Deacon Training
The following deacon training resources come from Church Planting Novice, the personal blog of Jonathan Dodson, lead pastor of Austin City Life, along with Goodmanson.com, the personal blog of Drew Goodmanson, elder/pastor at Kaleo Church in San Diego.
Deacon Candidate Interview Questions
Jonathan Dodson. October 2, 2008.
In preparation for our Fall Deacon Training, I found these interview questions from Tim Keller very helpful:
- Purity. Are you leading a sexually pure life? (What do you consider a sexually pure life?)
- Possessions. Do you understand the Biblical tithe to be for Christians of the giving to the Lord’s work? Are you giving out of your income in Biblical proportions, or are you moving toward that standard?
- Personal walk. Describe your prayer and devotional life. Has God been real to you in prayer of late; is your relationship with him vital? Is anything hindering your communion with God? Are you making progress against it?
- Ministry Involvement. Tell us of how you have been involved in people’s lives in ministry through _____ or through other organizations in the City. Do you have any non-Christian associates that you are regularly praying for and sharing faith with?
- Office affinity. Describe for us the duties of deacon/deaconness. How do your gifts, abilities, interests fit this office?
Taken from the Redeemer Church Planting Manual
Here’s the list of topics we are covering each month:
October 5, 2008 – 1st training meeting @ Dodson’s house
Discussion topic: A Theology of Deacons
Assignment: One Page Reflection Paper on 1 Tim 3:8-13
November 2, 2008 – 2nd training meeting @ Dodson’s house
Discussion topic: The Practice of Deacons
Assignment: One Page “Dream” Ministry Description
December 7, 2008 – 3rd training meeting @ Dodson’s house
Discussion topic: Holding to the Mystery of Faith
Next Assignment: One Page Summary of the Gospel
December 8-14, 2008 – Interviews and Installation
Deacon Training - I (Theology of Deacons)
Jonathan Dodson. October 6, 2008.
Tonight we had our first of three sessions on deacon training. I was moved by the number of quality of potential deacons sitting in our house. God has been so kind to Austin City Life! In preparation for training our deacons, I did the following:
- Studied the deacon passages of Scripture
- Read Alexander Strauch’s Ministers of Mercy and re-read Mark Driscoll’s A Book You’ll Actually Read on Church Leadership.
- Re-read Darrin Patrick’s notes on developing-elders-deacons-members. For the audio, click here.
- Read Bob Thune’s paper, Deacons: A Theological Study
- Read Tim Keller’s section on Leadership Development in the Redeemer Church Planting Manual
- Oh, I found this deacon outline after the training, which is quite good. I agree with most of it.
Then I wrote and mailed a letter of invitation to potential deacons, gave them a copy of Driscoll’s book, and developed a teaching outline for our three session Deacon Training. In all of this I borrowed heavily from Bob Thune and David Fairchild. Thanks guys!
Deacon Training – II (Practice of Deacons)
Jonathan Dodson. November 3, 2008.
As we continue the process of developing deacons, our most recent meeting focused on The Practice of Deacons. A previous post lists resources for A Theology of Deacons, the focus of our first meeting. In attempting to work out the practice of deacons, we found it helpful to make a distinction between two areas of service-community and mission-focused deacons.
There are two main areas of service-community-focused and mission-focused service. Mission-focused deacons serve in ways that change over time. For example, the Early Church probably didn’t have Media or Arts Deacons but they did have deacons that served widows and orphans. As the church expands and contracts throughout history, moving from continent to continent, culture to culture, the expression of the church varies. As a result, there are some areas of service that remain the same and others that change. Consequently, the cultural and historical expression of the church requires deacons that serve the mission of the church and deacons that serve a church of mission.
There are deacon ministries that are pretty standard, transcultural and transhistorical such as: mission/social justice, community/benevolence, financial. These ministries have historical and biblical precedent, focusing not so much on outward mission but more on inward ministry to the community of faith. In summary, there are community-focused and mission-focused areas of ministry for deacons, ministries that serve the mission of the church and ministries that serve the church of mission.
Deacon Training – III (Holding to the Mystery of Faith)
Jonathan Dodson. Content coming December 7, 2008.
Deacon Training & Development
Drew Goodmanson.
I’ve had a couple people ask what we do for Deacon Development, so I thought I’d post it for anyone to use. First, we believe that the Deacon (or elder) process is just a confirmation of what God has already done. Meaning our Deacons are already active in serving and running ministries prior to our beginning the process. I meet with a group of these servant leaders on a monthly basis and try to meet with them one-on-one throughout the month. In addition to this time, here is what we do:
1. I meet with Deacon candidates and we go through The New Testament Deacon: The Church’s Minister of Mercy
2. All Deacon candidates read Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road
Next, depending on the person (whether their strengths/weaknesses are Prophet, Priest or King) I recommend or work with diff’t aspects of who they are.
The above books (Ministers of Mercy & The New Testament Deacon provide a theological framework for the role of the Deacon. This means they will grow in their ‘head knowledge’ (Prophet) of the why we are called to serve, bring mercy, care for the poor, social justice and other causes. If a person is a Priest/King these books should provide a framework to accompany their love for people and ability to get things done.
If they are a strong Prophet/King I recommend books like The Heart of a Servant Leader: Letters from Jack Miller
If they are a strong Prophet/Priest I work with them on systems and how to exercise dominion, books like The E-Myth
Gospel Coalition Resources: