With every decade new books and studies are written on the role of deacons. Now that elders are becoming more acceptable for Baptists, the same may start to be true for that office as well. In this brief essay I do not intend to write a new book on the role of a deacon. What I do want to offer is a few suggestions about making the office of deacon more effective in the local church. With having encountered the power of deacons a few times in recent weeks, I felt this was an opportune time.
How much power should a deacon have to determine church climate, direction, and priorities? What decisions to deacons make for a church? For what areas of church life are they to be responsible? What should their qualifications be? How long should they be recognized as active in service? For what should a deacon be responsible if he retires from active ministry service? Is such retirement an option for a deacon?
Every church will arrive at its own answers to the above questions. As long as we operate as autonomous congregations with no hierarchy outside to dictate our actions, this will remain so. My prayer is that as they answer these questions, churches will allow the biblical text to guide their discussion more than tradition or some self-appointed church patriarch.
In Acts 6 the Apostles determined there was a problem within the Body. They asked the Body to choose seven men with specific character qualities to solve the problem. They were given one particular task by those they were intended to serve (diaconos = servant, table waiter). Beyond the task of making sure the hungry poor in their midst received proper care, the responsibilities of those deacon are not stated.
The character of a deacon receives much greater emphasis. Not only do we have the three qualities mentioned in Acts 6: good reputation (witness) in the community, full of the Holy Spirit, full of wisdom, but we also have the long list in I Timothy 3:8ff. Too often churches become so involved in determining if a woman can be a deacon, or if a divorced man can be a deacon, or if a single man can be a deacon, that they never get around to reading the rest of the qualifications that Paul enumerates. I might add that pastors should come under the same scrutiny.
Let me share my list of overlooked qualities at this point:
1. Anyone who serves as a deacon should be an upstanding member of the community held in high respect by believers and unbelievers alike. (Acts 6:3)
2. Anyone who serves as a deacon should be grounded in and guided by the Holy Spirit. (Acts 6:3)
3. Anyone who serves as a deacon should be guided by divine wisdom, not worldly common sense. (Acts 6:3, James 3:17)
4. Anyone who serves as a deacon should already have the reputation of seeing material possessions as belonging to God and are to be used for his service before personal comfort and position. (I Tim. 3:8)
5. Anyone who serves as a deacon must have the reputation of being truthful and trustworthy to the point of bringing on personal pain before hurting someone else. (Psalm 15:4)
6. Anyone who serves as a deacon must have shown both within and outside the Body of Christ that the qualifications already exist before taking on the office. (I Tim. 3:10)
7. Anyone who serves as a deacon must show that his household is following in the ways of Christ including the children while living as minors at home. (I Tim. 3:12)
8. Anyone who serves as a deacon must have a commitment to continued spiritual growth and understanding. (I Tim. 3:9)
If our deacons, male or female, had these heart-deep qualities, quite a few of our church controversies would disappear.
Now what would I like to see deacons doing?
1. Support their pastor 100%. If there is a problem, keep it between the pastor and the deacon in private conversation until it is obvious church life is being hurt. Disagreement is not the same as damage.
2. Know the families of the church well. Communicate regularly. Convey information to the pastor regularly.
3. Encourage members to grow spiritually, develop and use their spiritual gifts for the welfare of the Body of Christ and the Kingdom of God, and show their love of neighbor through concrete action.
4. Be the first to be peacemakers in the congregation, encouraging members to find common ground, disagreeing in Christian manner, and showing honor to others above themselves.
5. Be servants to all, lords over none.
Deacons can and should be a blessing to a congregation. Following scriptural guidelines is a great place to begin in making sure the blessing is possible.
