Deacon’s Manual

The question is often asked, what is a deacon? Another is, what can a deacon do? The word “deacon†describes an officer in a local church. It is derived from a Greek word meaning “servant†or “minister.†The Bible employs the word “deacon†about thirty times. Each time the word occurs, it means a servant. The word, in general, denotes service or ministry (Mark 10:43–45 [Jesus]; Acts 1:17, 25 [apostles]; Rom 11:13 [Paul]), and was applied to local Christian leaders, possibly as an official title (Phil 1:1; 1 Tim 3:8, 12–13). In Romans 13:4 the word is applied to secular rulers. Hence, the term “deacon†is used for the office itself or for the collective body of deacons and deaconesses. As with many other biblical words used today in a technical sense, the words “deacon†and “deaconess†began as popular, nontechnical terms. Both in secular first-century Greek culture and in the NT they described a variety of services. The biblical role of the deacon has been the subject of a long and a continued discussion. We should look, not at what history or denominations have said, but rather at what the Bible says about the word “deacon,†its function and qualifications, and the selection of deacons in the local NT church.4