Welcome! Discipleship and Family Department Florida Baptist Convention 1230 Hendricks Ave Jacksonville FL 32207 800.226

1. serve welcome DISCIPLESHIP& FAMILY nurture Welcome! Discipleship and Family Department Florida Baptist Convention 1230 Hendricks Ave Jacksonville FL 32207 800.226.8584 extension 3070 www.flbaptist.org rsaint @flbaptist.org

2. DISCIPLESHIP& FAMILY A Bible Based Deacon Ministry presented by: Roy Lee Saint, Associate Director Discipleship & Family Department Florida Baptist Convention

3. A Bible Based Deacon Ministry What is a Bible Based Deacon? Why does a Church have a Deacon Ministry?

4. Five Things You Don’t Need To Be A Deacon • A complete collection of socket wrenches and drill bits. (Helpful but not necessary.) • An innate ability to commandeer a business meeting in 3.2 seconds. • Freedom from ordinance elbow—an inability to pass the Lord’s Supper trays. • The ability to please everybody all the time. • A perfectly pronounced public prayer for each and every occasion.

5. A Bible based deacon ministry can only be accomplished when the deacons involved in it are Bible based deacons.

6. A Bible Based Deacon Ministry • Serves Christ as Lord • Is servant oriented • Understands the mission of the church • Ministers actively • Exercises proper leadership • Relies on the Holy Spirit • Rejoices in Father’s “Well Done!”

7. Call Of Deacons A Bible Based “Select from among you… men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this ministry.” Acts 6:3

8. Video “A Bible Base Call Of Deacons" “Answer The Call”

9. A Bible Base Call Of Deacons Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalms 37:4 (NASB77) • Calling, also referred to as passion, will lead you to compelling action. • Your calling is your heart for people, issues, functions, or causes.

10. Bible Based Qualifications • 1 Timothy 3 • Christian dedication (3:8) • Deacons likewise must be men of dignity • Dignity, Grave…one who possesses Christian purpose, who has great reverence for spiritual matters. One whose word carries weight. • Truthfulness in speech (3:8) • Not double-tongued • Dependable and responsible in controlling the tongue

11. Bible Based Qualifications • Disciplined Christian living (3:8) • Not addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain. • Temperate in living, steward of good influence, doing all to the glory of God. • Not greedy of lucre…a right attitude toward material possessions, not eager to exploit others for his own gain or profit. • Integrity in Christian conduct (3:9) • But holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. • One who gives strength to the church fellowship and one who possesses spiritual integrity beyond reproach.

12. Bible Based Qualifications • Proven spiritualmaturity(3:10) • And let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach. • Tested and proved…one who demonstrates these spiritual qualifications before being elected to serve as a deacon. • Christian family life (3:12) • Let deacons be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households. • One whose family is well-cared for, whose family relationships are healthy and growing. Model of faithful devotion to one spouse, committed to the sanctity of the marriage bond. Manages his own home well, loved and respected by his spouse and children, firm but with compassion and tenderness of Christ.

13. Biblical Signs of Immaturity • Inability to relate to one another1 Corinthians 3:1-2 • Under bondage to elementary things of the worldGalatians 4:3 • Running after every doctrinal fad Ephesians 4:14 • Not progressing past spiritual ABCsHebrews 5:12 & 6:1

14. Biblical Signs of Spiritual Maturity • Growth in grace2 Peter 3:18 • Growth in knowledge of Christ2 Peter 3:18 • Growth infaith 1 Thessalonians 1:3 • Growth in Christ-likenessEphesians 4:13

15. Service No one has ever risen to the real stature of spiritual maturity until they have found it finer to serve someone else than to serve themselves.

16. Basic Convictions about Deacon Ministry • Baptist deacons should let Baptist Polity be their guide. • Deacons find their purpose in helping the church be all that God established the church to be as Christ’s body in extending God’s Kingdom on earth. • The church belongs to God and not to us. God gives it to us as a gracious gift and a stewardship responsibility.

17. Basic Convictions • The chief purpose of the church references accomplishing God’s purposes for God’s glory and not what seems comfortable or reasonable to us. • As a deacon you should feel a sense of the leadership of our Lord to a place of service and not to a place of honor or power. You don’t serve to meet your needs.

18. Basic Convictions • The Bible, NOT our traditions, gives us guidance for deacon ministry. • The main work of deacons does not occur in the meeting of deacons. • Deacon and spouse serve as a ministeringcouple. • Deacons and pastors serve in a team relationship as partners in ministry.

19. Basic Convictions • Deacons, with whom I have served, have wanted to do what they understood should be done. However, many of these deacons had wrong understandings.

20. DISCIPLESHIP& FAMILY Developing Leaders  Strengthening Families  Equipping Leaders for Ministry Break Time

21. Deacon’s Minister From Their Call But select from among you, brethren…And the word of God kept on spreading. Acts 6:3,7

22. Ministry • Ministry is individual, redemptive, loving service given inside and outsidethe church under the leadership of the Holy Spirit which meets people’s needs and fulfills the church’s mission.

23. Deacon’s Minister From Their Purpose We are servants working together to meet the spiritual, physical, and emotional needs of the church as empowered through the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

24. Video “Deacon’s Minister From Their Purpose" “What Is Your Purpose?”

25. What is YOUR purpose? Discuss...

26. Deacon MinistryMust Address the Needs of the Church and the Community “And Jesus increased in wisdom, and stature, and in favor with God and man.” —Luke 2:52

27. What are the Needs?

28. Discovered needs must be translated into Deacon Ministry This is very Important!!

29. Workbook p. 6 Priority Needs for Deacon Ministry • Which three needs would you consider as the more pressing needs in your church • or community?

30. Deacon’s Must Minister According To Their Passion To Serve... Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalms 37:4 (NASB77)

31. Statement of Deacon Purpose Needs of church and community Passion/ Calling Ministries Spiritual Gifts Deacon ministries converge from...

32. Deacon's Are Spiritual Leaders “…full of the Spirit and of wisdom” Acts 6:3

33. Laying hands on a man will not make him a leader in the church Laying on of Hands does not confer status but authorizes formal ministry.

34. Leadership • The realm of influence where people become inspiredto follow the leader in accomplishing specific tasks.

35. Deacons Serving As Examples In family life In personal morality In faithfulness to the church In peacemaking In service to others

36. What Does A Bible Based Deacon Look Like? • He feels called to the Biblical role of a deacon. • Heserves Christ as Lord. • He fulfills Biblical qualifications of a deacon. • He accomplishes ministry actions. • He understands the missionof the church. • He provides servant leadership. • He grows in Christian traits. • He rejoices in Father’s “Well done!”

37. DISCIPLESHIP& FAMILY Developing Leaders  Strengthening Families  Equipping Leaders for Ministry The End