New Providence Presbyterian Church - Maryville, TN
Monday, March 18, 2024
 
 
New Providence
Presbyterian Church
703 West Broadway Avenue
Maryville, TN 37801
(865)983-0182
mail@newprovidencepres.org
 
 
Worship Services @ NPPC
9:00 a.m. FirstLight
11:05 a.m. Traditional
 
        
 
 
 
Community Benefit Sale
2019
August 23
September 27
October 25
November 22
December 6
 
2020
January 24
February 28
March 27
April 24
May 22
June 26
 
Antiques and Collectibles Sale
2019
September 27
 
 
 
       
   Constant Contact
 
       
Google plus  Tumblr
 

The Office of Deacon

Diakonia: “one giving service to others in Christian love, care, and compassion.”
 
Matthew 20:25-29 and Acts 6:1-6
 
The office of deacon is every bit as spiritual as that of the elder. Too often people assume that one becomes a deacon as a stepping-stone to eldership. That lessens the office of deacon. The office to which deacons have been called is as important as that of elder; it is simply the responsibilities that are different.
 
In their book, Presbyterian Polity for Church Officers, Joan Gray and Joyce Tucker have this to say about the office of deacon in the Reformed tradition:
 
"When in the mid-sixteenth century John Calvin developed a polity for governing the church in Geneva, one of the offices for which he found a scriptural basis was the office of deacon. Calvin turned to the story of the appointing of the seven in the sixth chapter of Acts and saw there deacons who cared for the poor and distributed alms to them. According to Acts, when the apostles heard that some church members felt that the relief of the poor was not being handled fairly, they asked that this part of their work be entrusted to a separate group of seven persons who would not have the responsibility of preaching and so could focus their attention on the work of serving. Calvin concluded: “Here, then, is the kind of deacons the apostolic church had, and which we, after their example, should have.”
 
Following Calvin, Presbyterians of Scotland provided for the office of deacon in the First Book of Discipline of 1560. There was one important difference between Calvin and the Scots, however. Scottish polity permitted deacons to be members of church courts – what we today know as governing bodies. However, by the time the Second Book of Discipline was legally enacted by the Acts of Parliament in 1492 Calvin’s view predominated in Scotland, and it was specified that deacons were not to be members of any church court."
 
Book of Order, section G-2.02
 
In some churches stewardship emphasis and budget responsibility is given to the deacons, who recommend to the session a budget for adoption; in other churches, deacons are responsible for the church’s buildings and grounds. When the 1983 reunion occurred, however, the Book of Order purposely listed ministry to those in need as the primary task of the deacons. The session is to assist in this as well, but it is the primary responsibility of the deacons. Other functions for which deacons have responsibility may be extremely important, but they are secondary to the function of service.
 
Because the session governs the congregation, the board of deacons is responsible to the session. 
 
The pastor(s) of the church is an advisory member of the board of deacons and does not preside over the meeting of the board. The board elects its own moderator.