Elders vs Deacons

I love our church! FOTC...they have a website and all of their services are online as well. They even have a FaceBook Page! :) I was brought up in a Catholic Church. I accepted that God gave His one and only son Jesus Christ to die for me and rise again so I can be forgiven and go to Heaven at the age of 21, and have been attending the Southern Baptist Churches ever since. It was quite a learning curve, and there are still things that I wonder about. One of my biggest questions was how do you know when God is really talking to you? That was a question that God answered a few years back with a wonderful Bible study, Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. If you are looking for a great bible study, I highly recommend this one! Well, another question that I've had was answered today during our service. Not a huge mind, soul changing question, but a question never the less. Some churches have elders, some deacons, and it seems to me that the terms are interchanged. I went to an ordination not too long ago thinking it was a pastor ordination. During the service they kept referring it to an ordination of elders. I was so confused. Well today, my confusion has been cleared up.

Pastor Matt spoke from Titus 1:5-11...A letter of encouragement from Paul written to Titus. Of course God spoke to me in so many ways this morning. Ways that encouraged me to keep the faith. Not to 'work' myself to God, but to accept God's work through me. Step out in faith to do what God is calling me to do, even if I don't think it's very good...then God will use me, teach me, grow me...

Sort of like my writing. I love to write, I have a passion to write, I feel God is telling me to write...but...I feel like I'm not a very good writer. That others, really great writers will laugh at me. But I'm not writing because I think I'm great at it. I'm writing because I feel God is telling me to and can use my writing to share the truth with others.

With that, let me get back to my answered question. What is the difference between an Elder and a Deacon? Are they the same, just some churches call them Elders and some call them Deacons?

Well, the word Elder means Presbuteror (sorry if I misspelled, I can't read my own handwriting! lol) and is found in Titus, 1 Peter 5:1-2, and 1Timothy 3:1-12. The word for Deacon is a different word that means...runs to serve others.

So, in this I learned that Elders and Deacons are different. The word for Pastor and Elder is used interchangeably.

Interesting, I think...