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THOUGHTS ON THE OFFICE OF A DEACON
BY
ELDER DONALD B. ELLIS
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For they that use the office of a deacon well purchase to
themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which
is in Christ Jesus. 1st. Tim. 3:13.
I'm sure that many good and sincere deacons, brethren and
churches have questioned in their minds whether this has been
fulfilled in the past or whether it is being fulfilled today.
Is there still a place in the Church of Jesus Christ for the
office of deacon? I say there is and scripturally taught.We pray
that God will give us liberty to honestly search it out, and
if it be taught in the Hvly scriptures, let us begin to use the
office well.
In the 6th. chapter of the Acts of. the Apostles, the book
that brings us so many plain and beautiful examples as how things
were done in the days of the inspired Apostles. The Apostles
brought out that so much of their time was spent in the waiting
on tables, that they were neglecting the ministry of the word
and the Church should choose out men of honest report, full of
the Holy Ghost and wisdom. In Acts 6:5 we read " and the saying
pleased the whole multitude ", which means as the church was of
one mind on this matter. Should not we as the Church of Jesus
Christ have the same mind, even as a mark of identity of the
original church?
These chosen men were to be servants of the church, and being
used as such, notice the result as recorded by Luke Acts 6:7
"and the word of God increased and the number of the disciples
multiplied in Jerusalem greatly and a great company of the priests
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were obedient to the faith. tt This is ample/!. that it pleased God
when deacons were so used, for He blessed the church greatly in
their obedience.

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Oh how we ought to please Him, not that we would build up our
precious churches, but because we love God so, and secondly be-
cause we love our unfortunate and weak brethren to the end that
we will have an abundant, daily administration to their needs.
The men were ordained to this work by prayer and laying on
of hands of the Apostles, ordained men to serve or administer
to the members needs Acts 6:6. Some argue that these men were
not deacons as they were not named as such in the scriptures,
but let us examine the title of a deacon as it is taught in the
Greek language. The word deacon is a transliteration of the Greek
diakonos, which means servant. This word was brought into the
English language as deacon. An example of the same practice is
baptize, which comes from the Greek noun baptisma or the verb
form baptizo. We can gather from this that they were ordained
servants or deacons. Now notice that this greek word diakonos
means a servant in relation to his work and the greek word doulos
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means a servant"" as a slave. One is a servant to ~-~J,'£orm a service )
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the other a slave belonging to a master.~~::--~w~'"·~--
The deaconship is definitely taught in the scripture as an
office in the church. The purpose of the office is to free and
assist the pastor so he might give himself to continual prayer
and the ministry of the word. A pastor of a church should have
a love for his people that their every care and need would be a
burden on his heart, yet if it be so, he would soon be so en-
gulfed in petty details and problems that he would neglect his
bible study and prayer. The result being that the body of Christ
would suffer loss not being edified or fed properly in a spirit-
ual way.
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It is indeed of the greatest importance in our lives to be
fed spiritually. An example is :ound in 1st. Cor. 9:11 where
Paul writes " If I have sown unto you spiritual things, is it
a great thine if we shall reap your carnal things?" This shows
the Apo~tle's regard concerning spiritual and natural things, in
that spiritual things was regarded as greater.
So it follows that the of~ice of a deacon should further and
assist this great spiritual work. Oh that we would pray often,
as a people, for this great work to increase and abound in our
day.
Some feel that this day is past, as we have social security
and various government agencies to care for the poor and have
~j~a universal, fearful obsession and esteem for ·insurance
security. Nursing homes are flourishing on every hand and in
every city and hamlet. So it seems that the world has realized
and taken over the care of the poor widows and orphans for gain.
Politicians even gain favor with the the voting people by
showing that they have great concern for the underpriviledged.
Has God changed and given this business into the.hands of the
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world? I bel~ve that we are at fault and have doubted our
Heavenly Master. If we would return to this great responsibility
and work with loVing hearts and compassion for our brethren in
need, God will furnish us with the ability to do so. Proof?,
turn to 2nd Cor. 9:8 " and God is able to make all grace abound
toward you: that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things,
may abound to every good work. "
This would be a great work and it needs men full of th'e Holy
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Ghost and wisdom to administer it. Some deacons are only used to
pass the bread and wine at communion services, certainly not a
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duty taught in the bible, and certainly not requir~ing any
particular wisdom or spirituality.
The question now arises where would we start, should we not
start with the church and it's compassion on their brethren in
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ne.ed? In the early days of the church the brethren wen'e so over-
joyed at the revelation of Christ that they held not in high
esteem their earthly goodsJiut sold them and had all things
common, and came and laid them at the apostles feet.
The apostles distributed this wealth as every man had need.
It seems the widows had the greatest need. Do they not today?
Are not a majority of our faithful brethren in the church, widows?
Now I'm sure the apostles also used this fdnd for their own
needs.also. Proof? Let us reason here. Tb,ey were so bus~ ad-
ministering this fundthey couldn't ftnd enough time for prayer
and the ministry of the word, so the servan~s of the church were
chosen for this work tha.t the apostles· might give themselves
continually to prayer and the ministry of the word. Would
that have left them any time, before or after deacons, to have
worked to earn a living? Paul writes 1st Cor. 9:14 n Even so hath
the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live
of the gospel. 11 Paul Also writes 1st Tim. 5:17 " Let the :h:lders
that rule will be counted worthy of double honor especially
they who labor in the word and doctrine." Did not the early
church bestow honor on the Apoltles when they gave into their
charge their very living? A great responsibility, taking all
their time •
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I feel the double part of the honor is not only to honor
them for their usefulness as a preacher but also to furnish
them a living th~t their ministry might be full.
So now we can begin to see what a· great work that God has
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obligated us with, men fo care for us and to rule over
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a father over his children,and men to be our servants.
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A great fault has sprung up in our churches in that the
~rethren have not this concern and sense of responsibility
toward brethren in need. They have desired financial security
in their own private lives and sought after it to their h~rt,
or loss of spirituality and have then taken advantage of govern-
ment programs by putting their loved ones on welfar~ when they
had plenty to care for them. They have fostered and encouraged
the idea that a preacher worth his salt should earn his own.
living, to prove his love for the cause. ~his causes a feeling
in the church that if you give a minister enough money to re-
emb~se his road expenses it is enough. So~e brethren only give
a token each meeting with the understanding they ought t~ give
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a preacher something, not even wondering what his need might be.
While having this mind about helping those in need, churches
have gone ahead and ordained deacons in a most solemn way and
left them to their own devices, a servant with nothing to serve.
Some of these deacons with a false sense of authority and
obligation, have begun to rule the church, and have usurped
the authority of their pastor, or overseers. Others, having an
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honest love and desire to fulfill their office just lapse into
a do nothing at all attitude. My heart goes out to these men
that wonder what to do when the church h~s no need of them after
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~nation. :"
What then should a deacon do in this case? The answer is,
they shoUld make themselves ready to serve, just as if the
church were willing to use them. They should get to know the
membership more personaly, to be able to know and detect their
needs, also to know his pastor and visiting ministers better.
and to know their needs. To have the information ready at hand
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and feel it would be in order for them to admonish a:rrd exhort
(f the church as to their needs, ·so that the brethren that are
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willing may know their duty.
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Next they ought to give of their time in bible study, that
they may be familiar with the bible taught duties of the deacon,
and of the pastor, to know where their seperate duties lie, so
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as not to usurp authority, but be ready to assist the pastor
in the general welfare of the church.
They ought to win the confidence of the poor and widows so
they may feel free to confide in him as to their need. Many times
those in need have too rnuch·pride and will hide their ~eal need
even to the hurt of the church. Tpis sort of relationship is
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very important in the deacons office and foolish is the church
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that refuses to use such a man as their servant. There will be
a blessing and great satisfaction to the deacon if he will
~ accomplish this much on his own iniative, even if the church
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won't supply him with any funds.
In this church duty to supply the brethren as they have
need so that there will be an equality among the brethren, as
Paul in 2nd Cor. 8:14-15, 11
That now at this time your abundance
may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may

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be a supply for your want that there be an equality: as it_is
written, he that b.ad gathered much had nothing over;and he
that had gathered little had no lack.
Many feel that it is just too much and too hard for us to
perform. Yes the task is great but our Lord is greater< and
equal to the blessing of it, and we should start. If we start
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the way will ·open up.
Paul writes of this way to start in 1st Cor. 16:1-2, " Now
concerning the collection of' the saints as I have gi veil order o nr T n~ ,
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of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God
hath prospered you, that there .Se no gathering, "collectionsu
when I come." Does not this scripture give an order, an ordered
example, to us? Does it not directly imply that these brethren
and Paul met every first day of the week or Sunday? Does it not
teach that every week we should •xamine our income and natural
blesaings as to how God has given us increase over our want
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giving to God and compassion on His people that are in need.
At that moment we should lay it aside and not wait to see
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now much might be left after pleasure and eyery day bills and
~ putting in the bank, then turn it over to the church to dis-
tribute it to the needy.
In the early-days they gave it to the preachers for dis-
tribution. The Apostle said it should be turned over to the
deacons.
Oh we should obey this, even though our contribution might
be small and insignificant, we should please God by starting.

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Paul again on this note in 2nd Cor. 8:12 writes, " For if there
be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a
man hath, and not according to that he hath not." Can't we see
that if we would start, perhaps we can't take charge of our
wido~s, but we can help. If we can't have a full time minister
we can help him have more time to devote to study and labor
among the brethren. If one person that is helped by our churches
thanks and blesses God because of a gift, it is acceptable
fruit unto God. The gift though must of a n•cessity come from
a deacon, as a servant of the body, for if the needy receives
it as a donation from a church, God will be praised. Another
point in this is the recipient of this charity will not suffer
:tJM embarassmen~ receiving it from the hand of the servant of·
the church as he would receiving it fom an individual.
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Now a question ar~ses at times, can a worn~ be a deaconess,
or should a church recognize a womtn as deaconess~ Let us go
to the original meaning of the word in the greek language,
where it-means one who serves, not as a slave, but as a servant
in relation to his work.
In Romans 16:1 which reads, 11
I commend unto you Phoebe our
s~ster which is the servan$ of the church which is at Cenchrea." :)
The word servant in ttis verse is the s~me word as used for 0
deacons. This womftn was commended by Paul and he encouraged '1
others to assist her in this business, showing that what ever
this womtn, a.:o a church servant, was engaged in was to be
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furthered and not frowned upon or hindered, not withstanding,
this scripture dQes not teach that she filled an office, nor
was ordained by laying on of hands by the presbytery, The

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scriptures I beli(Ye, are plain, that deacons of the church ~· ~
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are to be husbands, men that are of honest report. Of course
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this does not forbid a sister to dedicate her life to serve
bidden to usurp authority, as an'office. _______
brethren in what ever way they have need, but would be for-
There has been instances that come to our attention where
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brethren uractice the laying of hands on the wife of the Elder
and Jeacon by the presbytery as if she were a part of his
office. I feel this is entirely unscriptural and should be
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stopped by our Elders before it goes any fuw~r~t~h~e~rj·------------.-·
It is a truth that a faithful wife is a great help to a
~aeon or Elder, and in many cases has enhanced their ministry
greatly, but she should have no part in the ordination. Also
when her husband be dead her part in his ministry would be
ended. Now this isn't written to discourage the practice of
the family to come to the front of the church during the preach-
ing of· the charge. only the part where the wife comes forward
and kneels beside her husband and the presbytery lay hands
on both of them. This part is very wrong and ha~Emger in
time, to bring in the heresy of women deacons and preachers.
This is written in much love for the upbuilding of Gods
people in His blessed church, that they in their depleted
condition begin to recover themselves from the snare of the
devil.
Of course this doesn't pertain to all of our churches.
Some are using their deacons well and their church condition
proves that it pleases God.

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I have met some v8ry able deacons here of late and they
are a great credit to the cause.
It is my opinion though, that the majority of our churches
have failed miserably in the office of the deacon and they
should recover themselves and abide in the 'eachings of the
bible.
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