Tonight we had our first of three sessions on deacon training. I was moved by the number of quality of potential deacons sitting in our house. God has been so kind to Austin City Life! In preparation for training our deacons, I did the following:
- Studied the deacon passages of Scripture
- Read Alexander Strauch’s Ministers of Mercy and re-read Mark Driscoll’s A Book You’ll Actually on Church Leadership.
- Re-read Darrin Patrick’s notes on developing-elders-deacons-members.
- Read Bob Thune’s paper, Deacons: A Theological Study
- Read Tim Keller’s section on Leadership Development in the Redeemer Church Planting Manual
- Oh, I found this deacon outline after the training, which is quite good. I agree with most of it.
Then I wrote and mailed a letter of invitation to potential deacons, gave them a copy of Driscoll’s booklet, and developed a teaching outline for our three session Deacon Training. In all of this I borrowed heavily from Bob Thune and David Fairchild. Thanks guys! Here’s the list of topics we are covering each month:
October 5, 2008 1st training meeting @ Dodson’s house
Discussion topic: A Theology of Deacons
Assignment: One Page Reflection Paper on 1 Tim 3:8-13
November 2, 2008 2nd training meeting @ Dodson’s house
Discussion topic: The Practice of Deacons
Assignment: One Page Dream Ministry Description
December 7, 2008 3rd training meeting @ Dodson’s house
Discussion topic: Holding to the Mystery of Faith
Next Assignment: One Page Summary of the Gospel
December 8-14, 2008 Interviews and Installation