The Qualifications of the Office of Deacon

My spiritual values and my connection to god and my church drive me in all things to be as christ like as I possibly can. Tho not studying for a ministry career I feel I will still have many encounters through god and in my walk with him. Pope Francis says “When we can see God reflected in all that exists, our hearts are moved to praise the Lord for all his creatures and to worship him in union with them.” This quote speaks very much into what I’ve been instilled through my time seeking our Lord. When surrounded by a group that loves and follows god as much as I do, I can see nothing but good things

The book of Ephesians lays out that some are given as leaders to the Church. In our modern context when these individuals heed the call and are confirmed by their local church body, can serve as an ordained minister in the office of elder or deacon in the UMC. This tradition of identifying spiritual gifts and calling can be identified as far back as the church of Acts.

Then God call me to the ministry to preach the gospel. I was call to the church at an early age. I began my walk with Christ at the age of 12 years old. I began studying the word God, and as I older, the more I wanted to go higher in the lord. One day at church my pastor asks me to be his armor bearer one week, and the next week he asks me to be one of his Deacon’s. I trained for a Deacon for a while; unto I was concreted as a full time Deacon. I was a Deacon for a year, and then I became a minister. I trained

This deaconship lasted two short years. A few times each year a deacon is assigned to supervise the church for an entire month. This was an enormous amount of responsibility but it was satisfying to know that my elders trusted me. The jobs of the deacon of the month included opening the church, assuring the service went smoothly, and then closing the church. While I was a deacon, a small group within my church traveled twenty hours to New York City to help mend the wreckage brought forth by Hurricane Sandy. I spent ten days in New York, working with several familiar and unfamiliar faces from sun up to sun down. We aided families that were without food by working at a homeless shelter. Many of the people we were feeding had very interesting stories. We also prepared care packages and delivered them to families that could not travel to the shelters. As a group, we finished tearing down a home so a new one could be rebuilt. Our small group of twelve people also cleaned two churches that were affected by the hurricane. I learned many things while on this service mission; helping others is incredibly rewarding, and I will continue to do so for the rest of my life, giving back and expecting nothing in return is an extremely virtuous feeling, and finally sharing ideas and thoughts with others is the most rewarding blessing of

For many years, I have worked in ministry as a support ministry member. In 1993-1997, I served as Administrator at Beacon Light Full Gospel Baptist Church under the leadership of Bishop Darryl S. Bister. I was responsible for all of his appointments, drafting of documents, and overseer of additional staff members and responsible for the day to day operations. In 1997, I was called to Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church with my husband under Bishop Paul S. Morton, Sr. I served in many capacities in this ministry from worship leader to Administrator to the Registrar for Greater St. Stephens School of Ministry. My husband along with our 3 children was then called to Denver, Colorado to serve at Heritage Christian Center under Bishop Dennis Leonard. We serve in that ministry

As I entered adulthood, I had a natural instinct for organization and leadership and I had a strong interest in using those talents to serve the church. I worked with youth groups, participated in WELCA, served on the church council and it seemed there wasn’t a task I would not take on. Many people, myself included, anticipated the next logical stop on my journey would be seminary.

Your faithful participation does two things. Frist, it shows your support of the Pastor God given vision in the direction God is leading this Church. Second, it’s both affirmation and encouragement to your new pastor that you recognize that God is in this calling.

As you know, just over 1 year ago I volunteered to take over the organizational aspect of the Communion Team. Even though I made it clear at the time that I did not feel led to become the Spiritual Leader of the team, I have somehow "evolved" into part of that as well. God rarely consults me prior to such events seeking my approval! (fortunately!)

Pastors being responsible people being called to obedience in exclusive allegiance to God- the responsible man who tries to make

In light of my theme, this paper hopes to accomplish three goals. My first goal is to reflect on the calling forth of bold, brave, and anointed preachers in James A. Forbes’ book The Holy Spirit and Preaching. Second, I will explore the preaching ministry of Howard Washington Thurman who, I think, exemplifies what it means to operate in the anointing of Christ. Finally, I will take these considerations about the Holy Spirit and Howard Thurman, and reflect on my own preaching ministry, which nears eleven

“An effective pastor is a servant shepherd-teacher who has earned the trust of his congregation over many years

In 1 Tim 3:1-11 (KJV) the characteristics for ordination are listed. “A bishop must be blameless, husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous, one that ruleth his house well”.

After reading Chapter 2 of Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry by Willimon I found that there is many ways to minister to people. It is possible to collectively and effectively utilize a little piece from each area to make it work. The primary thing to realize is that you are not overly dependent on one area versus another, allow the Holy Spirit to guide you in your ministry.

The New Testament leaders are an example of how church leaders of today should also behave and work[8]. They ought to be able to teach, guide the believers in the way of God and nurture their spiritual gifts. The New Testament leaders had to boldly defend the word of God in case of any false teaching. Basing on this New Testament leadership, it is important to make sure that any believer appointed to the leadership office has the laid down qualifications[9].

This in short summarizes what the role of a pastor is to be which was illustrated by the head of the Christian church. Today, the role of pastor “in a modern-day “pastor” system is as much a departure from the New Testament pattern of church as is an ecclesiastical hierarchy. No one man can assume the