Roles and qualifications of Deacons
In most churches that utilize the office of deacon, the position has been pushed far outside of its biblical context. In most churches, deacons are the rulers of the church and exercise more authority than the pastor. In these churches the elder is non-existent as well. Many churches mistakenly apply the roles and responsibilities of bishops and elders to the role of a deacon. This is a great error. The position of deacon was created in scripture to be a servant to take the load of daily church business off those who are committed by God to teach the word and commit themselves in prayer. Rather than being a position of a ruler, a deacon’s role is to serve Christ by bearing the weight of many responsibilities that would be a distraction to those God has appointed to preach and teach the word.
Those who serve faithfully have the promise that they obtain for themselves “a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus”. As a man shows himself faithful in smaller things, God proves him worthy of greater responsibility. If a man is searching for power and authority, the office of deacon is not a suitable position. If someone is unwilling to humble themselves for service, they are far from the heart of God and church leadership is not a place for the lovers of status.
It is the responsibility of church leaders to test potential leaders to screen out those who are not Spirit filled and Christ focused. It is mandated by scripture to test deacons (and all leaders) and only appoint those found to be filled with the Spirit and blameless. If the church fails to test candidates for leadership, the church will not have the power of God. It is critical that God-focused, Christ-centered, Spirit filled leaders who are called by God be the only ones that are approved for leadership. The church fails miserably in this area and this is why we have lost the power of God. God designed the church and set the requirements in place; if we step outside of God’s mandate, we should not wonder why we aren’t experiencing God’s blessing.
A deacon must first be screened by comparing him to the requirements of scripture and then he must be tested and only appointed if he is found blameless. It is also worth noting that deacons are identified and picked by the ‘multitude of disciples’ by recognizing their godly reputation. An elder is not appointed by the people; an elder is appointed by the other elders.
Reference:
1 Timothy 3:2-13
Acts 6:1-4