A Taste of Heaven

Where can you find many nations and tongues coming together in the name of Jesus praising God, learning valuable lessons, and meeting new friends? What looks and sounds like heaven and has 3,000 legs? The answer is this week's CCDA Conference in Philadelphia. The Christian Community Development Association is a breath of fresh air for those 1,500 attendees who minister to materially and emotionally impoverished persons in urban, suburban or rural communities. Click on www.ccda.org for more information

Needs of Deacons

As I train and mobilize deacons there is a common thread of questions. How many do you identify with?

• What must we do as deacons?
• What is our biblical responsibility in the church and to the community?
• What tasks are beyond our responsibility?
• Where are the available resources we can refer people to?
• What ministries do neighboring churches have that we complement or duplicate?
• How can we stop feeling like we are "putting out fires all over the place"?
• We are very disorganized at this time and need organization skills.
• What questions do we need to ask people seeking our help? We often find that we've failed to secure the right information. Along with this, how do we refer cases that are beyond our own expertise?
• There is the problem of time constraints. We really don't have anyone available in the daytime Monday-Friday.
• How can we involve others in mercy ministry (or in "our" mercy ministry)? How can we motivate and train others when we feel under-trained ourselves?
• We need help working with unwed mothers. We would like some Titus 2 women to help us.
• We oversee mercy ministry and the church facility. It is difficult to get volunteers to help us.