Deacons #11 - Deacon Training Materials

There are so many GREAT resources available to provide training for those serving as deacons. I would encourage every church to make deacon training a regular occurrence. It will prove to be helpful to the deacons, as well as, a blessing to the Pastor and church. I want to offer some recommendations for deacon training materials, but I first want to extend a word of caution -- Any materials or curriculum that shows deacons to be administrators of the church or having authority over the Pastor or congregation, should be avoided at all costs. Pastors will find that carnal or power-hungry deacons will quickly elevate the training manual above the Bible and they will become divisive, rather than helpful. The training materials shown below represent some of the strongest churches and deacon ministries in our country. They will provide much helpful information for establishing a Bible-based deacon ministry.

1) The Bible should be the first and primary source for deacon training. A deacon ministry that is not based on the Bible, probably based on tradition or ideas from corporate America being implemented into God's Church. God established the Church and the plan to maintain it, so I encourage you to base your deacon ministry on the Bible.

2) In my opinion, one of the very best models for deacon ministry was established by Dr. Jim Henry at FBC of Orlando, FL. I strongly recommend their training materials entitled, ""The Deacons: Partners in Ministry and Growth." You can visit their website at http://www.firstorlando.com/care/deacon to learn more.

3) Another great resource is entitled, "The Deacon I Want to Be" and is put out by Pastor Johnny Hunt from FBC of Woodstock, GA. http://www.johnnyhunt.com/store/products.php?product=The-Deacon-I-Want-to-Be

4) The Baptist Start Page is another great resource for deacon training materials. They have many great articles and resources available on their website: http://www.baptiststart.com/deacon.htm.

5) The Pastoral Care Deacon Ministry is a summary of deacon ministry at Brentwood Baptist in Brentwood, TN. You can read the article as presented by LifeWay at http://www.lifeway.com/Article/pastoral-care-focused-deacon-ministry.

6) I also came across a VERY interesting article by Waylan Lawrence Payne, Jr. written as part of his course work for his Doctoral Degree from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary in 1996. You can view the article at http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1255&context=doctoral.

7) Finally, Charles Stanley offers some good insights regarding the role of the undershepherd and deacons at https://www.intouch.org/listen/messages/the-scriptural-view-of-the-undershepherd-radio.