What about Deacons?
What does the Bible mean by "deacons"? How are they different from church elders?
Since last week’s post was unusually long, I thought I’d keep this week’s post fairly brief!
Next week, we’ll move on to another topic. But discussion about the role of elders and pastors inevitably prompts a related question: What about deacons? It’s not unusual for churches to have leaders called “deacons.” This is something many churches share in common. But what exact role do deacons play in these churches? This can vary a great deal from church to church.
In some churches the deacons are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the church property. It wouldn’t be uncommon to see them mowing the lawn or changing a light bulb. In other churches, the deacons are the governing body of the church, very similar to the biblical office of the elders we’ve been exploring. In still other churches, the deacons are specifically dedicated to caring for the physical needs of the people.
So where did the leadership role of a “church deacon” originate? It wasn't long after the birth of the church in Jerusalem when they suddenly faced a crisis. It was an issue that needed immediate attention. But this specific need was beyond the scope of the apostles’ ministry, and this presented a problem. (For the first few years, the apostles served as the pastoral leaders of the church in Jerusalem.) While it was crucial this issue be addressed, for the apostles to devote the time necessary to directly handle the situation would have required them to neglect their own church duties: prayer and the ministry of the Word.
You can read the details of this story in Acts 6:1-7. The apostles came up with a great idea. They would appoint—after the input of the people most affected—a team of additional leaders who would be responsible for this specific ministry need. The solution was apparently successful: the problem was solved, the people were blessed, the apostles were free to effectively fulfill their ministry, and the new leaders were given the opportunity to use the gifts God had given them to bless the rest of the church body. This account in Scripture never actually refers to these new leaders as “deacons,” but most Bible scholars believe this is the first we see of the ministry of deacons in the church.
So what do deacons do? What exactly does Scripture say about the responsibilities or function of deacons? Very little, actually. 1 Timothy 3:8-13 describes the qualifications for men and women serving in this ministry position, but not the nature of the ministry itself. The only (likely) biblical example we have of people ministering in this way is the account mentioned above (Acts 6:1-7). Romans 16:1 also identifies Phoebe as a deacon of the church in Cenchrea—but it doesn’t describe the nature of her ministry as deacon.
The application in the Acts 6:1-7 account did involve distributing food to those in need—which was the immediate need of the Jerusalem church. But this one isolated example can’t by itself establish a biblical “pattern.” The only clear scriptural principle we can be sure of would seem to be more broad than just caring for physical needs. It’s also very practical: whenever there’s a ministry need that would distract the church’s elders from their pastoral focus, it’s beneficial to appoint qualified people to lead in this specific area of ministry.
By not limiting the scope of ministry where this principle can be applied, Scripture provides the freedom for churches to apply this biblical leadership role according to the unique needs of each congregation. The Jerusalem church needed leaders to oversee the distribution of assistance to the widows of the church. So they appointed people to handle this ongoing leadership need. Does a church need people to manage their facilities? Or to coordinate a hospitality ministry, or a greeting ministry, etc, etc? Biblically, this could all be handled by deacons in the church. It does seem clear from Scripture every leadership role within the local church would fall under the ministry of either church elders or deacons.
The only specific distinction between elders and deacons we see in Scripture is that elders “must be able to teach” (1 Timothy 3:2), to “encourage others with wholesome teaching and show those who oppose it where they are wrong [Titus 1:9].” This doesn’t mean deacons can’t serve in a teaching ministry, it just means they’re not required to be able to teach the way elders are. So one could serve in a more logistical leadership role as a deacon without being able to teach. It’s also clear those who serve in leadership as deacons would continue to do so under the oversight of the church elders who pastor the whole church.
There’s an aspect of this ministry we see in the New Testament that’s often overlooked, but one that’s intriguing. In the only scriptural example we have of this kind of ministry, it’s compelling these people led this ministry as a group. While, again, we can’t make one example in Scripture into a pattern, this team leadership in Acts 6 does fit the larger pattern we consistently see of team leadership by the church elders (and apostles). It may not always be feasible in a small church setting, but it does seem from Scripture that team leadership should not only be the ideal for the whole church but also for individual ministries within the church. We should desire to have teams of leaders overseeing each of our church ministries.
The terms “elders” and “deacons” can be confusing to people in our culture today, and often even convey a very different meaning than we would intend. We see in Scripture a practical approach to using whatever term communicates best in a particular setting, with sometimes the world “elder” used prominently, and other times the word “overseer” emphasized instead. So our church has adopted more culturally common words for our church leaders. We refer to our elders as “pastors” or our “pastoral team,” and we refer to our deacons as ministry “directors.” But whatever we call these leaders, we highly value and thank God for the dedicated people he’s raising up to fulfill leadership roles within the church.
Related posts:
Why We Don’t Have a Senior (or Lead) Pastor
What Do Elders (or Pastors) Do?