The Gospel and Church Leadership

In the end no one will fulfill these qualifications perfectly. Each of us has numerous sins to confess daily. However, elders ought to live lives worth imitating, lives that reflect the character of Christ. They need to know the Word, teach the Word, and obey the Word so that others in the church will be instructed and spurred on to greater faithfulness. Who in your church do these qualifications bring to mind?

Three Responsibilities of Deacons

1 Timothy 3:8-13

In verse 8 Paul turns his attention from elders to deacons. While we do see a list of requirements for being a deacon in 1 Timothy 3:8-13, the responsibilities of deacons are not as clear as that of elders. In fact, in the picture we have of the early church in the book of Acts, we rarely see deacons at all. Even in Acts 6, where we have a form of the word for "deacon," we see the same word used to describe one of the tasks of elders (Acts 6:4). The fact that deacons aren't highlighted in the New Testament may be one reason we've got a variety of opinions about the role of deacons today. However, it should be said that some churches clearly have an unbiblical practice when it comes to deacons. So, if there are some things we don't know for sure about deacons, what are the things we do know from Scripture?

The word group (both the noun and the verb) for deacon—diakonos, diakonia, diakoneo—is used more than one hundred times in the New Testament, almost always referring to some form of ministry or service. It's the same word used in Ephesians 4:12 to refer to "the work of ministry" that is the responsibility of all members of the church. We are all commanded to be servants. At the same time the early church does give us brief glimpses of people who lead out in service, and that's what we see in Acts 6:1-7:

A form of the word for deacons is used three times in verses 1-4, and in verses 1 and 2 this terminology is applied to those who were responsible for leading others to serve. That's why we're calling deacons "leading servants." Some may respond by saying deacons are simply those who serve in the church. But that's not true because we all serve in the church. Deacons lead the church in service. They are leading servants. It's interesting that a form of the word describing how they "handle" financial matters in verse 2 is also used in verse 4 to refer to the apostles' "ministry" of the Word. So even though we don't see this word or the title "deacon" throughout the rest of the book of Acts, we do see two primary leadership roles delineated here in Acts 6. A group of men are responsible primarily for prayer and the ministry of the Word—the elders—and another group rises up to lead out in specific areas of service. This latter group we're referring to as deacons based on the picture we see in 1 Timothy 3.11

So the next question we need to ask is this: What do deacons do? Try your best to get the traditional picture of a deacon out of your mind, whatever that may look like according to your background. In the mind of some Christians, deacons are those who meet together, sit in the front of the church, and talk poorly about the pastor. That kind of unbiblical picture of deacons is why we need to take an honest look at what these leading servants did in Acts 6 and the way they are described in60 1 Timothy 3. First, we'll look at Acts 6 and notice three primary responsibilities of deacons.

The first responsibility of deacons is to meet needs according to the Word. This is their primary role—spiritual service aimed at meeting specific needs. When you read Acts 6:1-7, you notice that deacons' ministries arise from specific circumstances. The church was growing, and as they shared their resources with one another, they needed someone to lead out in the distribution of aid. A specific need necessitated these leading servants. The fact that different needs call for different types of leaders may help explain why we don't see clear responsibilities for deacons spelled out in the New Testament.

In their various responsibilities deacons are accountable for specific commands. In the case of Acts 6, Scripture necessitated that the church look after widows. Therefore, in order to carry out God's commands, which reflect His own heart, deacons today must also willingly serve. They meet needs according to the Word. To be clear, some areas of service, such as assisting with parking, may not be specifically mentioned in Scripture, but they fulfill a specific need related to a scriptural mandate. A deacon who leads a parking team enables the church to obey the biblical command to meet together (Heb 10:24-25).

A second responsibility of deacons is to support the ministry of the Word. The men in Acts 6 were certainly filling a need, but that's not all they were doing. Because the widows were being overlooked in the distribution of food, the apostles were being taken away from their overall leadership responsibilities, most notably prayer and the proclamation of the Word (Acts 6:4). As a result, the mission of the church began to suffer. The deacons were appointed to free up the apostles' availability for the preaching of the Word. We see, then, the balance that God intends for His church—to be fully devoted to the Word and fully devoted to meeting needs in the world. The church needs individuals who are devoted to both of these tasks.

We're beginning to see the vital role deacons, leading servants, play in the church. Deacons serve elders so they can lead. Stephen and the others in Acts 6 freed the apostles to devote themselves to prayer and the Word. The deacons were not like a second power block in the church, a body of leaders competing with the elders to provide overall leadership in the church. Unfortunately, that's exactly what many of us have seen in our various traditions when it comes to the role of deacons. Deacons have assumed the role of being supervisors of the staff and the pastor.61 This is not biblical. The deacons in Acts 6 are serving fundamentally as supporters and encouragers of the elders in the ministry of the Word.

Deacons not only serve elders so they can lead; they lead others so they can serve. Notice that only seven leading servants were chosen in Acts 6, which is certainly not a large enough group to handle the food distribution problem for a church that contained thousands of people by this time. These deacons were surely organizing others to make certain the work was done. Again, though everyone in the church is intended to serve, the deacons are leading servants.

Finally, the third responsibility of deacons is that they unify the body around the Word. There were certainly needs to be met in Acts 6, but there were also deeper issues at stake. Physical neglect was causing spiritual disunity, and Christians were beginning to complain against one another. Deacons were appointed to squelch the tension and the rising disunity in the church. Again, this runs directly counter to our typical association of deacons with disunity, gossiping, and complaining. But in Scripture deacons labor to promote unity in the church. They are what we might call the shock absorbers in the church.

Having looked at the responsibilities of deacons, we now turn to their qualifications from Scripture. When we consider 1 Timothy 3:8-13, alongside our discussion of Acts 6 (above), we can see two main qualifications for deacons. First, they must have a mission mind-set. The church was growing in the early chapters of Acts at a breathtaking speed, and the church needed leaders who would embrace the mission God had given them and unite others in the same cause. That's why deacons can't be small-minded individuals engrossed in turf wars, maintaining their rights and lobbying for their own causes. Instead, they are to see the mission of the church and work to help others understand that mission. Every facet of their ministry is part of that overarching mission.

The church is on a mission to make the gospel known in all nations, which is exactly why the adversary delights in turning the church of Jesus Christ inward on itself at every opportunity. Satan loves seeing the church embroiled in battles over this or that issue. In such cases deacons may be called in to absorb the shock. Certainly valid complaints and real needs arise, and when they do, deacons should rise to meet those needs so the mission of the church can thrive. Churches can get so engrossed in catering to every complaint that the primary mission62 gets lost. Therefore, if someone is pulling the church away from its mission, that person is not qualified to be a deacon. This leads to the second qualification.

Deacons must have a Christlike character. Scripture doesn't give us a lot of detail regarding what deacons do, but it does make the character of deacons pretty clear. We might say Scripture is more concerned about the sanctity of our lives than the structure of our leadership.

Let's return to 1 Timothy 3:8-13 to look at those character qualifications. What stands out about these qualifications is that they are similar to what is expected of any Christ follower. Deacons are, quite simply, intended to exemplify the character of Christ. Here's a set of questions we might ask to discern whether someone should serve as a deacon:

This last question, What about women? is the million-dollar question. We've already seen that elders must be men, but what about deacons? There are basically two schools of thought on this question. Bible-believing scholars and pastors that I respect greatly differ on this difficult issue. And depending on what tradition you were raised in, you're probably already inclined to one of these positions. But the reality is that it is not up to our preference on this issue; it's up to the Word. Yet, even while we agree that the Word is the final authority, the Word is not entirely clear or explicit in this instance.

Some believers may look at this passage and think, "This issue is clear in Scripture. Can't you read?" After saying that deacons must be "worthy of respect" and that they must have certain character qualifications in 1 Timothy 3:8-10, Paul then went on to say the following in verse 11: "Wives, too, must be worthy of respect, not slanderers, self-controlled, faithful in everything." So both deacons and their wives have to display Christlike character. Doesn't that pretty well settle the issue?63 How can women serve as deacons if Paul talked about deacons having wives? This is a valid question, but there's more to consider.

We certainly don't want to succumb to pressures from the culture when we interpret Scripture, and we don't want to come to the text with an agenda; however, based on Scripture, I do believe it's possible for women to serve as deacons in some settings. Let me give four reasons I believe this to be so. First, some English translations of verse 11 address "their wives," but the pronoun "their" is actually not in the Greek, the original language of the New Testament. Some translators think it is implied, but it's certainly not explicit. There's some ambiguity here, though it's very possible that the best translation for verse 8 is not "their wives."

Second, we need to ask this question: Why would Paul talk about deacons' wives and not elders' wives? This is especially curious given that more is said about an elder's responsibility in the home according to 1 Timothy 3:1-7. Despite the fact that elders have stricter qualifications, there is no mention of their wives.

Third, the overall structure of the passage seems to lead to the conclusion that Paul was not referring to the wives of deacons in verse 8. He used the word "likewise" to transition from talking about elders in verse 7 to talking about deacons in verse 8. Paul then used this same word "likewise" in verse 11 (translated "too") to transition into talking about deacons' wives or, as I am trying to argue, deaconesses. It doesn't seem natural for the flow of the passage to run like this: first elders—likewise deacons—likewise deacons' wives. The following seems more likely: first elders—likewise deacons—likewise deaconesses.

A fourth reason for understanding the role of deacon to be open to men and women is the role given to Phoebe in Romans 16. She is referred to as a "servant of the church," and the word used comes from diakonos, which would seem to point to a diaconal role. When you couple this with the picture of women who played integral leadership roles in the mission of the church, the case becomes even stronger. Paul specifically mentioned 17 of these women. The issue is not whether women can be leaders but how the Bible describes their role in the context of a local church.

When you consider the responsibilities we have outlined for deacons above—they meet needs according to the Word, they support the ministry of the Word, and they unify the body around the Word—then there is no biblical evidence whatsoever that these responsibilities should only include men. Even with this understanding, however, we64 need to be careful. The reality is that many churches have deacons that play a significant leadership role over the entire church, and if that's the case, then women should not serve as deacons in those churches because they would basically be serving as elders.

There is much biblical evidence to affirm women who lead in various ways, such as hospitality, children's ministry, and visitation. It may be an adjustment for many people to think of deacons in this way, but I think we're on safe ground in the Word. In fact, I think the Word should lead us to make this adjustment if we want to be obedient in this area. In the end we want everything we do in the church to conform to God's design for the church.

The Bottom Line

Given what we've seen about elders and deacons, what does this look like practically? Two applications stand out. First, the church appoints and follows servant leaders who are wholeheartedly committed to accomplishing the mission of Christ. This follows from what we've seen above. How does the Spirit appoint elders? Through the church. So we ask the Spirit of God to show us who these men are in the church. Scripture is obviously not specific about particular names, but we ought to pray for the Spirit's guidance in helping us discern which men are qualified to serve as elders. These are men who, according to Hebrews 13:17, we want to obey. Remember, it's scriptural to obey your leaders.

Second, the church affirms and honors leading servants who use their gifts to build up the body of Christ. This includes a variety of ministries within the church carried out by both men and women. Depending on the church, these roles may look a little different. Deacons may be a part of the church's paid staff, they may provide accountability and wisdom in financial matters, they may lead in worship, or they may be a part of a hospitality team. And remember, someone doesn't have to be wearing a deacon's badge to serve as a deacon, nor do they necessarily have to participate in weekly meetings. These men and women are doing what is outlined in Scripture, and they should be honored, prayed for, and relied on to provide unity around Christ and His mission. That's the end goal.

The church is composed of ministers who multiply the gospel throughout the world. Following the appointment of deacons in Acts 6:1-6, we read about the result in verse 7: "So the preaching about God65 flourished, the number of the disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith." The problems that arose in the church were threatening the growth of the church, but when biblical, Christ-honoring leaders responded, the church reorganized for multiplication. Acts 6:7 is the by-product of a biblical structure of church leadership: elders (servant leaders) gave themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word, and deacons (leading servants) met needs, supported the ministry of the Word, and unified the body of Christ. And together all members of the church are to minister in order to see the multiplication of the gospel throughout our neighborhoods and among the nations. May it be so in all of our churches.