Deacons should play an important role in the life and ministry of the local church, and they very often do. Unfortunately, their New Testament role is often obfuscated by man’s wisdom. In Baptist churches and other local churches that are similarly structured, the title of deacon can easily become an honor to be bestowed, a trophy of popularity or an insignia of importance; consequently, the deacon ministry easily becomes a ruling body of some sort, which has devastating consequences upon the local church.
The New Testament gives clear qualifications for being a deacon (1 Tim 3:8-13), but there is scant information concerning their responsibilities, numbers, etc. The only example of men functioning in the role of deacons is Acts 6:1-7, although there is debate whether these seven were actually deacons. Some say they were, while others say they were elders and still others maintain that they were just some men set aside to meet a temporary need. I believe these were deacons, and later the qualifications would be expanded.
Assuming that these seven were the first deacons, we are still left without prescriptive Scripture concerning their responsibilities, yet there are some incredibly important insights to be gleaned from this event in the early life of the church. Let me mention four significant particulars from this passage and the New Testament concerning deacons, which can have a profoundly positive impact upon the deaconate of any church.
First, there are no prescriptive Scriptures concerning the ongoing responsibilities of deacons. This is in stark contrast to the voluminous responsibilities prescribed for the pastors. The reason there seem to be no ongoing prescribed responsibilities for deacons is because that is to be determined by the pastors of that local church at any particular time. In other words, deacons help the elders carry out their many responsibilities based upon what the elders need at a particular time in the life of the church. That is what you see in Acts 6 as well. There were multiple needs, and the Apostles, who were the elders at this time (1 Peter 5:1), decided what would be delegated.
Second, the ratio of deacons to elders is notable. That there were fewer deacons than elders should not be glibly ignored. Any pastor who has experienced the normal ratio in a Baptist church of ten or twenty deacons to one pastor understands the problems associated with this imbalance. Quite frankly, a misunderstanding of the first truth–that there are no prescriptive responsibilities assigned to deacons–almost inevitably leads to the second problem.
Now, it is true that the lack of stated responsibilities for deacons in the New Testament has not slowed the development of books and seminars, which outline deacon authority, ministries and responsibilities. It seems clear that if the New Testament does not prescribe them, and the only example of them having any responsibilities came from the elders, then the job description is simple. Deacons are to assist the pastors according to what the pastors need; thereby relieving them to carryout other duties of shepherding the flock.
Third, the ratio of deacons to people is also of great consequence. It is not uncommon to see churches with a hundred members having four to ten deacons, which is at least one deacon per twenty-five members. However, they only chose seven in Acts 6, and counting women and children, there were probably about twenty-thousand people. That is one deacon per 2,857 members. The disproportion of deacons in today’s churches, further demonstrates how far we have strayed from the biblical pattern, creates deacons with nothing to do, molding otherwise true deacons into trouble makers, and rather than being a help to the pastors, they become something the pastors have to manage and seek to keep busy by creating programs.
Add this to the reality that single pastor churches potentiate, creating a vacuum where deacons become quasi elders, and thereby causing the pastor to seek their approval. Many of them are qualified to be deacons but not elders, and as a result our churches are crippled. Further, the Baptist church actually becomes very Presbyterian because the pastors have to have the approval of the deacons to take something to the church and most of the time anyone else can bring ideas directly to the church.
Fourth, the congregation was involved in the process, but the elders determined the number and the scope of the task. The problem arose in the body, but the pastors decided the remedy, how many were needed, qualifications, and maintained authority for the final stamp of approval. However, the congregation’s involvement in recommending men who would stand in the Apostle’s stead is an important part of the process as well.
The application of these insights can virtually eliminate the problems plaguing churches today that result from establishing and maintaining unbiblical deaconates, which often become a pastor’s source of problems rather than a source of problem solvers.
For more on New Testament teaching concerning deacons, I have included the notes I use for Deacon training. microsoft-word-deacon-retreat-teaching-4-24-06.pdf
