This fund was called the tamhui or the tray. It was this practice that the first deacons inherited and performed. At first the money for the poor had been administered or at least supervised by the apostles Acts , but when the number of the disciples grew to five thousand men Acts , the job became too much for them, and deacons were elected to help.
Another indication of the deacon's role is inherent in the name itself: "servant. This does not mean that it is a lowly or unimportant office. The qualifications are quite high. They indicate that the deacon must be morally pure, spiritually mature, doctrinally strong, and able to handle money responsibly.
In addition, he must be a good example in his family life and his deportment in the community. He is one to be respected in the church. No other directions are given in Scripture concerning the work of the deacon.
One thing is clear: it is not the job of the deacon to rule the church. Just as there is no such thing in Scripture as a board of elders, there is no such thing as a board of deacons. Authority in the church comes from the Lord to the congregation. Deacons may be authorized by the congregation to serve the church in various ways, but these should be under the same headings found in Scripture. They should help the pastor or pastors with their ministry and help meet the physical needs of the congregation.
Lea and Griffin conclude from 1 Timothy that "deacons likely served in an undefined way to assist the overseer, but they may not have been deeply involved in church financial affairs. It says that the deacon: "shall minister to those in need, to the sick, to the friendless, and to any who may be in distress. To this board may be delegated.
Deacons may be involved properly in all of these ministries as appointed by the church, but Strauch is correct when he says that "deacons are the church's ministers of mercy.
No spiritual gifts are listed in the qualifications for deacons, but it seems reasonable that a deacon's gifts should be appropriate for his ministry. If that be the case, then the church should look for those who have the gift of "helping" 1 Cor.
In so doing, they free the pastors from doing these tasks so that they can devote themselves to teaching, praying, and leading. For example, a deacon may handle benevolence requests so that a pastor can prepare a sermon. Of course, some overlap may occur, but by and large, deacons handle physical and logistical needs and elders tend to spiritual matters. To see this played out in Scripture, consider Acts —7. Many people believe this account marks the beginning of the office of deacon.
Seven men were set apart to ensure that all the widows within the Jerusalem church received enough food. They served in this way so the apostles were free to fulfill their primary responsibilities—prayer and the ministry of the Word. While every church member should be serving the church, not everyone can serve as a deacon. The office of deacon—like the office of elder—is reserved only for those who meet certain character qualifications.
To summarize these four verses, deacons must be marked by godliness. These character requirements are also important because they protect the reputation of the local church. A need for service to the widows was growing, and the murmurings were rooted in the thought the Hebrew widows were being favored in their allotment from the church.
Deacons originated from conflicts in the early church as the number of believers was steadily growing. The qualifications of the Deacons stated below, are vital to the administration of these responsibilities.
Biblical qualifications for the appointment of the deacon are specified in Acts as "men of honest report, full of The Holy Ghost and wisdom. The Choosing of the Seven - Acts Brothers and sisters, 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 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word. They presented these men to the apostles , who prayed and laid their hands on them.
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. Qualifications for Deacons - 1 Timothy They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. But as an ordained person, you have a responsibility to do the best you can to present all of it. Do you see yourself being able to set aside that agenda to preach about something else—immigration, perhaps, or another subject?
As a layperson, you can focus your efforts all you want. But again, see, being a deacon goes beyond the functions of the deacon. The same thing applies to deacons. The same thing also applies to a married couple. The only thing liturgically that the deacon is required to do is proclaim the gospel. There are other actions he might do during the liturgy that could also be performed by other ministers. Because it ought to be the deacon who really knows the needs of the community and knows the needs of the people.
If the deacon is already perceived as the servant to the community in every sense of that word, when you see that servant in action liturgically, it cements that.
Would a priest go to Mrs. Just as you need laypeople present and active, you need the deacon. The original proposal at Vatican II was that mature married men, about the age of 40, could be ordained.
Clearly the vision was that these would be men who were married, raising families, still engaged in the workplace, in the world, and also who would be deacons. Fifteen percent of our deacons are over 70, and only 2 percent are under The average age of a deacon around the world is significantly younger, somewhere in the 40s.
The whole family comes. A group of child care providers and youth ministers meet the family at the door. The kids go off and do age appropriate stuff and Mom and Dad go to their program. At least two or three of the bishops brought it into their proposals, that the diaconate be open to men and women. One bishop actually had a joint group of candidates ready, men and women. It may have been seen as a little too much, too soon.
I think the bishops wanted to try to sell the idea of the diaconate first before introducing women. The idea of women as deacons seems to disappear somewhere around the first draft of Lumen Gentium.
It would be wonderful to have women deacons. Wives of deacons are a population of women who run the gamut. Sometimes even our priests think like that. Maybe my wife has no interest in doing that whatsoever. We need to respect where the wife is.
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