By Kory Stamper
I’m an officer at City Church, and the reason I’m up here is that we need more of me in this church. That is not a cry for help--what I mean is that we as a church are entering into a season of nominating and electing officers to help lead the congregation.
Since our congregation comes from a wide variety of church backgrounds—or no church background—it seems like a good idea to explain who the church officers are, and what they do. In the RCA, there are two types of lay officers in a congregation: deacons and elders. What do they each do?
So, first, let’s start with a metaphor. Let’s say you slip and fall and break a bone. When you get hurt, you need immediate, acute care. You need trained people who have the resources to deal with this specific problem. Those people work proactively and behind the scenes to make sure that when there’s an acute need, there’s a response. That’s what deacons do. Deacons are called to a ministry of mercy, service, and outreach. They are the hands and feet of the body—they actively and proactively engage to help meet needs.
Our deacons focus their ministry in four areas. Deacons help make sure that Sunday services go smoothly. Our deacons also work hard to meet the immediate need of people in our congregation—people who are suffering. They also focus their ministry outside of our congregation, to alleviate the suffering in our world. They partner with groups that are both inside and outside our faith tradition that are doing the hard work of meeting some of the acute needs of people here in Philly. And they support missionaries who are working in a wide variety of contexts and countries, and are actively bringing the peace and healing of Christ to our broken world.
Those are deacons—they are the acute response. But healing often requires more than just the first acute response. You need to go to a doctor for follow-up, and that doctor will guide you through a healing process. That’s what elders in the RCA do.
Elders are called to a ministry of spiritual friendship. They help attend to the spiritual well-being of the church, which means that elders walk through life with people in the direction of healing and wholeness. That can look different depending on the need. Elders interview candidates for membership or for baptism, because we hold that being a part of God’s body is ultimately a step towards the type of wholeness that Christ calls us to. Elders serve communion to the homebound, bringing the body and fellowship of Christ to people who can’t make it here. They provide healing prayer during the service, which is a time for anyone who suffers in any way to have the truth and reality of Jesus’s care spoken over you. And often, elders walk with people who suffer and who are in pain, and they seek to reflect the love and truth of Jesus into a dark and lonely places that we all find ourselves in.
These two offices work in tandem for the health of our body, and ultimately, for the health of the world.
That’s the “what”; now, who should you nominate for those positions? You should nominate people in our congregation who are already doing this work, or who have a heart for this work. Christ doesn’t call awesome, well-connected, have-it-together folks to be his hands, feet, or heart: he calls people who love justice, do mercy, and walk humbly with their God. I’ve served as a deacon, and I am currently serving as an elder, and the one thing that I’ve learned in stepping into those roles is that Christ delights in using broken people to heal other broken people. If you know folks like that here in this room, I hope that you’ll consider nominating them as officers. And thank you for giving officers past and present the amazing opportunity to see the redemptive, healing work of Christ in real time by serving you.