2nd Opinion: The deacon-pastor fellowship

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Always in every prayer of mine for you all, making request with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now (Philippians 1:3-5).

As the Apostle Paul addresses the Philippian Christians, the supreme fact for which he thanks God is their fellowship in the gospel. He values this far more than another quality of their mutual relation. No other group in all Christendom shares a more blessed fellowship than pastor and deacons. Ordained for a common cause, we share a spiritual kinship from which emerge some of the sweetest relationships this side of heaven.

This blessed fellowship, when secured, is a great asset to God’s kingdom, but if ever sacrificed, constitutes a great liability.

• The prerequisites. At lease two prerequisites must be met before this fellowship can be attained.

Fellowship with Christ is basic to fellowship between pastor and deacons.

John the Evangelist says, “And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3). Prior to the breaking of fellowship between pastor and deacons there occurs a breaking of fellowship between an individual and Christ.

Freedom from sin is a second prerequisite for the deacon-pastor fellowship. First John 7 states, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.” The clear implication is that when we fail to “walk in the light,” we run the risk of breaking fellowship with one another.

• The purpose. The purpose of this fellowship is two-fold. First, it is spreading the gospel. Read the opening Scripture again. The common version reads, “fellowship in the furtherance of the gospel.” Paul is not speaking of our participation in gospel privileges but fellowship in the gospel work of spreading the truths of salvation through Christ.

How can pastor and deacons fulfill this purpose of our fellowship? By creating an evangelistic atmosphere in the church. If I had been a pastor or deacon in a church for three years or longer and that church failed to have a warm evangelistic atmosphere conducive to people’s accepting Christ, I would feel partially responsible.

Pastor and deacons can help spread the gospel by being examples of personal soul winning. Nothing will kindle the fires of evangelism in churches like soul-winning deacons and pastors. No one is more responsible in the matter of personal witnessing than pastors and deacons. If they fail, who will lead in doing this task?

The second purpose is strengthening the saved. Second Corinthians 8:4 speaks of “the fellowship of the ministry to the saints.” So the pastor-deacon fellowship is one of ministering to the needs of the saved—both physical and spiritual.

• The privileges. This blessed fellowship involves certain privileges of both the pastor and the deacon. The pastor has at least seven privileges.

First, the pastor is privileged to provide his best leadership.

Second, he is privileged to provide his finest preaching.

Third, the pastor owes his deacons a life that inspires them to nobler living.

Fourth, the pastor is to maintain a reputation that builds confidence in the church he serves. He is to “have a good report from them which are without” (1 Timothy 3:7).

Fifth, the pastor’s privilege is that of providing his deacons with real opportunities for service.

Sixth, the pastor has the privilege of giving an honest answer to honest questions.

Seventh, the pastor has the privilege of listening to the deacons’ suggestions.

“Likewise must the deacons be grave …” (1 Timothy 3:8). The deacon has privileges also. In every church, there are many jobs the pastor is called on to do but which a deacon could do, often better.

The deacon is to support his pastor in prayer. This will result in a better preacher and a spiritually stronger deacon.

A privilege of the deacon is that of protecting the pastor from hurt. Paul reminds us a deacon is not to be “double-tongued” (1 Timothy 3:8). A deacon can block cutting remarks, correct erroneous reports, and stand solidly behind the pastor whom God has called to serve the church.

Wise counsel for the pastor is a most glorious privilege of a deacon, for the deacon is to be “full of wisdom” (Acts 6:3).

The deacon has the happy privilege of helping to develop a stronger pastor. A pastor leaves a church either stronger or weaker because of the deacons who served there. I shall eternally be thankful for the deacons of First Baptist Church in Chickasha, Okla., for taking a 27-year-old pastor and in five years developing him into a more mature pastor.

The deacon has the privilege of seeing the church prosper as a result of the work the deacon does. After the first deacons were set aside, “the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly” (Acts 6:7).

This poem, which I dedicated to the deacons of First Baptist Church in Chickasha, expresses my concept of the deacon-pastor relationship:

A deacon is a pastor’s friend—

A godsend from above,

Who shares with him the truths of Christ

And God’s redemptive love.

A pastor’s work is multiplied

By deacons strong and true,

Who hold his hands in prayer up high

And seek God’s will to do.

So, serve with heart, my deacon friend,

Your pastor needs your aid;

And when your work on earth is done,

You’ll share in blessings paid.

 

—Jerold McBride is pastor emeritus of First Baptist Church in San Angelo.