Customer Reviews

Called to Serve: Essays for Elders and Deacons

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Called to Serve is an excellent resource not only for training officers in Reformed and Presbyterian churches, but also for expanding one's own understanding of the New Testament's teaching on the subject of ministers, elders, and deacons.

Though the book is written by and for officers in churches within the Dutch Reformed tradition, I would highly recommend it for use in PCA (the denomination in which I pastor), OPC, and other Presbyterian denominations as well.

One of the best and most challenging chapters, written by editor Michael Brown, addresses the question of whether people with baptistic theology should be allowed to join Reformed churches. Though the Dutch Reformed answer this question differently than do Presbyterians (the former say "no," the latter "yes"), this question is nonetheless a crucial one with which all potential officers should wrestle, regardless of their denominations' take on this issue.

As a church planter in the Presbyterian Church in America I am in the process of training elders and deacons, and after having searched far and wide for quality curricula, I was thrilled to come across this well-written and accessible volume. I commend it highly.

Rev. Jason J. Stellman
Exile Presbyterian Church
Woodinville, WA

I agree with the earlier reviews; this book is great. We've used it in our church setting, and the men who are going through it (many being trained for the first time) have said often how much they like it. They do say that it is a "workout," but none of them would subtract any part or chapter.

There are a few typos and such that will no doubt be fixed in the future editions. Regardless, I highly recommend this manual.

Several of us had the opportunity to use this book for our officer training in preparation for becoming elders and deacons last summer. For many of us who were not raised in the reformed tradition of our Christian faith, much of the material was new and greatly needed. The material is comprised of 16 chapters written by different individuals and covers material such as our Biblical calling, history of our Reformed Doctrine and several chapters of practical guidance on how to fulfill our calling. I find myself referring to it often over this last year. It would also be useful for the Congregation at large to better understand the goals behind the Elders and Deacons responsibilities as they shepherd God's Church while we are serving in these capacities.

This book is exactly what the title describes - it is a compilation of sixteen essays written by various authors that deal with the topic of the office of elder and deacon. I found this book to be a wealth of tremendous information. In terms of simply learning new information, this would probably be the best book I've read this year. The book is basically an introduction for men called to the office of elder or deacon. The book pretty much presumes full ignorance of the duties of those offices, so it then proceeds to cover a good outline of just about everything a man called to those office would need to know. Of course, the information covered in the book is by no means exhaustive (I'm not sure any book could be in this case) but it is definitely a good place to begin.

The majority of the essays were extremely helpful. I especially enjoyed the following: The Office Bearer's Life (I found it to be extremely convicting); Should We Allow Baptists to Join a Reformed Church? (extremely thought-provoking); Office Bearers and Church Government (extremely informative); and Surviving Tuesday Night: The Rules and Order of a Meeting (extremely helpful). I really could have listed every single essay as I think I learned something from each one.

In addition, some of the contributors include Danny Hyde, Michael Horton, Kim Riddlebarger, Cornelis Venema, and W. Robert Godfrey. As you can see these are just a few of the heavy-hitters that contributed to this book, so I should not have to convince anyone in Reformed circles that these essays are written by wonderfully knowledgeable men of God.

In addition to the wonderful essays, the back of the book contains a few Appendixes, including an officer training guide and several recommended resources to help with training. This book would be a perfect manual for training men either coming into the office of elder or deacon or continued training for men already in office.

If I could find one thing I didn't like about the book (and this is a stretch) it's that the book is written from the opinion of those reformed churches that confess the Three Forms of Unity, so all citations and references to a confession are from the Heidelberg Catechism, The Belgic Confession, or the Canons of Dordt. Of course, these are all fine confessions that I would also say I subscribe to, but as a member of the OPC, I am more familiar with the Westminster Standards. Of course, I am sure that if one took the time, just about every reference to the Three Forms of Unity could be traced to a corresponding section of the Westminster Standards, so like I said, this is really a stretch to even consider this a weakness of the book.

In conclusion, this is a fine book on the the role of the offices of the elder and the deacon. Any man called to either of these offices would do well to read and then re-read this book. It would also be a wonderful book for a minister and/or other elders to use for training new men called to the office of elder or deacon.

As an elder in the United Reformed Churches in North America, I have found Called to Serve: Essays for Elders and Deacons as an indispensible resource and training tool. The book divided into 16 well written chapters by various reformed authors, each knowledgeable about the history, duties and responsibilities of elders and deacons. The book also contains vital essays on church government and church discipline. Not only has it increased my knowledge of my church office, it has also reminded me of the scriptural mandate for these offices. As such, the book has underscored the important role that Christ has established for these offices in his church. My Council is using the book for officer training at our monthly meetings and it has been a blessing to all the men. We use the questions written in the back of the book for a 10-week officer training course. These are excellent for review and discussion during our meetings. I highly recommend it to other church councils for use as a training tool or to church members interested in better understanding one of the marks of a true church.