Our church is led by a plurality of elders or pastors. A question sometimes raised is, “What about deacons?”
In the New Testament we have many references to elders, but just a few references are made to the role of deacon within the church. In fact, they are only mentioned by name in two places in the New Testament (1 Timothy 3 and Philippians 1:1, and arguably Romans 16:1). First Timothy 3 mentions the qualifications for deacons but nothing about what they actually do and Philippians 1:1 is simply a greeting to the elders and deacons in Philippi (dido with Romans 16:1).
Modern Conceptions of Deacons
Modern conceptions typically portray deacons as a board of church leaders functioning as a committee that meets regularly and handles most of the physically needs of the congregation (e.g., building and finances). In recent times, when churches have realized the need for a plurality of elders, they end up moving toward a form of government that now has two boards or committees that share power and rule the church. This is not the biblical model. There is no indication, not even a hint, that the New Testament church operated with a dual-board structure of elders and deacons. There is no indication in Scripture, nor history, that it was setup like the House and Senate in a democratic government. There is also no indication that the elder board primarily handles spiritual issues and the deacon board handles physical ones.
The biblical data establishes a plurality of elders (also called overseers or pastors) to rule the church (e.g., Acts 14:23; Acts 20:17; 1 Timothy 4:14; 5:17; and James 5:14). Deacons are godly men (who meet the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3:8-13) and are appointed by the elders to specific tasks so that the elders are free to focus on the ministry of prayer and the word.
Acts 6
While deacons are only mentioned a few times, their inception is seen in Acts 6. Here the apostles are functioning as elders. They are leading, feeding, and shepherding the early church in Jerusalem and a problem arises that demands their attention. Greek-speaking Jewish widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food (v. 1).
This problem, while brought to the elders for attention, wouldn’t be handled by them. They needed to remain devoted to prayer and preaching, not to serving food (v. 2). The situation was delegated by having the congregation identify seven godly men whom the elders would appoint to this task (v. 3). So they chose seven men and these men then serve as the pattern for New Testament deacons.
When we examine the qualifications for elders and for deacons in 1 Timothy 3 we notice that both elders and deacons must be godly men. The major difference between the qualifications is that elders must have the ability to teach whereas this requirement is not asked of a deacon. This makes perfect sense when we consider the roles of elders and deacons as expressed in Acts 6. The elders in Acts 6 devoted themselves to the ministry of prayer and the word (v. 4), and the deacons handled this task of making sure the Greek-speaking Jewish widows were not neglected.
Role of Deacons
What we can conclude from the qualifications of deacons in 1 Timothy 3 and from their role in Acts 6 is that deacons were godly men who were appointed by the congregation and elders to carry out a specific task. There is no data in the New Testament or what we know from the history of the early church to suggest that the deacons in the early church met together as a committee or board.
This biblical task-oriented model in today’s context would mean that we would have a deacon (or deacons) appointed to certain tasks (e.g., building maintenance, cleaning, finances, fellowship meals, sound equipment, etc) and there would be no need for a regular meeting of all the deacons. Why would the deacon handling sound need to have a monthly meeting with the deacon handling lawn care? And why would deacons need to wait for a monthly meeting to get approval for what they’ve already been assigned to do by the elders? What we see from Scripture is task-specific godly men who serve the needs of the church appointed by the elders so that the elders can devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.
Is this what comes to your mind when you think of deacons? It certainly is a ministry mind-shift for what many conceive when we ponder the role of a deacon. I believe that this task-oriented deacon model is so foreign to us because we’ve lost sight of biblical eldership. When a church is functioning biblically with a plurality of qualified, godly men serving as elders, the deacons come under their leadership and act as the recognized servants of the church. As needs are brought to the elders, they direct deacons to handle these needs so they can continue their labor of leading, feeding, guarding, and praying for the sheep.
Female Deacons?
The New Testament word for deacon is diakonos and this word is translated as “servant,” “deacon,” or “minister.” For example, the term is used to refer to the office of deacon in Philippians 1:1 and 1 Timothy 3:8, 12. It is used to refer to the civil authority as the “servant of God” (Rom 13:4). It is used of Christ where he is called the “servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness” (Rom 15:8). It is used to refer to Apollos and Paul as “servants through whom you believed” (1 Cor 3:5) and to Timothy as a servant (1 Tim 4:6). The same term is also translated “minister” (e.g., 2 Cor 3:6; Eph 3:7; 6:21; Col 1:7, 23, 25; 4:7).
Concerning female deacons we start our investigation in Romans 16:1 where Phoebe (who is called “our sister”) is referred to as a diakonos. Should this be translated “servant” or “deacon”? Did Phoebe serve in the office of deacon in the early church? In this verse, the translators of the NIV and NLT translate the word as “deacon” whereas the ESV, NASB, KJV, NKJV translate the word as “servant.” This verse is really no help to us since the context does not give us any more detail about Phoebe’s specific role (some suggest that she was the one who carried the letter to the Romans church). Either translation is an accurate rendering of diakonos.
In addition to Romans 16:1, some understand 1 Timothy 3:11 to be giving qualifications for women deacons. This verse says, “Women, likewise, must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things.” The original language can either be translated women or wives depending on the context. The ESV translates the verse this way, “Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things.” In this regard, it’s better to understand this verse, like the ESV translators, to be speaking about deacon’s wives since the verses both before and after verse 11 are speaking about male deacons (and in verse 12, faithful husbands!).
From these two verses you can see that the evidence for women appointed to the office of deacon is tentative at best. We simply do not have a clear example of women serving as deacons in the early church, however, there is no Scripture saying that they cannot.
What is clear from Scripture is that women are not to hold positions of authority or teaching over men in the congregation (see 1 Tim 2:14). Therefore, in churches where deacons teach or exercise authority, women would not be able to serve as deacons. However, when we consider that teaching and governing are functions given to elders, not deacons (see 1 Tim 3:2, 5; 5:17; Titus 1:9; Acts 20:17, 28), there is no reason why women serving as servants in the church could not be called a “deacon.” That is, if a deacon is a servant of the church that does not teach or exercise authority over the congregation, there is no reason why women could not serve in this role.
Elders are given the authority to rule and teach. This office is reserved for biblically qualified men. We also see that when deacons are functioning as deacons, and not elders, there is no biblical reason to exclude women from this role. Caution is necessary in this case however, since to most people “deacon” is a label that carries with it authority and a governing role. It would seem that in many ways, biblical eldership has undergone a period of misunderstanding, and so to for the office of deacon.
A Call to Service
Everyone in the church is called to service (Eph 4:12). In that sense, everyone is a deacon. However, some are entrusted with tasks that involve skills of organization, administration, and leadership. As a church body grows, more deacons are needed to carry the weight of the growing vine. Both men and women are necessary in roles of service so that the body can continue to grow, and go into the world as ambassadors for Christ.