Difference between revisions of "Deacon"

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A '''deacon''' ([[Greek]] ''diakonos'' a servant who waits on the table of his master) is a member of the [[cleric]]al order next below that of a [[priest]] in hierarchical churches. In non-hierarchical churches, a deacon is a layman, one of a group (called the Board of Deacons) varying from one to five percent of the church membership, charged with the day-to-day management of the church and the occasional provision of church-member services.
+
A '''deacon''' ([[Greek]] ''diakonos'' a servant who waits on the table of his master) is a member of the [[cleric]]al order next below that of a [[priest]] in hierarchical Christian churches. In non-hierarchical churches, a deacon is a layman, one of a group (called the Board of Deacons) varying from one to five percent of the church membership, charged with the day-to-day management of the church and the occasional provision of church-member services.
 +
 
 
== In the early church ==
 
== In the early church ==
The term ''deacon'' and the office it represents has its origin in the earliest days of [[Christianity]]. The [[Bible]] specifically says:{{Bible quote|In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."|book=Acts|chap=6|verses=1-4|version=NIV}}
+
The term ''deacon'' and the office it represents has its origin in the earliest days of [[Christianity]]. The [[Bible]] itself specifically says:{{Bible quote|In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."|book=Acts|chap=6|verses=1-4|version=NIV}}
  
Thus originally, a deacon was ''not'' a preacher at all, but a social worker, a treasurer, and a business functionary.
+
Thus originally, a deacon was ''not'' a preacher but rather was a minister charged with being a church social worker, a treasurer, and a business functionary. It is known that deacons were, in the first several centuries of Christian Church history, key advisors to the bishops. That role has now mainly passed to the priests.
  
 
Toward the end of his ministry and life, [[Saint Paul]] set forth specific qualifications for the office of deacon. These qualifications extended even to the sort of wife that a deacon ought to have, and a declaration that man and wife both ought to conduct themselves in a manner not deserving of reproach.<ref>{{Bible ref|book=I_Timothy|chap=3|verses=8-13}}</ref>
 
Toward the end of his ministry and life, [[Saint Paul]] set forth specific qualifications for the office of deacon. These qualifications extended even to the sort of wife that a deacon ought to have, and a declaration that man and wife both ought to conduct themselves in a manner not deserving of reproach.<ref>{{Bible ref|book=I_Timothy|chap=3|verses=8-13}}</ref>
  
 
== The Roman Catholic Church ==
 
== The Roman Catholic Church ==
During the reign of the [[Emperor]] [[Constantine]], the [[Roman Catholic Church]] established itself, with essentially the same hierarchy of priests that the old polytheistic [[Rome|Roman]] state religion had had. The RCC developed a multitiered clerical order, with the [[Pope]] (essentially a renamed [[Pontifex Maximus]], hence the nickname "pontiff" often applied to the papal office) at its head, [[Archbishop]]s (literally, "lead overseers") next, then ordinary [[bishop]]s, then [[priest]]s, and finally the lowest rank in the order, to which the Church gave the name ''deacon''. From that day to this, in the Roman Catholic Church, a deacon is a [[seminary]]-trained individual and usually a type of apprentice to the pastor (called ''vicar'' in the [[Church of England]] and ''rector'' in the Episcopal Church) of a parish.
+
During the reign of the [[Emperor]] [[Constantine]], the [[Christian]] Church established itself legally. It had a hierarchy of clergy in some ways similar to that of the old polytheistic [[Rome|Roman]] state religion. All of the levels of ordained ministers that the various Christian churches of the time depended upon are, however, identified in the [[New Testament]] and were functioning long before the time of Constantine.
  
== The Anabaptist movement ==
+
In the Western section of the Roman Empire, the Church developed a multitiered order of ministers, with the [[Pope]] (essentially a renamed [[Pontifex Maximus]], hence the nickname "pontiff" often applied to the papal office), at its head. The Eastern Churches, now called [[Eastern Orthodox]], did not accept the claims to universal jurisdiction made by the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. In 1054, the polarized views of East and West finally resulted in the a formal break between the two, a separation that exists until the present.
In contrast, the [[Anabaptist]] movement disdained the hierarchical structure of the Roman Catholic Church. In that movement, a deacon remained what he was in Paul's day: a lay social worker, treasurer, and eventually a building-and-grounds manager (not actually a [[sexton]], who actually did the physical labor of building and groundskeeping, but perhaps one who hired the sexton and gave him his day-to-day orders and instructions).
+
  
== Deacons and vestrymen today ==
+
There were [[Archbishop]]s (literally, "lead overseers"), who led the Church in the most important cities of the Empire, then ordinary [[bishop]]s, then [[priest]]s, and finally the lowest order, the deacons. From that day to now, in the Roman Catholic and certain other churches, a deacon is usually a [[seminary]]-trained individual and a type of apprentice to the pastor (called ''vicar'' or ''rector'' in the [[Church of England]] and other Anglican churches).  
These two parallel understandings of the office of deacon persist today. The [[Church of England]], under the leadership of King [[Henry VIII]], retained all the hierarchical forms of the Roman Catholic Church from which it had broken away. The [[Lutheran Church]], the [[Reformation]] equivalent in continental [[Europe]], retained little of that structure. The modern [[Baptist Church]] retains ''no'' such structure, because it never had it. Thus only the hierarchical churches have the extended apprenticeship program for priests that the diaconate has come to mean in those churches.
+
  
Yet both kinds of church recognize the need for a function performed by laymen. In the Baptist Church, such men are still called deacons and perform the same function that deacons in the early church once performed. Typically a pastor, or a committee of long-standing members answering to the pastor, will nominate deacons who shall take office upon confirmation by election of the membership. Some churches might hold multiple rounds of deacon elections, with the first election serving as a sort of informal nominating convention in which a member may "nominate" anyone he wishes. The usual term of office of a deacon is three years, and a deacon would at the end of that time not be re-eligible for another year.
+
== The Protestant churches==
 +
In the [[Lutheran Church]], the dominant church of the [[Reformation]] in northern [[Europe]], some only of that structure was retained. Bishops in Apostolic Succession remained in Lutheran Scandinavia.  
  
In hierarchical churches, including the [[Anglican Communion]] (and in [[America]], the [[Episcopal Church]]), these lay ministries persist, though under a different name: the '''vestry'''. An individual belonging to the vestry is called a '''vestryman''' (or a vestry-woman). The vestry typically has a '''senior warden''' as its head and often a '''junior warden''' as deputy to the senior warden.
+
In the [[Reformed]] and [[Presbyterian]] churches—representing the second largest branch of the continental Reformation after the Lutherans—deacons were retained as ministers performing much the same role as in the more traditionally hierarchical churches. Reformed Theology holds that the ministry is not a singular office, but that there is a multiplicity of clergy. Teachers, Deacons, Trustees, and Pastors, are all ordained, although only the pastor is customarily addressed as "Reverend."
  
In both churches, the function is the same. Deacons (or vestrymen) generally handle all the "business" functions of the church. These include:
+
In contrast, the [[Anabaptist]] movement disdained the hierarchical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran churches, and the Anglican Church. In that movement, a deacon remained a lay social worker, treasurer, and eventually a building-and-grounds manager (not actually a [[sexton]], who actually did the physical labor of building and groundskeeping, but perhaps one who hired the sexton and gave him his day-to-day orders and instructions). The modern [[Baptist Church]] retains none of the historic hierarchy, considering the pastor alone to be a clergyman.
 +
 
 +
== Deacons today ==
 +
These two different understandings of the office of deacon persist today. The [[Church of England]] retained most of the hierarchical system known to the Roman Catholic Church from which it had broken away. It did not, of course, retain the position of Pope or Cardinal (the bishops who elect the Pope in the Roman Catholic Church). If an Anglican deacon is expected to be in that position for only six months to a year prior to being ordained a priest, he is styled a "transitional" deacon. If that is not the church's expectation, he is termed a "perpetual" deacon.
 +
 
 +
Thus only the hierarchical churches continue to have the Apostolic position known as the "diaconate," i.e. the order of deacons. Yet all these churches recognize the need for the functions performed by deacons, whether the particular church body considers them to be ordained clergy or laymen.
 +
 
 +
=== Election and term of office ===
 +
In the Baptist churches, a pastor or a committee of long-standing members answering to the pastor, will nominate deacons who shall take office upon confirmation by election of the membership. They remain laymen.
 +
 
 +
Some churches might hold multiple rounds of deacon elections, with the first election serving as a sort of informal nominating convention in which a member may "nominate" anyone he wishes. The usual term of office of a deacon is three years, and a deacon would at the end of that time not be re-eligible for another year.
 +
 
 +
In the [[Anglican]] churches, these boards of control exist, though under a different name—the '''vestry'''. An individual belonging to the vestry is called a '''vestryman''' (or a vestry-woman). The vestry typically has a '''senior warden''' as its head and often a '''junior warden''' as deputy to the senior warden. They play a role, with the bishop of the diocese, in calling pastors and, if need be, deacons. Somewhat different terminology is used in the other hierarchical churches.
 +
 
 +
=== Duties ===
 +
Deacons in non-hierarchical churches perform the duties that vestrymen in the Anglican churches perform. They generally handle all the "business" functions of the church. These may include:
  
 
* The treasury.
 
* The treasury.
Line 28: Line 43:
 
* Member social services. This function might include disbursement of charitable funds to members having especially severe financial needs
 
* Member social services. This function might include disbursement of charitable funds to members having especially severe financial needs
 
* Pastoral and other staff salaries. (Deacons normally serve without salary.)
 
* Pastoral and other staff salaries. (Deacons normally serve without salary.)
* Paying the equivalent of honoraria to guest speakers. The members usually fund such honoraria through "designated love offerings."
+
* Paying the equivalent of [[honorarium|honoraria]] to guest speakers. The members usually fund such honoraria through "designated love offerings."
 +
* Direct support of [[missionary|missionaries]], in addition to such support as an individual member might provide.
 
* Capital improvements, including the construction or expansion of a building or buildings.
 
* Capital improvements, including the construction or expansion of a building or buildings.
 +
* Educational functions. These include adult and children's education on Sundays ("Sunday school") in matters of faith and might include keeping a day [[school]] for the children of members or other residents in the community.
 +
* Pastoral vacancies. Whenever the office of pastor falls vacant, the Board of Deacons is primarily responsible for filling that vacancy. It may do so directly, by advertising the vacant position and inviting interested applicants for interviews, or it may seat a special ''search committee'' to which this responsibility is given. In either case, the deacons in those churches have the sole power of "impeachment"  (and removal) of a pastor.
  
=== Pastoral vacancy ===
+
In the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, and Reformed churches, where the deacon is ordained and therefore is not a layman, the function of deacons has become mainly liturgical, i.e. helping to conduct public worship services and the administration of the sacraments. Deacons in these churches do, however, continue to help and counsel the parish's poor and sick, as in antiquity.
In a non-hierarchical church, whenever the office of pastor falls vacant, the Board of Deacons is primarily responsible for filling that vacancy. They may do so directly, by advertising the vacant position and inviting interested applicants for interviews, in a manner similar to that in which a board of directors at a joint-stock corporation might select a new president/chief executive officer. Or they may seat a special ''search committee'' to which they then delegate this responsibility.
+
 
+
In either case, the deacons have the sole power of "impeachment" of a pastor. Pastors are often subject to removal from pastoral office on impeachment for, and conviction of, apostasy, embezzlement, or other conduct to the prejudice of their office or mission. Such removal occurs rarely and is often the culmination of long-standing discord.
+
 
+
In hierarchical churches, pastoral (or rectoral) vacancies and, when necessary, pastoral discipline are matters for the local bishop to handle. But in rare cases, vestries have forced the resignations of rectors and insisted that the bishops send replacements.
+
  
 
== References ==
 
== References ==
 
<references/>
 
<references/>
  
[[Category:Christianity]]
+
[[Category:Christian Group Structuring]]

Revision as of 07:29, July 13, 2016

A deacon (Greek diakonos a servant who waits on the table of his master) is a member of the clerical order next below that of a priest in hierarchical Christian churches. In non-hierarchical churches, a deacon is a layman, one of a group (called the Board of Deacons) varying from one to five percent of the church membership, charged with the day-to-day management of the church and the occasional provision of church-member services.

In the early church

The term deacon and the office it represents has its origin in the earliest days of Christianity. The Bible itself specifically says:

In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word." Acts 6:1-4 (NIV)

Thus originally, a deacon was not a preacher but rather was a minister charged with being a church social worker, a treasurer, and a business functionary. It is known that deacons were, in the first several centuries of Christian Church history, key advisors to the bishops. That role has now mainly passed to the priests.

Toward the end of his ministry and life, Saint Paul set forth specific qualifications for the office of deacon. These qualifications extended even to the sort of wife that a deacon ought to have, and a declaration that man and wife both ought to conduct themselves in a manner not deserving of reproach.[1]

The Roman Catholic Church

During the reign of the Emperor Constantine, the Christian Church established itself legally. It had a hierarchy of clergy in some ways similar to that of the old polytheistic Roman state religion. All of the levels of ordained ministers that the various Christian churches of the time depended upon are, however, identified in the New Testament and were functioning long before the time of Constantine.

In the Western section of the Roman Empire, the Church developed a multitiered order of ministers, with the Pope (essentially a renamed Pontifex Maximus, hence the nickname "pontiff" often applied to the papal office), at its head. The Eastern Churches, now called Eastern Orthodox, did not accept the claims to universal jurisdiction made by the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. In 1054, the polarized views of East and West finally resulted in the a formal break between the two, a separation that exists until the present.

There were Archbishops (literally, "lead overseers"), who led the Church in the most important cities of the Empire, then ordinary bishops, then priests, and finally the lowest order, the deacons. From that day to now, in the Roman Catholic and certain other churches, a deacon is usually a seminary-trained individual and a type of apprentice to the pastor (called vicar or rector in the Church of England and other Anglican churches).

The Protestant churches

In the Lutheran Church, the dominant church of the Reformation in northern Europe, some only of that structure was retained. Bishops in Apostolic Succession remained in Lutheran Scandinavia.

In the Reformed and Presbyterian churches—representing the second largest branch of the continental Reformation after the Lutherans—deacons were retained as ministers performing much the same role as in the more traditionally hierarchical churches. Reformed Theology holds that the ministry is not a singular office, but that there is a multiplicity of clergy. Teachers, Deacons, Trustees, and Pastors, are all ordained, although only the pastor is customarily addressed as "Reverend."

In contrast, the Anabaptist movement disdained the hierarchical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran churches, and the Anglican Church. In that movement, a deacon remained a lay social worker, treasurer, and eventually a building-and-grounds manager (not actually a sexton, who actually did the physical labor of building and groundskeeping, but perhaps one who hired the sexton and gave him his day-to-day orders and instructions). The modern Baptist Church retains none of the historic hierarchy, considering the pastor alone to be a clergyman.

Deacons today

These two different understandings of the office of deacon persist today. The Church of England retained most of the hierarchical system known to the Roman Catholic Church from which it had broken away. It did not, of course, retain the position of Pope or Cardinal (the bishops who elect the Pope in the Roman Catholic Church). If an Anglican deacon is expected to be in that position for only six months to a year prior to being ordained a priest, he is styled a "transitional" deacon. If that is not the church's expectation, he is termed a "perpetual" deacon.

Thus only the hierarchical churches continue to have the Apostolic position known as the "diaconate," i.e. the order of deacons. Yet all these churches recognize the need for the functions performed by deacons, whether the particular church body considers them to be ordained clergy or laymen.

Election and term of office

In the Baptist churches, a pastor or a committee of long-standing members answering to the pastor, will nominate deacons who shall take office upon confirmation by election of the membership. They remain laymen.

Some churches might hold multiple rounds of deacon elections, with the first election serving as a sort of informal nominating convention in which a member may "nominate" anyone he wishes. The usual term of office of a deacon is three years, and a deacon would at the end of that time not be re-eligible for another year.

In the Anglican churches, these boards of control exist, though under a different name—the vestry. An individual belonging to the vestry is called a vestryman (or a vestry-woman). The vestry typically has a senior warden as its head and often a junior warden as deputy to the senior warden. They play a role, with the bishop of the diocese, in calling pastors and, if need be, deacons. Somewhat different terminology is used in the other hierarchical churches.

Duties

Deacons in non-hierarchical churches perform the duties that vestrymen in the Anglican churches perform. They generally handle all the "business" functions of the church. These may include:

  • The treasury.
  • The roll of members.
  • Building and grounds keeping.
  • Music.
  • Member social services. This function might include disbursement of charitable funds to members having especially severe financial needs
  • Pastoral and other staff salaries. (Deacons normally serve without salary.)
  • Paying the equivalent of honoraria to guest speakers. The members usually fund such honoraria through "designated love offerings."
  • Direct support of missionaries, in addition to such support as an individual member might provide.
  • Capital improvements, including the construction or expansion of a building or buildings.
  • Educational functions. These include adult and children's education on Sundays ("Sunday school") in matters of faith and might include keeping a day school for the children of members or other residents in the community.
  • Pastoral vacancies. Whenever the office of pastor falls vacant, the Board of Deacons is primarily responsible for filling that vacancy. It may do so directly, by advertising the vacant position and inviting interested applicants for interviews, or it may seat a special search committee to which this responsibility is given. In either case, the deacons in those churches have the sole power of "impeachment" (and removal) of a pastor.

In the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, and Reformed churches, where the deacon is ordained and therefore is not a layman, the function of deacons has become mainly liturgical, i.e. helping to conduct public worship services and the administration of the sacraments. Deacons in these churches do, however, continue to help and counsel the parish's poor and sick, as in antiquity.

References

  1. I_Timothy 3:8-13