Readings in the Reformed Diaconate

The office-bearers may never see themselves as the bosses of the congregation who are only accountable to their colleagues. They should deport themselves humbly, for they are only executors of the Lord’s will for His congregation. That is why they may never impose their own will on the congregation. The opposite is true; they have to realize that their work is subject to what God considers beneficial for His children

[The deacon] must resist the temptation to do everything himself. Instead he should put the congregation to work. You could say that he should make himself redundant.

If he really wants to know what is going on in a family, he must come with more daring questions than is normally the case on social visits. He is after all a deacon and he comes not to satisfy his own curiosity but to give a tangible form to Christ’s mercy. Needless to say he must overcome his diffidence. All this, of course, should be done with tact.