Just what exactly is a Deacon anyway?

It was 1992 and we had been members of a small church in Regina for about a year. I was asked by one of the Elders if I would be interested in serving as a Deacon. After prayerful consideration, I agreed and was shortly elected to serve as a Deacon. I shared this event with a co-worker who first congratulated me but followed that up with the question, “Just what exactly is a Deacon anyway?”

The answer to that question varies depending on church denomination but there are also variances between churches of the same denomination. For some, the Deacons are the people who pray before the offering, pass the plate, then count the funds after the service. In other churches, the Deacons administer the “benevolent” fund – money set aside by the church to attend to financial needs of members or the community such as buying food for people out of work. Some Deacons have a defined ministry with singles and the elderly to ensure they are visited regularly and that someone is looking after their physical needs. In one church I attended, the Deacons were essentially “Elders-in-training”, and before serving as an Elder, you needed to serve a term as a Deacon and “shadow” one of the Elders as they made visits, prayed for people, and attending monthly council meetings.

In our goal to make sure our new Constitution is based on Biblical principles, I think it’s good to see what the New Testament says about Deacons. In Acts 6:1-6, we see the early church leaders receiving some complaints regarding the distribution of food to the widows. Recognizing that food distribution was something that many people could do (not just the leaders), the Twelve asked the disciples to pick seven people to take on this responsibility so it would not be neglected and would not distract the leaders from their other duties. While they are not referred to as “Deacons” in this passage, it is generally understood that this event is the origin of the office of Deacon within the church.

In other sections of the New Testament, we do find a few specific references to Deacons such as Philippians 1:1 and 1 Timothy 3:1-10. But that’s pretty much all we know about Deacons. Perhaps this limited amount of information is what has lead to such a wide spectrum of duties for Deacons in different churches. There are few nuggets of wisdom we can glean from these passages to help guide us.

In Acts 6, the Deacons were tasked with a specific purpose – looking after the distribution of food to the widows. The church did not add to the number of Elders (leaders), they appointed people who had the proper gifts and character to look after a clearly defined task. We learn more about the requirements for being a Deacon in 1 Timothy, and in several ways they are similar to the requirements for Elders. But Deacons are not Elders (overseers). They are addressed separately in Philippians 1:1 which suggests to me they were distinct roles in the early church, and that the Deacons were not in positions of leadership. This role was reserved for the Elders or “overseers”. Yet since they are specifically addressed along with the "overseers", it suggests that the Elders and Deacons worked closely together and relied upon each other to carry out their respective duties.

So what does a Deacon do in today’s church? Distributing food to widows could be on their duty list, but the local church is in the best position to determine what a Deacon should do. From the New Testament, I think there are two things to keep in mind. First, Deacons are not “overseers” so their role needs to be distinct from the Elders and not be considered as “leaders” in the church. Second, the role of Deacons should be clearly defined and specific, so that when selecting Deacons the church can be sure the appropriate people are selected. I think we can extend this second point a bit further – the role of a Deacon could be specific to an individual. To clarify this even further, I think a church could have many Deacons and each of their roles would be specific to each individual depending on their gifts. There would not be a “one size fits all” job description for Deacons. The church would appoint Deacons when a specific need arose and when there was someone who could fill that role. It might even be a temporary appointment until the need is no longer there.

In our revised Constitution, you will see we have re-introduced the office of Deacons (since we haven’t had any Deacons for several years). You should note that Deacons are not included in the section on Church Government since their role is not one of leadership. You should also note that there is no specified term length for Deacons (and they are not appointed for life as is the case with Elders). This allows the greatest flexibility for the church to appoint Deacons when they are needed, for specific tasks, and until such time as they are no longer needed.

A very real consequence of this flexibility is that we might not always have Deacons in our church. In fact, our members should not expect to see the appointment of Deacons as soon as this new Constitution has been adopted. The appointment of Deacons will happen only if two conditions occur – the Elders identify something they are currently doing that is not a leadership role which could be done by someone else, and there is someone in the congregation who is capable and willing to take on that specific role. We might not have Deacons anytime soon, or we could have several in a short time period. Stay tuned to see where the Spirit leads us in this matter.

As always, I welcome your comments and questions.

Jac