Appointing Deacons in the Church

(1 Timothy 3:8-13 – Appointing deacons in the Church)

Appointing deacons in the Church is the next phase of the appointment of officers of the Church. It is a logical follow on to the appointment of Elders, as discussed in my last post

The role of a deacon in the church is rather unusual and it seems to have different connotations for different churches.

However, in this section of scripture we see Paul define some of the requirements and necessary attributes for appointing deacons in the church.

General requirements of deacons

This scripture gives us a good understanding of the requirements a person should possess when appointing deacons in the church. This is what the scripture has to say.

8 Deacons likewise must be serious, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for gain; 9 they must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 And let them also be tested first; then if they prove themselves blameless let them serve as deacons. 11 The women likewise must be serious, no slanderers, but temperate, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons be the husband of one wife, and let them manage their children and their households well; 13 for those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 3:8-13)

It is clear from these words that a deacon needs to be stable in the Lord and stable in themselves. They must not fall prey to the addictions of the flesh, nor be hypocritical, saying one thing but doing another.

There is great blessing for a deacon who serves well, as the last verse in this section tells us. And they are in a great position to receive that blessing as they can actively perform a function that is personified in the service attitude we all need to adopt as we walk in Christ.

What do deacons do?

Which brings me to the question when appointing deacons in the church: what do deacons actually do?

This is a bit of a grey area in some churches. In some places they are group who effectively run and control the church. In other places they are administrators and volunteer helpers.

And in truth there is a bit of both of these elements to the work of a deacon.

Perhaps the best example of what deacons do, is that they are helpers in the church. They help the Elders and Apostles of the church to manage the physical affairs of the church so that the Elders and Apostles can focus on the spiritual affairs of the church.

The best example of what deacons do can be seen in the appointment of the “The Seven.” These seven men were appointed when the early church grew too large for the twelve Apostles to effectively manage both the spiritual and physical needs of the church.

The Seven were selected to handle the day to day distributions of food and resources to those in need so that the Apostles could focus on prayers, preaching, and teaching.

1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists murmured against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the body of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Proch’orus, and Nica’nor, and Ti’mon, and Par’menas, and Nicola’us, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands upon them. (Acts 6:1-6)

These seven men were effectively the first deacons of the early church. But there were others as the Gentile churches flourished when the gospel was spread, and there are examples of the work they did too.

1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deaconess of the church at Cen’chre-ae, 2 that you may receive her in the Lord as befits the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a helper of many and of myself as well. (Romans 16:1-2)

In this verse we note that Phoebe was a deaconess of the church, and she was highly praised by Paul for her work helping the church as well as Paul himself as he worked amongst the Gentiles.

Which brings me to another point about appointing deacons in the Church.

Women as deacons

There has long been a problem in some churches about women in ministry, or holding positions of authority in the church.

This certainly was not a problem in the early church as we see in several of the scriptures quoted here today.

Women were often appointed as deacons in the church and Paul in this scripture under review gives clear instructions about the attributes of a woman who aspires to the role of deacon. When appointing deacons in the church, gender should be irrelevant.

And it should be the same with every other leadership role in the church, including Eldership. I won’t go into detail here about this topic as I wrote a post about women in ministry several weeks ago, and if you are interested I recommend you look at that.

These are some of the things that need to be considered when appointing deacons in the church.

Are deacons really needed?

There is no doubt that deacons can play an important role in the church.

First, they free up the pastors, teachers, preachers, apostles, elders, and so on to do their work by taking on the administrative and similar functions. This is important because BOTH lines of work need to be done (I.e., physical work and spiritual work), and the workload needs to be distributed to those best able to do it.

Second, deacons help the church members through the work that they do, especially as a church grows.

Which brings me to the point of whether they are needed or not.

If we look at the situation in the early church, they did not have deacons UNTIL the church grew to a size where it was unmanageable. Prior to that, the Apostles and Elders fulfilled all of the functions of the church and there was no need for deacons.

But that model for the church was not scalable, and so appointing deacons in the church became necessary to ensure the smooth and efficient running of the church.

So, in a small church or a house church, deacons are probably not necessary. But as the church grows and the workload increases, they are necessary and should be appointed.

Appointing deacons in the Church – Selection Process

It is interesting how deacons were appointed in the early church.

As we read in the section from Acts 6:1-6 above, the Apostles spoke to the congregation asking them to select men to be appointed to the roles. The Apostles then ratified the selections through the laying on of hands and prayer.

This is a good way to select because there can be no “politics” in the process, and it ensures that those who are selected are people with whom the congregation feels comfortable. They are people that the congregation feel comfortable with and who they consider to be trustworthy.

It is a better approach than having the deacons appointed by the leadership team, or through elections, or however it is done in some modern churches.

So, appointing deacons in the church is a useful and valuable thing to do in the church, when there is the need. This scripture today gives us some insight into who could be considered, what their roles should be, and how to do it.

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