Heads Up

I was asked to speak recently on a Wednesday Series at one of our sister congregations. The assigned topic was pretty straightforward. I was asked to speak on “Elders and Deacons.”

While this was fairly straightforward, it was also a challenge. How does one deal with this topic in forty-five minutes? As I prepared, it seemed to me that there was no way to adequately deal with my assignment in the allotted time.

It would take at least forty-five minutes to do an adequate word study of those two words and to point out how those two words have been misunderstood by many people. I tried to do a little of that in the time I had. I may save that for a later blog post. 

However, at this time, I want to let you see some things I thought about and presented that might serve to help alleviate problems in the leadership of some congregations. I entitled this part of my presentation “Heads Up.”

Below are some of the types of situations and men (in my opinion) that are not needed among leaders of congregations of God’s people. You may think of others, but here was my list:

• Letterhead

We do not need to have the names of men on church stationary just so we can be “scripturally organized.” A man who is to serve as an elder is said to desire a “good work” (KJV) or “noble task” (ESV). His motivation is not to a desire to see his name in some prominent place. By definition, a deacon is a servant.

• Head Cheese

There is no New Testament authority for a “head elder” or “head deacon.” Diotrephes apparently had to learn that lesson when the apostle John dealt with him face to face (cf. 3 John 9-10).

• Towhead

The dictionary informs us that this term refers to somebody who has very light hair. We often associate this with a young lad. Elders are to meet the qualification of being “not a novice” or “not a recent convert” (1 Tim. 3:7). Deacons are to “first be proved” (KJV) or “be tested first” (ESV). This speaks to their spiritual maturity. The fact that they are to be married and have children also speaks to their physical maturity. 

• Hothead/Sorehead

Titus 1:7 informs us that elders are to be “not soon angry” (KJV) or “not quick tempered” (ESV). No Christian, much less a leader in the church, is to be a hothead or sorehead.

• Deadhead

One use of the term “deadheading” is: “(of a commercial driver, etc.) complete a trip without paying passengers or freight.” There may be some logical reasons for this with regard to some commercial enterprises, but spiritual leaders need to be men who “carry their own weight.” (They will also be asked to “carry the weight” of many others.)

• Pinhead

This term is often used to describe somebody who does not know much. Elders in the church need to know the scriptures well enough to fulfill the duty given to them in Titus 1:8. 

• Hardhead

One quality of a person who possesses the “wisdom that is from above,” according to James 3:17 is that he is to be “easy to be entreated” (KJV) or “open to reason” (ESV). Shouldn’t this be especially true of a spiritual leader?

There you have it. You may feel free to subtract or add to that list. You may also feel free to discard or disregard the whole thing. 

I’m just trying to give all of us a heads up.

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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn