Deacons and/or Trustees?

Roger Schmurr asks, in outline form, whether unordained trustees or the ordained diaconate should handle the finances and physical upkeep of church property. He surveys the Levites’ oversight of temple funds and repairs, the synagogue’s three offices, and New Testament passages such as Acts 6 and Acts 11 to argue that Scripture consistently puts the church’s money in ordained hands, then shows that the OPC Form of Government expects the board of trustees ordinarily to consist of the elders and deacons.

Among the benefits he names: men trained in doctrine shape the budget, and work often dismissed as “secular” gets recognized as spiritual. He closes with objections and answers, noting that deacons remain free to enlist any member with useful gifts. The article ran in Ordained Servant, the OPC’s journal for church officers.