The Ministry of the Deacons<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Rethinking Church Series
Dr. Randy White
As the young church began to grow in Jerusalem, the Apostle's ministry was spread thin. You likely remember the story, how certain widows of Greek origin were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. The social, economic, and governmental structures were completely different than our own day. This was long before Franklin Delano Roosevelt had ever invented Social Security.  In Jewish life, the synagogues took care of widows and orphans financially, and this practice was adopted by the early church. However, a very real problem arose when certain widows of the congregation were being overlooked.  To solve the problem, the Apostles initiated a need-meeting ministry, and in Acts 6 we have the prototype of the modern day Deacon. There are debates on whether or not the seven men of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "http://www.logos.com/smarttags" />Acts 6 were the first Deacons. Whether Deacons or not, we do know that between Acts 6 and 1 Timothy, the office of the Deacon was established in the church.
The seven men who were chosen in Acts 6 were literally "table waiters." They were men who would ensure that the Windows had all of their physical needs met.  This is the beginning of the ministry of the Deacon.

The word Deacon is a transliterated, not translated.  There is a big difference!  A transliterated word is borrowed into the English language. One of the most important transliterated words in the English language, as it relates to the church, is the word baptize-the Greek word that literally means to be immersed.  I've often wondered if we would have debates about infant baptism had we translated rather than transliterated the word. Deacon is another important transliterated word, that is, a word borrowed into the English language. The Greek word Deaconos literally means servant. This makes for a quite simple understanding of the office of Deacon; a Deacon is a servant.
From time to time I've heard Deacons say "we are just protecting the church."  Early in my ministry, I was grateful for these men and their desire to protect the church. As I began to mature in experience and knowledge of the Word, however, I came to realize that protection of the church is not a function of the Deacon. God has created an overseer for the church, and that is the Pastor. Deacons are servants, Pastors are overseers. This is one of the most fundamental understandings that Pastors and Deacons must share in order to have a positive and Biblical Deacon ministry.
I know that I may ruffle feathers in some churches where Deacons are overseers and the Pastor is servant. Let the feathers be ruffled, I place my confidence in the Word of God. The Deacon who has become the overseer is acting outside of his Biblical parameters, and the Pastor who has become servant is not acting within his Biblical commission.
The Greek noun which we transliterate Deacon is used 29 times in the Old Testament. Of these 29 times, the word is translated "servant" 26 times. The remaining three times the word is not translated, but is transliterated into the word Deacon.  Looking at a very simple word study, you can see that a Deacon is inherently, and by definition, a servant. The word describes one who gives no spiritual, financial, or program oversight to the congregation. Oversight is always reserved for the Pastor.

The seven men of Acts 6 were selected by the congregation from among the congregation. It is essential that the congregation choose its own Deacons from among qualified men within its own membership. Quite simply, qualified men are full of the spirit and of wisdom, having a good reputation in the church, and avoiding the prohibitions which are listed for the Deacon in 1 Timothy 3. After the congregation selects its Deacons, the Pastor ordains them to the service ministry of the church, under his direction.

In the qualifications of Scripture

First Timothy 3 chiefly gives prohibitions for the Deacon. Acts 6, on the other hand, states the qualifications of a Deacon in a positive way. From 1 Timothy 3, we can see that a man who is addicted to wine, divorced, a lover of money, or unable to take care of his own children, among other things, is disqualified from Deacon service. However, it is essential to understand that these are prohibitions and the lack of these activities does not qualify a man for Deacon service. The positive qualifiers are found in Acts 6, which we will look at in a moment.

At the pleasure of the church

Not only does the Deacon carry out his ministry in the qualifications of Scripture, but he also does so at the pleasure of the church. It is a great honor to serve as a Deacon, not a right to serve as a Deacon. The church determines who, when, and how a man serves as its Deacon. Not only is this inherently visible in the definition of a Deacon, but it is also clear in the selection of Deacons. In Acts 6 we see that the church selected men and the apostles "laid hands" on them. Sometimes we make too much of "ordination," something which is not expressly taught in Scripture. We have several examples of the laying on of hands to commission an individual for ministry. This laying on of hands, however, can be as simple as giving a blessing (as Jesus did for the little children), to sending individuals out for a mission trip (as the church at Antioch did for Paul and Barnabas), to setting aside a person for a specific ministry (as we see in Acts 6 and also in the life of Timothy).  Neither for Pastors nor for Deacons can one establish with Biblical certainty that ordination should be for life. Ordination is for a particular task, and can be for a particular time.  In Deacon ministry, the church body has full right to determine the tenure of office for its Deacons.

Under the Parameters of the Pastor

Additionally, I believe that Deacons carry out their ministry under the parameters of the Pastor.  The Pastor's leading and feeding task is so fundamental that the office of Deacon insures that the Pastor is able to carry out that ministry without distraction. But each Pastor is different! For this reason, the actual service performed by the Deacons may vary from one Pastor to another. One Pastor may prefer a group of Deacons who is a sounding board and helps them make good decisions. Another Pastor may choose to use others as a sounding board, but really needs a group of Deacons to minister to the sick within the congregation. Still another Pastor may need Deacons who help in the evangelistic ministry of the church. Yet another Pastor may need Deacons who help carry out the daily administration work of the church. As long as the Pastor retains the position of overseer, I believe that he can determine the actual job description of the Deacons.
That said, I do not think that the Deacons should stray far from their original purpose of meeting human needs of the members of the congregation. Remember that true religion is caring for widows and orphans in the time of their distress (James 1:27). It is simply impossible that any single Pastor can do an adequate job of caring for widows and orphans while also doing his chief task of prescribing the Word of God. Come, Deacons carry the load!

The Bible has scant information about the office of the Deacon. In fact, everything that the Bible specifically says about the Deacon could be put into a half a page of the New Testament.  It is a simple servant position of the church, nothing more. Why then, has conflict between Pastor and Deacons or church and Deacons been so "front and center" in the history of conflict in the modern church? I believe that the answer is simple: Deacons became overseers and Pastors became servants. I'm not sure when this happened, but somewhere along the way it certainly happened.
For years I struggled as a Pastor who was a servant of the Deacons. I really don't think this was the intent of the Deacons, nor did I realize that it was even the reality of my own ministry. However, I would dutifully attend the Deacon's meeting and give my report to the Deacons. The report was much like the report that any CEO would give to his Board of Directors. The Deacons then, as collectors of information from the church body, would ask questions, share concerns, and often bring up something about someone who was disgruntled with something that took place within the church. It was my job, then to either defend my actions or promise to make changes so that any disgruntled parties would be happy. Inadvertently, Deacons had become the Guardians of the Realm. They were the ombudsmen for the congregation. They were protecting the flock, from its own shepherd! A silent mutation had taken place, and the Deacons now called the shots.
The inversion of authority is one of the devil's favorite tools. For example, if you go all the way back to the garden of Eden,  God created man and gave him a helper and told the two to have dominion over the earth. It didn't take very long until a creature of the earth went to the helper of man who turned to her superior and convinced him to ignore the commands of God. The created order had been set on its head!  Across America today, the created order within the home is inverted when Children run the mother who runs the husband with their demands. Mark this clearly; whenever an inversion of God's order in relationships takes place, problems will arise, serious problems. Yet, there will never be another problem between Pastor and the Deacons if Deacons will be servants and Pastors will be overseers. If you find yourself saying, "but what about when the Pastor sins?" just read my previous article. It is of extreme importance that you realize that the sin of the Pastor is not the duty of the Deacons. Deacons are servants and Pastors are overseers, and this must never be inverted.

From Acts 6, I believe that we find three minimum qualifications for Deacon ministry.

A good reputation within the church

The Deacon needs to be a man who is deeply respected within the congregation. His respect in the church should already be proven. His period of testing begins the moment he becomes part of the congregation. Incidentally, I think that the modern phenomenon of the mega-church makes the testing and the good reputation of a man who is to serve as Deacon very problematic. It is impossible to know the servant reputation of an individual member of the congregation when the congregation numbers in the thousands. His reputation may be good in a small circle of the congregation, but unless the Pastor promotes his identity to a wider circle, he will be unknown to the majority of the congregation. In the church growth movement, we have created a recipe for disaster. In many ways, we have destroyed the ability for a good Deacon ministry by allowing the church to get too big. A good reputation for service should not be a difficult thing in a congregation of reasonable size. A good reputation begins with the very basic-that Deacons regularly attend the worship and ministry activities of the church. One who does not do so simply does not meet the most basic qualification of Deacon ministry.

A fullness of the Spirit and wisdom

A second qualification is a fullness of spirit and wisdom that is discernible by the church. Again the congregation needs to have the ability to walk with the men of the congregation in close enough proximity to know of their spirit-filled life. The basic qualification for a Deacon is that his reputation speaks of his walk in the Word. If he clearly loves the Word, displays the fruit of the Spirit, and has a good reputation within the church, then he has met two of the three positive qualifiers listed in Acts 6.

Ability and initiative for ministry

The third qualification in Acts 6 is that the man selected as a Deacon should have an ability and initiative to minister to the needs of the membership of the local congregation. For a number of reasons, a man may be unable to serve the physical needs of the congregation. He may have a positive reputation, and even be filled with the spirit and have wisdom, but if he is unable to minister to the needs of the congregation then he cannot serve as one of the congregation's Deacons. Others may have ability to carry out the need-meeting ministry but not the initiative perhaps because of a disposition of spirit, an obligation of work or family, or some other factor. The Deacons should be those men for whom the work of service comes naturally and does not have to be coaxed by the Pastor or the congregation.  Very likely, these are going to be the men who are the first ones to arrive at the church and the last ones to leave. They are the ones who are opening the doors picking up the trash, turning on the lights greeting the attendees, and ministering naturally to anyone within the congregation. They may not be the rich and famous within the congregation, they may not have a high position within the community, they may not be the best looking of the congregation, they may not be the rich young ruler in the congregation, but they will make wonderful Deacons!

A Deacon ministry that takes care of the Pastoral needs of the church, protects the Pastor's ministry, and honors and displays Christian character before the membership of the congregation is an ideal Deacon ministry. In rethinking church, let us undo whatever needs to be undone and build whatever needs to be built to create this kind of Deacon ministry. In doing so, we will create a Deacon ministry that gives the honor that is due to this high position of servanthood within the church.
Dr. Randy White is Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Katy, Texas, and the preacher on the daily radio program Word for the World.  He is also author of The Antichrist: What you can know, what you need to know.  This and other Biblically based articles can be found at www.RandyWhiteMinistries.org.
More from the Rethinking Church series:
Part 1:  Why Does the Church Exist?
Part 2: The Danger of Being a Doing Organization
Part 3: God-Ordained Leadership
Part 4:  Pastor-Centric Leadership
Part 5: When the Pastor Sins