Deacon Nomination Process

About a year ago, our deacons began to wrestle two questions. First, what are we really doing as a deacon body? Second, how do we raise up other men to be deacons in our church? In response to these questions, I met with a man from the State Convention to inquire about how deacons need to serve and what process to implement to raise up other men to serve in this capacity. The first thing we did at the beginning of this year was to identify three areas where the deacons could come alongside the staff and assist us. Then, we formed three groups of deacons to fill each of those needs. The three areas are hospital visits, nursing home/assisted living visits, and bereavement ministry.

We also began discussing an election process. Here are some of the reasons we are moving to this process. We realized that some of our deacons are older, and they expressed a desire to become inactive. As a result, we felt the need to elect some younger deacons. In addition, we came to the conclusion that serving for three years may encourage some men to serve that might hesitate to serve if it was a lifelong commitment. Each man will serve three years. This means four men will rotate on/off each year.

A letter was sent to all members a few weeks ago. The letter explained the process and also included a deacon nomination form. If you misplaced the form, you can get an additional one in the office, and some extras will be next to the nomination box in the foyer. Here are the key dates you need to be aware of:

• September 11 - Deadline for nominations
• You can only submit one form with four men's names and your signature. All men nominated must be 21 years or older and a member of the church.
• September 12 - Letter to nominees
• The deacons will send a letter to all men nominated. This letter will include information regarding qualifications and what is expected of a deacon. If they are not interested in serving or do not meet the qualifications, then they can contact the church to have their name removed.
• September 26 - Nominee interviews begin
• At this point, the deacons will contact the remaining men to schedule an interview.
• October 23 - Nominees in bulletin
• We will publish the nominees in the bulletin so the church will know who they can vote to become deacons.
• November 6 - Church vote
• We will call a business meeting at the end of both services to vote on the nominees. The four men elected will be contacted during the week, and we will announce them to the church on November 13.
• December 4 - Ordination (if needed)
• If any of the men elected have not been ordained, we will have an ordination service at 5pm.

I hope you will join with me in a season of prayer as we prepare for our deacon nominations.

In Christ,

Mark Smith, Pastor of FBC Jacksonville, AR