EVERYONE DEACONS
Diakonos appears 29 times in the NT and means servant or minister (Matthew 23:11-12, Mark 9:35, John 12:26). Jesus is the ultimate deacon (Mark 10:45). In a technical sense, it is one of two offices in the NT for the local church that require ordination--elders and deacons.
CONTRASTING CLONES
Deacons should delight in shouldering practical tasks so that the elders can channel their energies into prayer and ministry of the Word. Deacons wrongly deployed can cut your ministry in half, but deacons rightly employed can double your ministry. Deacons are difference makers.
MANIFESTO AND MANUAL
Chapter 1 - Church history sketch of deacons
Chapter 2 - Forerunners to deacons
Chapter 3 - Qualifications for deacons
Chapter 4 - What deacons must do
Chapter 5 - Stories of faithful deacons
Chapter 6 - Who deacons must reflect
Appendix - Can women serve as deacons?
Deacons are model servants that excel at being responsive to tangible needs in the life of the church. By assisting they also guard the ministry of the Word. Without biblical functioning deacons a church will become unhealthy. We cannot elevate their role (they are not elders). Neither should minimize it (they are not glorified janitors).
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