http://reformeddeacon.com/tags/polity-discussions/ Recent content in polity discussions on Readings in the Reformed Diaconate Hugo -- gohugo.io en-us http://reformeddeacon.com/presbyterian-approach-to-mercy-ministry/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://reformeddeacon.com/presbyterian-approach-to-mercy-ministry/ Excerpt But what about diaconal ministry? In what ways do the local deacons of your church benefit from ministering in a connectional church? Indeed, how do all members of the OPC benefit from being part of a denomination that pursues mercy ministry at every level of its Presbyterian structure? To many, perhaps, this is not as obvious, so perhaps a review of the work of mercy ministry at each level of the OPC is in order. http://reformeddeacon.com/are-deacons-members-of-the-session/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://reformeddeacon.com/are-deacons-members-of-the-session/ Excerpt Here we see that the French inclusion of the deacons with the consistory was NOT because they viewed the office of deacon as a ruling office, but because they viewed their deacons as called at the same time to be assistant elders. Here they were evidently able to give some “after the fact” justification of their actual practice, while at the same time being careful not to blur (theologically) the Scriptural distinction between the office of elder and that of deacon. http://reformeddeacon.com/deacons-and-or-trustees/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://reformeddeacon.com/deacons-and-or-trustees/ Excerpt The Question: Should unordained persons handle the finances and physical upkeep of church property? http://reformeddeacon.com/office-of-diaconate-in-the-churches/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://reformeddeacon.com/office-of-diaconate-in-the-churches/ Excerpt Since the Scriptures do not provide any other concrete revelation about the general task of the deacons, we conclude that the Word of God teaches that the mandate for the diaconate contains these ingredients as normative: The office of deacon is a particularized and specialized expression of the office of all believers. In their task and calling the deacons demonstrate, model, and teach the Saviour’s love for His own. http://reformeddeacon.com/reforming-the-diaconate-part-1/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://reformeddeacon.com/reforming-the-diaconate-part-1/ Excerpt Deacons, in our view, continue their role of serving the congregation in any and every way that frees the elders to most fully do the work of praying, ruling, and teaching according to the Word of God. http://reformeddeacon.com/the-deacon/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://reformeddeacon.com/the-deacon/ Excerpt To avoid friction between members, to promote happy pastorates, and to develope the grace of liberality, nothing is more important than a good deacon, one who can be patient, who can smile at unreasonable people, and speak a soft word to turn away wrath, one who is willing to give time and take trouble on himself, and make himself “all things to all men” in order to promote the interests of his Master’s cause. http://reformeddeacon.com/the-gospel-and-the-deacon/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://reformeddeacon.com/the-gospel-and-the-deacon/ Excerpt It is the deacon who best demonstrates the mercy and service of Christ which the elders teach. It is the deacon who thus fills out the Gospel which the elders proclaim. It is the deacon who best reminds us that power in the Church is not to be like power in the world, because true power is first and foremost the power to serve. And thus it is the Gospel which compels us to ordain deacons in the Church so that Christ, our “table-server,” may be seen in all His fullness. http://reformeddeacon.com/the-importance-of-the-office-of-deacon/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://reformeddeacon.com/the-importance-of-the-office-of-deacon/ Excerpt The Church, therefore, which shuts up the channel of diaconal ministration must expect to be dwarfed in the development of experimental religion. More humble and less conspicuous their office may be than that of the elder; but it is not the less divinely warranted, nor is it unilluminated by the splendor of a glorious example. It is a striking fact that the Lord Jesus, in his sojourn on earth, did not occupy the outward seat of the ruler—he condescended to appear as a prisoner at the bar of the eldership of his own visible Church. http://reformeddeacon.com/the-office-of-deacon/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://reformeddeacon.com/the-office-of-deacon/ Excerpt Such being, undoubtedly the principles of Presbyterianism the world over, with regard to this officer, how is it that in these United States, the practice of Presbyterianism has allowed the Deacon almost every where to expire, from sheer idleness;—his business having been taken from him and put into the hands of a committee appointed by the State Legislature! We have finished all that we designed in this article; which was, to prove that by the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church, the Deacons are the proper officers to manage all the temporalities of the Church. http://reformeddeacon.com/women-in-office-especially-about-deaconesses/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://reformeddeacon.com/women-in-office-especially-about-deaconesses/