Pointers for Elders and Deacons

Ordained Servant ran this three-part series in 1993 and 1994, translated from Dienst, the Dutch magazine of the Central Diaconal Conference of Reformed Churches, and written as a study paper for a pre-season instruction evening where new elders and deacons could settle on a plan of action with their consistory.

The first part fixes the office-bearer’s position: called by God and appointed by Christ, he is neither the congregation’s boss nor its errand boy, so he must be humble and bold at once. Much of it equips elders for family visiting, down to checklists on a member’s work, table devotions, prayer, attendance, stewardship, and witness, along with a plan for regular consistory review of the minister’s sermons.

The second part concentrates on method: visit in pairs, open with prayer and Scripture, prepare two subjects so the conversation cannot drift, keep dated notes, and report to the consistory with discretion. It also opens the treatment of deacons with a warning against doing everything oneself, urging the deacon to put the congregation to work and make himself redundant.

The third part gives the deacon his own visiting program, recommending official visits every two or three years built around the ordination form, possible needs, the member’s service to others, and stewardship, and it presses him to ask more daring questions than a social caller would, since he comes to give tangible form to Christ’s mercy. Throughout, the counsel warns both ways on aid, against a generosity that breeds dependency and against retreating when false pride refuses help.