Book Review: Finding Faithful Elders and Deacons

By Thabiti M. Anyabwile
Published by Crossway
Copyright 2012

Its been some time since I've put up a book review. I'd like to tell you its because I've just been too busy to write about all the books I've been reading, but that is not the case. Because of our recent transition from Presque Isle to Belgrade, I've had to put much of my reading on the shelf. In the last couple of weeks I've been working hard at getting into a good routine for just about everything, including reading. So this is the first book I've finished since our move to Belgrade.

I'm working on reading all the 9marks books that have been put out. I got them all for a song from an email promotion I received, so they will probably be the bulk of the books I read for a while. This book is the newest in the 9marks series. For those of you who are not familiar with 9marks, I suggest you take some time and visit their website: www.9marks.org. They have helpful articles for pastors and parishioners alike and are seeking to strengthen the church through their ministry.

This book, written by Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile, is a tremendous help in thinking through the biblical qualifications that we are given in the pastoral epistles regarding elders and deacons. Essentially, Thabiti takes each qualification and writes a short, thought-provoking chapter on each.

I like the style. I think it is easy to read and understand. It causes you to think beyond what is written here by asking some penetrating questions. It makes you evaluate your own church situation. At the same time, this book does not cover any one qualification exhaustively. I think that it is intended that way. The point is to spur you on towards more study and more thought.

I found the major weakness in this book to be that there is not much space devoted to discussing how the qualifications for elders and deacons interconnect. For example, the book does not discuss how being a one woman man and rules his own house well tie in together. Another case of this is the correlation between hospitable and not greedy for money. Again, I realize the book is not intended to be exhaustive, but it seems that at least some time should be given to discussing these things.

Overall, a good book. It is not too in-depth for even the newest of Christians, and it will serve as a valuable tool for any church in search of qualified elders and deacons.