Report of the Committee to Study the Principles of Diaconal Ministry

The OPC’s Committee to Study the Principles of Diaconal Ministry presented this report to the denomination’s 1984 General Assembly, and it is printed here together with a dissenting minority report.

The majority argues that preaching the gospel and diaconal ministry are not competing works, that the church should seek opportunities to show mercy to the needy beyond its own membership, and that parachurch relief groups should plan to transfer their ministries into the churches. The minority counters that diaconal aid belongs within covenantal bounds and discipline, and that family and state bear the first responsibility for relieving poverty.

Read together, the two reports map the OPC’s debate over how far the church’s mercy ministry extends.