What Are Deacons Supposed to do?

Next Sunday, our church will vote for a new slate of deacons to replace a couple of brothers who’ll be rotating off after serving us so well. Since that’s coming up, I’ve been thinking a lot about our deacons. I’m grateful for each of these men that have stepped up to serve our church. I’ve asked our church members to pray for our nominees and the men who are already serving as they consider voting. We love our deacons, and they serve an incredibly important purpose!

In Acts 6, the Bible gives us the first glimpse at what would become the office of deacon. There was drama in the very first church (imagine that!) between the Hebrew-speaking Christians who were native to the area and the Greek-speaking Christians who had a sort of outsider status. Apparently, the outsider widows weren’t being treated fairly – and they depended on the church for their means. So, at the apostles’ direction, the whole church gathered together to choose “seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and wisdom” to solve this problem (Acts 6:3). They did this so that the apostles could devote themselves “to prayer and the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4).

This story is where we derive the job description of deacons – Christians of good repute, full of the Spirit and wisdom, who meet physical needs for the sake of the church’s unity so that the pastors can focus on prayer and the ministry of the word.  Deacons are like gorilla glue for the church. They help hold it together, to shore up weak spots,  so the church can be everything God made it to be. In 1 John 4:12, we see that the church is the outside world’s only visible look at the unseeable God. The Bible also calls the church a “pillar and buttress of the truth” and we each are “ambassadors for Christ.”  So for the Gospel to be given a good name in our community, we need our deacons!

Paul gives his student Timothy, a young pastor in Ephesus, guidelines for helping the congregation pick deacons – you can find these in 1 Timothy 3:8-13. Essentially, Deacons are meant to be solid Christians who reflect the Gospel in their everyday lives. What qualifies someone to be a deacon is nothing that all Christians aren’t asked to do anyway!

Now, we’re all called to serve one another – all the word deacon (διάκονος) means anyway is one who serves. This makes a deacon is a servant. So in a way, we each are supposed to “deacon” each other!¹ Scripture tells us to “serve (διακονέω – the verbal form of the noun) the saints” (Hebrews 6:10), just as Christ did not come to be served, but to serve (διακονέω – same verb here too!) (Mark 10:45). All the same, these men are specially set aside to take responsibility for that service in an official capacity for the church. So pray for them, and as we serve the Lord, who has so graciously served us, let’s serve each other.

Grace & Peace,

Cade

1. Concept first heard from a talk by Mark Dever and Matt Smethurst ↩︎