, the bread is taken, then a prayer for the wine, and the wine is taken. If someone only says one prayer and passes both emblems… horrors! Churches have divided, families members have been estranged, and evangelistic works have died over issues like these. The devil, of course, laughs at this for all those involved missed the point of the Supper — remembrance, reflection, and community.

We could multiply examples all day. I got quite a letter one day from a person who had visited our congregation. They had heard the term “pastoral care minister” used and were quite offended that we had invented an office of the church for which there was not Biblical warrant. The problem is — there are NO church offices in the sense that we use the term “office.” There are parts of the Body that serve as elders (also “bishops” or that transliterated word “presbyter”), but they were serving as elders before anyone stood up in a pulpit and called them that. Ministers/servants of both sexes were already serving before someone officially gave them a specific task to free up the evangelist and elders to do other work. When we recognize them, we are not creating them; we are merely acknowledging those already at work among us. Sadly, I have seen churches make some men deacons as a reward for coming to church, hoping that that would motivate them to get involved in something. Sad. And wrong. Our pastoral care ministers are people with a heart for other people. They are good at visiting the sick, caring for the weak, listening to those who are struggling. We think that many of them will one day become elders in our body but, for the present, they help the elders do their work. Our ministers/servants (we don’t call them deacons. We prefer to speak in English) have their tasks laid out plainly and they are responsible for them. They are not proto-elders though some will become elders over time. (some believe that deacons have authority in the church. No. They have a responsibility — nothing more)

Some read the Bible as a legal document and they worry about whether they can baptize in an artificial pool, sing in four part harmony, or hire a minister but they seem to have no trouble with other extra-Biblical things such as building a building and requiring people to come to it, creating a newsletter to correct other congregations, establishing a website to “name the digressives” in their tribe — which makes them somewhat of a bishop over many churches; something plainly forbidden in scripture.

But read it as a narrative and the Body comes alive, the soul faces its own sin, and the knee bows to the Savior. We no longer fear that we might have broken a hidden law (arguments about “psallo” come to mind) that only experts can tell us about. No, we know the Lord and He knows us. We have the story of our journey together. It is called the Bible. We have His presence within us to guide us. It is called the Holy Spirit. We can take to heart the admonition of our Lord: “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me…”