Discerning: Deacon or Elder?

By Rev. Anna Merlo

This is a question that is not asked often enough – mostly because we are not always sure of the differences. We have read Acts 6 and we know that a Deacon is a servant in the church. But aren’t we all servants in the church? While every Christian is a minister, we as clergy are called by God to a set-apart ministry in His church.

We know we are called to something, but to what? I do not think I am the only person who has wrestled with this. From a young age, I felt the pull of God’s Spirit on my spirit, and I jumped on the runaway train of doing what I thought God had called me to do. I taught children’s Sunday school at 16 years old and thought I found “my place” in the church. However, at the time I interpreted this to mean God was leading me to be a teacher. I pursued and accomplished a teaching degree. Yet still my spirit wrestled. It became clear my leadership skills extended beyond the classroom. I loved the church, and I loved teaching. Could I do both? What was God telling me?

Many years later, as an adult, I attended a Children’s Ministries Conference in Greenville, SC where the Holy Spirit whispered to my spirit calling me to serve His church through ordained vocational ministry. I resisted the call thinking, "I am a teacher. I am not a pastor." I continued searching and praying.

I joined a Methodism 101 Wednesday night class offered at my church. In this midweek study I first heard the term deacon used to refer to a pastor. I grew up in a different tradition, but had been exposed to Methodism at Kentucky Wesleyan College and by my lifelong-Methodist college roommate. Neither of these Methodist hotbeds ever mentioned a deacon. I heard the term elder many times. The president of my college was an elder. He could officiate my wedding because he was an elder. When I learned the term deacon in this Wednesday night class, I was stunned. Little did I know a deacon could also officiate a wedding or preach a funeral, both things I felt God calling me to do, but I had resisted the Spirit’s prompting. I remember thinking, "Why had no one told me about this? A deacon is a pastor?" I could pursue God’s calling to pastoral ministry and still live out my God given gifts as a teacher. This discovery was the "Aha!" moment the Spirit had been waiting for me to realize. I can be a pastor. I can be a deacon!

I quickly began the process by talking to my pastor and church leadership and researching next steps. Both soundly affirmed my call and I applied for candidacy. I soon realized, however, the road to ordained deacon was paved with lack of understanding and I found opportunities to both learn and teach at the same time. While I was learning for myself the nature of deacon ministry, I was simultaneously teaching my church, conference committees, and everyone I met along the way what a deacon actually was.

Once, in a seminary class, I was talking to a fellow student who was also following a deacon call. I mentioned that I had preached for the first time the previous Sunday, the Easter Sunrise service. Her surprised response, “You preached?” showed me that even someone pursuing a deacon call did not have full understanding of ordained deacon pastoral ministry.

When the time came for my last appearance before the District Committee on Ministry DCOM, there was one deacon on the committee. During the interview, he also found himself explaining the nature of deacon ministry. One of the elders at the table talked about “stepping up” to elder eventually. The deacon explained that the difference is not hierarchical. One is either a deacon or an elder. And God decides which.

Why then is a clergy candidate first ordained deacon and then after additional experience and work, some are ordained elder? This is an excellent question and one I wrestled with as I discerned my place in the Global Methodist Church. I did the research and asked hard questions. What is the difference?

I know I am not an elder. God did not call me to order the life of a church. I know this full well. I wondered, does that make me a “lesser” pastor or “not a real pastor?” Yet I knew God had called me to ordained vocational pastoral ministry. Personal conflict arose in my spirit as I ruminated on the two orders.

On the day I was ordained Deacon in the GMC, I was among 110 ordinands. Fewer than ten of us were being ordained deacon. All the rest were ordained deacon and then seconds later, elder. I may have been the only one who was a permanent deacon. I did not “go further” and become an elder. God did not call me to be an elder.

Did I feel pressure to go all the way and become an elder? Yes. Why? Because of lack of understanding about the God-ordained differences between elder ministry and permanent deacon ministry. There is a need for a more thorough explanation of the unique gifting and importance of deacons so clergy candidates will have greater opportunity to seriously consider this path and clergy mentors will encourage them to seek full understanding.

In the GMC, every elder is first ordained deacon. I learned that this is purposeful and appropriate. To order the life of the church, an elder needs to be able to wear all the hats. The candidacy process is designed to be a learning and growing experience. An elder’s time as an ordained deacon serves to widen their knowledge and expertise of all aspects of church leadership. Many should and will continue on to the Order of Elders. But, not all.

What if all the way for some of us is deacon? I believe this is the case and it is not talked about enough. Not everyone is called to be an elder. I did go all the way. I am a deacon. I was set apart by God to a specialized area of ministry. I am doing the exact thing that God has called me to do. At my ordination, Bishop Scott Jones laid his hands on my head and prayed that I would take up authority and serve the church in Word, Service, Compassion and Justice. That is my calling. Period. And I am not the only one. I am not even one of a small number. There are many of us, but too often on the road of ministry discernment, a pastor who is truly called by God to be a permanent deacon misses their exit and erroneously continues on to elder ordination.

I asked Rev. Michael Sweeney, an elder, what elders need to understand about deacons. He answered, “Deacons are highly specialized in their ministry areas. Elders are more generalists. In short, not everyone is called to be the first chair, the typical senior pastor role for elders. Some people are better as second chairs. Being honest with ourselves is important.”

I think his last sentence makes an excellent point. We must be honest with ourselves. That was key for me. If I am being honest with myself, I know that I am not called to order the life of a church, even though I am a natural leader. But God has called me lead in a different way.

My job is to give the church the tools it needs to reach the world. Every part of the world. The world is full of unique individuals with unique needs. The deacon bridges the gap between the church and the world. Each deacon specializes in an area of ministry that the church is called to reach. The deacon’s job is to provide opportunities and resources for the church to be able to fulfill its mission – to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all Christ’s commandments. For the church to be fully on mission, the church needs to employ all the right specialists.

When my daughter needed braces to remedy her misaligned teeth, our doctor of general dentistry referred us to an orthodontist – a doctor who specializes in correcting teeth misalignments. Our general dentist did not send us to another general practitioner. That would not have helped fix the problem. He sent us to a doctor of specialized practice. The orthodontist is not a “lesser” doctor, nor did he stop short of becoming a real doctor. Because of his specialized tools, education and resources, he was able to give my daughter the specific education, treatment, and resources to address a specific need which was a part of her overall health.

In the same way both the general dentist and the orthodontist are doctors, both the elder and the deacon are pastors. The former is more generalized and called to address the overall health
of the church. The latter is trained in a specialized area to equip the people of the church in a specific area of ministry. The general dentist knows enough about orthodontics to know that an orthodontist is needed. The elder knows enough about ministry to know that a youth pastor is the more appropriate and effective choice to bridge the gap between the whole congregation and those who are 12-18 years old. The youth pastor is specifically gifted by God to equip the church with the opportunities and resources it requires to meet the very specific needs of children in that age range.

Does that make the youth pastor less of a pastor than the elder? No! Just different. And the church would not be fully equipped to meet the needs of this marginalized community without the youth pastor any more than the general dentist is able to meet the needs of my daughter’s misaligned teeth without referring her to an orthodontist.

In order for the church to fulfill its mission of making disciples of all nations, we need to recognize the vital importance of specialized ministry. Rev. Sweeney put it this way, “We shouldn’t be chasing titles or perceived hierarchy. We should unashamedly chase the call that God has placed on each of our lives.”

Some are elders, called to Word, Service, Sacrament, and Order. Some are deacons, called to Word, Service, Compassion and Justice. Marginalized communities require compassion and justice. The church must have generalized pastors to order all the moving parts. An elder’s time is often consumed with leading the whole church, and while their hearts long to give every parishioner and their families due attention, it is not always possible. To truly make disciples of all nations, God has called certain individuals to offer compassion and justice to side-lined people groups. God calls deacons. If we are all elders, we may fall short of meeting the multitude of exceptional needs.

Acts 6 gave the church the instruction to choose from among their number, individuals who were known to be full of wisdom and the Spirit, and to appoint them to specialized needs. The apostles laid hands on them and empowered them to take up the authority to which God had called them. What happened next? Stephen preached.

Deacons do not have to give up their gift of preaching and teaching the Word to remain faithful to their specialized callings. The first martyr taught us that it is our duty to both preach and meet the needs of individuals. Stephen was part of a specialized group of pastors who bridged the gap between the church and a marginalized group. Preaching and teaching, as Stephen did, is part of bridge-building. While elders are also called to connect the church and world, deacons have this as a primary assignment.

Another concern clergy candidates often have is Sacraments. Candidates want to become elders so that they can administer Sacraments. Once again, information is vital to effective discernment. In the Global Methodist Church, deacons have full authority to administer the sacraments within their parishes, or within their specialized areas of ministry (BDD, ¶413). Deacons are absolutely called to and needed to administer and assist in administering the sacraments. Only in this way can they be fully effective in bridging the chasm between the whole church and specialized areas of ministry. Our candidacy guidebook further emphasizes this point when it reminds candidates that the deacon, Philip, baptized the Ethiopian eunuch. No doubt, God ordained Philip’s meeting the eunuch and provided the water for the baptism. Acts 8 gives no need or directive to wait for Peter to come and baptize the eunuch!

Other deacons noted in church history include Alcuin of York, appointed by Charlemagne to lead the church in education reform and Francis of Assisi, who led the church in reaching the poor (GMC Candidacy Guidebook 2023).

Is that you? Have you been called by God to minister in a specialized area? Music? Children? Teens? Those who are hospitalized? The elderly? The poor? The imprisoned? Those with different abilities? There are countless groups on the edges who need the church. And the church needs the right tools to reach them. Deacons provide those tools.

We, as a denomination, must take care to not impose pressure on a deacon to become an elder if that is not their calling. If we fail in this area, we will be in danger of failing to adequately meet the specialized needs of individuals and marginalized communities.