I have a question that I am struggling with. I can’t find any scriptural reasons against what has been done at our local church but still have an uneasiness about it.<\/p>\n
We have a smaller church whose membership has been trending down the past several years since our minister has taken the job. He is a good man and hasn’t done wrong but at the same time hasn’t done much to help grow the church and doesn’t connect with a large portion of the members and visitors. His preaching style is very repetitious with many saying he talks over them instead of preaching the gospel. The elders have asked him to be a deacon in addition to being a minister. There are a number of men in the church that many feel should have been asked first. I feel that it is a conflict of interest for a minister to be an elder or deacon while serving as a minister. I feel that there are several qualified men that would consider it an honor to serve and the elders didn’t ask. The only scriptural reason I have against his appointment is his wife and children miss church very often or show up very late ( pre-Covid-19) and could be considered not ruling his household. He was supposed to run the church youth group but has made many empty promises to the youth and has little involvement with the youth. So am I wrong for thinking that a preacher being an elder or deacon is a conflict of interest?<\/p>\n\t
There is always the danger of making rules where God has not. Oh, there are all sorts of reasons given for the additional rules, but it comes down to the simple fact that they are adding to what God has said.<\/p>\n
“Then some Pharisees and scribes *came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. ‘But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men’<\/em>” (Matthew 15:1-9).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In this case, God has clearly stated that you are wrong about this particular matter. “The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching<\/em>” (I Timothy 5:17). Elders can also be preachers and teachers. In Acts 6 seven men were selected to serve tables. Among them was Stephen, who was killed for his preaching in Acts 7. Another deacon, Philip, was sent to teach the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 and later preached for about 20 years in Caesarea. Perhaps in Philip’s case, you might argue that he was not preaching and being a deacon at the same time but clearly the duties are not exclusive.<\/p>\n
You would be better off focusing on your actual concerns. You don’t think this preacher is effective. You don’t think his wife is qualified to be a deacon’s wife (I Timothy 3:11 – “faithful in all things”). Discuss these concerns with the preacher. Instead of seeking to tear down, find ways to build the church to be more effective in its work.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I have a question that I am struggling with. I can’t find any scriptural reasons against what has been done at our local church but still have an uneasiness about it. We have a smaller church whose membership has been trending down the past several years since our minister has taken the job. He…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1568,123,1511],"class_list":["post-29544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-deacons","tag-elders","tag-preachers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16170,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/may-a-church-without-elders-appoint-deacons\/","url_meta":{"origin":29544,"position":0},"title":"May a church without elders appoint deacons?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: May a church assign to a servant or servants (deacons) a specific task or tasks in which they will serve the congregation and for which they will be responsible and answerable to the congregation for performing if the church does not have elders. In other words, may they set\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40749,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-man-be-a-deacon-in-the-church-if-he-doesnt-have-children\/","url_meta":{"origin":29544,"position":1},"title":"Can a man be a deacon in the church if he doesn’t have children?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question I would very much like an answer to: Can a man be a deacon in the church if he doesn't have children? Answer: \"Deacons must be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households\" (I Timothy 3:12). \"Must\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40274,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-right-for-a-church-to-have-a-paid-minister-of-music\/","url_meta":{"origin":29544,"position":2},"title":"Is it right for a church to have a paid minister of music?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I am a member of a Church of Christ that currently doesn't have elders. The congregation is \"run\" by the minister and a few hand-picked men who basically say yes to whatever the minister wants to do. This has bothered me since this minister arrived at our congregation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48527,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-man-be-appointed-a-deacon-when-he-only-attends-sunday-morning-services\/","url_meta":{"origin":29544,"position":3},"title":"Should a man be appointed a deacon when he only attends Sunday morning services?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I emailed you before about a topic, and you had an answer that I did not agree with at all, but today I have an unrelated question. At our church, we are in the process of selecting new deacons. Is it wrong for me to think it is a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29249,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/servants-of-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":29544,"position":4},"title":"Servants of the Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Acts 6:1-6 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Early in the church\u2019s history, the number of brethren increased dramatically. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With that increase came \u201cgrowing pains.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Circumstances caused the church in Jerusalem to have a large number of widows who needed care. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Some felt that preference was being given to native\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54083,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-a-church-secretary-or-treasurer-a-permanent-position\/","url_meta":{"origin":29544,"position":5},"title":"Is a church secretary or treasurer a permanent position?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I want to know whether a church secretary, treasurer, etc. once appointed or chosen to that post is permanent, or they can be rotated on a tenure basis. Answer: There is no such office in the church as a secretary or treasurer. Duties, such as these, are usually filled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29544\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}