Deacons are a gift from the exalted Savior to the Church. Their work is to take care of the practical needs of the flock so that the pastors may “devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word.” (Acts 6:4)[1] They are to oversee the deeds of mercy both to the church and the community around the church. It is the only other holy office in the New Testament church in addition to the elder. The diaconal ministry of the church frees the church's teaching and preaching, it validates the church's teaching and preaching, and it accompanies the church's teaching and preaching. [2] It is thus a very important office of the church. As George C. Fuller puts it, "To denigrate the high office of deacon is practical heresy". [3]
In part 1 of his diaconal ministry training, Tim Keller, the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian, well known for his books on the diaconate like Resources for Deacons and Ministries of Mercy, develops a theology of mercy ministry. He begins by considering the well known passage of Scripture dealing with the story of the good Samaritan. Keller makes some initial observations on the text like the overarching category for all that the Samaritan did, namely, mercy, noting down the deeds of the Samaritan as deeds of mercy, namely, meeting medical needs, financial needs and providing shelter, and finally noting the common thread among all the needs he ministered to, namely, human or felt needs.
With this introduction, Keller begins to lay a theological foundation for mercy ministry. He begins by defining diaconal ministry as the meeting of felt human needs through deeds and word in the power and love of the kingdom. Keller defines a need as a dependency distorted and aggravated by alienation from God. He then goes to Genesis 3 to show the four levels of need due to four levels of alienation that resulted from the Fall. Firstly, we are spiritually alienated from God (Gen 3:8), resulting in psychological alienation causing guilt and shame (Gen 3:10), leading to social alienation from each other (Gen 3:7, 12), culminating in physical alienation (Gen 3:17-19). He moves onto show how the gospel heals every level of need, partially in this age and completely in the age to come. This healing is the essence of the kingdom of God and spreading it is the ministry of the church. The diaconal ministry is crucial in spreading this healing, though partial, especially in the needs arising from the physical alienation caused by the fall.
Footnotes
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[1] Deacons, Heritage Baptist Church, Owensboro
[2] Ronald Pearce, God's Gift of Deacons
[3] Timothy J. Keller, "The High Calling of Deacon", Resources for Deacons, Pg11
