Deacons as Unifiers
The diaconate is far more than writing checks or ensuring heat in a cold church building. Deacons have a unique and high calling to be examples and leaders of unity by ministering the grace of our Savior to the congregation through compassionate deeds and discerning words.
Special Needs Families in the Life of Christ’s Church
Featured in New Horizons
Rev. Adrian Crum interviews special needs families on how churches and deacons can ensure disabled members are included and supported in church.
The 2025 Presbytery Diaconal Summit
Hosted by the OPC’s Committee on Diaconal Ministries (CDM) and the Committee on Ministerial Care, the summit gathered men from each presbytery who serve on that presbytery’s diaconal committee. Thirty-seven representatives from fourteen of the seventeen Presbytery Diaconal Committees (PDCs) participated. The theme of the summit was “Reforming Your PDC.”
The National Diaconal Summit
Most deacons serve without the opportunity to meet others in the same role beyond their local church or presbytery. The summit changes that. It brings together men who share the same joys, struggles, questions, and hopes. Register now to attend!
Elisha, The Widow, and the Ministry of Deacons
What can we learn concerning diaconal work from a passage of Scripture not about deacons? As we understand the redemptive historical trajectory of Scripture, culminating in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are driven to derive diaconal lessons from the narrative of Elisha and the widow:
Be Prepared: Safety in Church
Imagine you are sitting in the pew with your family as usual on Sunday morning. After helping your child find the hymn selection in her hymnal, you stand and see an elderly gentleman make his way into the aisle, walking toward the back of the church. As the hymn begins, you realize you can’t seem to focus on singing. Your gaze is fixed on the unsteady footing and ashy skin tone of the elderly man. You glance around to see if others notice. The man makes it to the narthex, but once there, he collapses. You lower your hymnal to exit, but a few congregants you know to be nurses are already on their way. You breathe a sigh of relief and close your eyes to silently pray.
If You Want to Go Far, Go Together
The OPC’s ecumenical relationships often include such offering—and receiving—diaconal aid. As David Nakhla, administrator for the Committee on Diaconal Ministries, looks at his travel calendar, much of it revolves around ecumenical relations. “This excites me,” he said. When churches assist each other in this way, Nakhla said, they’re living out what they affirm. “Don’t just tell me you love me, show me you love me.”
Running Toward the Hurting
Bob Keys says being a deacon is like being a firefighter. “Deacons are those who run not away from but toward the hurting, the poor and unlovely, the alien and the lonely, the widow and the orphan, the sick and the disabled, the elderly and the broken,” he said.
Equipping Presbytery Diaconal Committees
Each one of the OPC’s seventeen presbyteries has a diaconal committee. However, if you asked five different members of presbytery diaconal committees what their work involves, you may get five different answers. Why? Because most work independently of one another—it’s the nature of being geographically scattered. To bring presbyteries together in their diaconal work, in 2012 the Committee on Diaconal Ministries (CDM) began hosting two-day summits full of instruction, encouragement, and fellowship for members of presbytery diaconal committees (PDCs).
Let Us Do Good to Everyone
Feeling used by someone ostensibly in need can make your stomach drop. Maybe you’ve been in this situation—wondering if you are being taken advantage of by a stranger in a grocery store parking lot who’s asking for money to buy diapers, or by someone at the gas pump with an elaborate story of being stranded.
Lighting A Lamp for the Stranger
Yet this lamp of compassion is often quickly covered with a basket. Many think that ministry to refugees requires special gifts and talents, such as being a linguist or a cross-cultural expert. Certainly, those gifts are helpful, but they are not necessary. Remember, Jesus said, “You are the light of the world”—not just of Virginians, or Californians. No, once this lamp is lit, it needs to be put on a stand for all to see. There is one gift needed for refugee ministry in the church of Christ: a love for the Lord Jesus. That’s it. If you are seeking to follow Jesus, if you love Jesus, then you qualify.
A New Podcast: The Reformed Deacon
n November 2021, the Committee on Diaconal Ministries (CDM) launched a podcast focused on the office of deacon, called The Reformed Deacon. It was developed with the local Reformed deacon in mind: to help train him, to encourage camaraderie with other deacons, and to educate a greater audience on the role of the deacon. Episodes will include interviews of local deacons, elders, pastors, authors, and others with relevant experience. The podcast will also share case studies and dig into topics often complex or misunderstood.
Book Review: The Deacon
The biblical requirements for deacons express a high view of their office. While affirming that Scripture restricts the office to men, the author notes that the descrip¬tion of Phoebe and the enrollment of widows indicate that women had special tasks in the church. An entire chapter is dedicated to women and the diaconate in the history of the church. This reviewer appreciated the chapter on the role of the diaconate in church history and how the Reformation restored it “more closely to the biblical norms.”