A Presbyterian Approach to Mercy Ministry

Summary

Nathan Trice, pastor of Matthews OPC in North Carolina and a member of the denomination’s Committee on Diaconal Ministries, asks what deacons gain from serving in a connectional church. He surveys mercy ministry at three levels: local diaconates, the standing diaconal committees that all seventeen OPC presbyteries maintain, and the denominational Committee on Diaconal Ministries.

The presbytery committees care for ministers in financial need, support local diaconates, and organize disaster relief, while the denominational committee adds work such as short-term missions and provision for retired ministers and widows. Trice grants that all mercy ministry is local, a direct personal response to human need, but argues that these connections strengthen the deacons doing that work.

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.

A Presbyterian Approach to Mercy Ministry

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