Buried Talents: Deacons, Part 2

What can only deacons do?

If we were to conclude that women cannot be deacons — other than wear the title, what is it that women could not do? In a congregation with no deacons, what is it that the men cannot do because they are unqualified to be deacons? In a congregation with no men qualified to be deacons, can any man handle the treasury and the giving of alms to the poor? It hardly makes sense to argue that only certain Christians can be deacons but to then allow anyone to do what deacons do. (Or could it be that those who have the gifts to do these things should do them?)

We conclude that the notion that deacons are men who head church programs is a late 20th Century addition to the Bible. Quite frankly, since we felt compelled to have deacons because some of the First Century churches had deacons, we had to come up with a job description for qualified men. It was not practical to require that all church work be done by a deacon, and so the notion developed that deacons are to be program heads.

And yet we’ve never really insisted that deacons head all programs. After all, the youth minister, who often isn’t considered qualified due to being unmarried or childless, runs most youth programs. Campus ministers, who are often unmarried or childless, run campus works. The Ladies Bible Class, or the elders’ wives, or another group of women sometimes handle the distribution of meals to the bereaved. The older women in the church handle the giving of showers for the engaged and expecting. Sometimes we become concerned when we have a program not headed by a deacon, and so we put a deacon “in charge” of a program that runs quite well — even better — without him.

When we debate whether women can be deacons, we are really only debating whether a woman can be responsible for the distribution of food to widows, an area that our women members have been handling quite well for many years and with no titles. The real issue that troubles us is whether a woman can have authority in a church, and certainly she can. The only scriptural question is whether a woman can have authority over a man, and the only passage dealing with this is 1 Timothy 2:11-15, discussed previously.

Can a woman satisfy the qualifications to be a deacon?

It is something of an academic exercise to consider the arguments suggesting that women may be deacons, since there is no church function that can only be performed by a deacon. After all, we’ve never denied our women members the right to wait on tables, to organize meals for our members, or to distribute food to the needy! Nonetheless, it appears highly probable that there were women deacons in the First Century and we find no prohibition of their appointment as deacons in this century.

1 Timothy 3:8-15 provides the qualifications of a deacon:

Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.

In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.

A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well. Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus. Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

It is, of course, hard to imagine a woman being the husband of one wife, and yet many leaders within the Restoration Movement and the Churches of Christ have taught that women may be deacons. Sandifer quotes Alexander Campbell, Walter Scott, Robert Richardson, W. K. Pendleton, Robert Milligan, Tolbert Fanning, Isaac Errett, Moses Lard, J. M. Barnes, Philip Y. Pendleton, J. C. McQuiddy, C. R. Nichol, G. C. Brewer, J. Ridley Stroop, J. D. Thomas, and James Bales (among many others) all in support of women deacons (pages 146 – 180).

The effort to prevent women deacons did not begin until about the same time the Churches of Christ split from the rest of the Restoration Movement, that is, the turn of the century. Accordingly, if we are to “return to the Old Paths,” we should appoint women deacons. No one could put together a list of men more representative of the “mainline” Churches of Christ.