Part of the confusion for deacons in understanding the role involves their name.
This ancient office is known by a nickname. There was never a formal name such as disciple or prophet or teacher. The word deacon means nothing in English, because it is not an English word. It is a Greek word that means “waiter.”
When the first church in Jerusalem had a problem, they chose some people to solve the problem. In that case, the problem involved making sure that the foreign widows and orphans had food to eat.
The ones chosen to make sure the needy were fed were not even called deacons by Luke in Acts 6:1–6 where the origin of the office is described.
Only later in Paul’s writings do we find people called deacons who have the responsibility of solving problems and taking care of the business of the church.
Reading the passage in Acts today, it appears that the apostles appointed a committee to solve the problem. The members of the committee came to be called by their nickname of deacon.
Not only does the name of deacons cause confusion but also the manner in which they take office.
They are “ordained.” Ordination seems to set deacons apart from other members of the congregation. Something special has happened, but most Baptists are at a loss to explain what it is. The first deacons were chosen by the congregation and not by the apostles.
After they were chosen, the apostles prayed for them and blessed them in the time-honored fashion by placing their hands on them.
Deaconesses?
B.H. Carroll, founding president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, taught that a woman may be a deaconess just so long as she was not ordained. Many Baptists seem to associate the ceremony of laying on hands with the idea of ordination.
The ceremony in the eyes of many has a quasi-mystical aspect to it akin to the Catholic understanding of ordination. In the New Testament, ordination simply means to choose someone for a task. The act of choosing or electing the first deacons by the congregation was their ordination.
The congregation ordained them, and then the apostles prayed for them. Using the New Testament definition for ordination, everyone who is asked to do a job in the church is “ordained” today.
What’s the job?
Everyone elected to serve on a committee, to work with preschoolers or in the kitchen, to teach Sunday School, to greet visitors, or to serve in any other capacity identified by the church has been ordained.
The difference between the New Testament and today is we ask them to do a job, but we do not pray for them as they do that job.
The modern mind is confused over a name like deacon, because it does not say what the person does.
Most names relate to a task; such as Sunday School teacher, WMU director, stewardship committee member, choir member. The name deacon does not describe the job. A deacon has the function of dealing with problems and responsibilities as they arise.
The responsibilities of the office change over time as the needs of the churches change. The New Testament gives qualifications for the office of deacon (1 Tim. 3:8–13), but it gives no job description.
When a need arose in the early churches that required attention, the churches chose people to handle the situation.
Deacons seemed to have functioned like committees. In the 20th century, Baptist churches dramatically increased the number of deacons in each church, but gave them a new name: committee members.
The churches retained the old deacon office, but reassigned the role of deacons to committees.
In my opinion, deacons continue in most churches the same way the House of Lords continues in England as a ceremonial legacy of a bygone day.
The irony, of course, is that most Baptist deacons serve on several committees and ministry teams as well as teaching Sunday School.
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