I know this isn’t specifically dean stuff, but it is running around in my mind, so it counts. Plus, since we train students for servant leadership in the church, it’s helpful sometimes to think about what those categories of leadership are.
Now that I have been a minister, deacon, and elder (ordained three different times!), I have given this some thought, but not done a lot of talking with others about it.
I see deacons as having task leadership (while elders have people/teaching leadership). Three ways deacons exercise task leadership: responsible for task(s) (oversight), helping with task(s) (labor/supplies), and insight concerning task(s) (experience/wisdom). I think we need all three types of deacons, leaving the elders to do the ministry of prayer, the Word, and shepherding.
As for paid ministers, I basically consider them to either be professional deacons (or deaconesses) or professional elders. By virtue of their submission to God’s call in their life, their experience and training, and the amount of time they spend doing that work, they are paid to do the work that the elders and deacons have deputized them to do.
This model works pretty well when thinking about my church, but I’m not sure how it works for other churches. I know it would be a different model for a church plant and/or satellite church than an autonomous, established church. But since I don’t work with those churches, I haven’t thought as much about them.
Are these helpful distinctions, or am I being overly analytical? I’d love to hear your insights.
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