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I have rarely seen anything about deacons in the house church correspondence and publications. I have seen frequent posts and publications about elders. Why is this? If ministry or service or diakonia is required of every saint, why would "servant" now be an office, if that is your belief?
And why is the deacon considered to be a lower office than elder when Jesus said that service or diakonia was the highest virtue, required of all his followers?
Mark 10:44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be ->servant<- of all.
Some excellent questions relative to deacons/ministers/servants!
I believe that whenever we make "offices" out of service or work, we are fostering the unscriptural development of a hierarchy which God never intended!
I have been impressed relative to deacons/ministers/servants in the new covenant scriptures that there are 4 kinds of deacons. But they are only distinguished by the KIND OF APPOINTMENT: (1)There are deacons/ministers/servants who are appointed by God. (i.e. Rom.13:4) (2)There are deacons/servants/ministers who are appointed to specific tasks by the church in order to represent the church in the exercise of those specific tasks. (Phil.2:25-30) (3)There are deacons/servants/ministers who simply see a need and give themselves to meet that need for others. (Romans 16:1,2; I Cor.16:15,16) (4)There are deacons/servants/ministers of unrighteousness who are actually servants appointed by the Enemy! (Rom.6:16-21)
I believe that the passages that set out qualifications of deacons/servants/ministers (i.e. Acts 6:3; 15:22; I Tim 3 etc) are in the context of deacons appointed by the church to fulfill tasks in which they are functioning as "deputees" or "representatives" of the church. Does this make any sense to others?
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