Brothers and sisters,
It is that time of the year again — time to nominate and elect Deacons! You’ll notice that the Deacon nomination form has been included in this week’s Illuminator. I would encourage everyone to take some time to think and pray about who you would like to nominate to serve as a Deacon here at Hope Valley. Consider the people you know at our church and how their gifts line up with the mission of the Deacon Board – to provide pastoral care and leadership to the members of our church.
At its best, church is about all of us coming together to care for one another, walk alongside each other, pray for each other, and build community together. Church is never about any one person doing everything. It has always been and should always be a collaboration among all of us. We see several places throughout the scripture where various leaders of our faith realize they cannot go it alone. Jethro encourages Moses to appoint judges (Exodus 18:13-23). The apostle realize they need help in order to preach the gospel and take care of the people (Acts 6:1-6). In his various letters, Paul makes mention of deacons serving the people of the church faithfully, with perhaps the most famous one being Phoebe in Cenchreae (Romans 16:1-2). These leaders of our faith looked to others as partners as they sought to faithfully follow God’s will.
That is the primary function of the Deacons — to partner with the Pastor and other leaders within the church to care for our congregation and help us faithfully follow God’s will. If you know of someone who you think would do a good job leading and serving in this way, I would encourage you to speak to them, tell them the gifts you see in them, and see if they would be willing to be nominated for a position as a Deacon. Or if you yourself feel God calling you to step into this leadership role, I would encourage you to speak to another church member about that and see if they would be willing to nominate you. As always, I would counsel everyone to listen for God’s voice in this process and seek to follow God’s will.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben