The Diaconate: A Servant Ministry
Acts 6:1-6
The Feast of St. Stephen
Church tradition claims that Stephen was one of the 70 that Christ sent out two by two (Luke 10:1 ff.). However, the first time the Bible mentions him by name is in Acts chapter 6. There he is among the Seven chosen by the Church in Jerusalem for a special ministry. What was that ministry? A problem had surfaced in the Jerusalem parish between the Hebrews and the Hellenists. For some reason, the Hellenist widows were being left out of the daily distributions to the poor. The Hellenists were Greek-speaking Christians; the Hebrews the Aramaic-speaking Christians. Daily allocations were made to the poorer members of the community from a common fund. This fund consisted of money and property to which the wealthier members had contributed. The Hellenist widows were being short changed in these disbursements. Tensions between the Hebrew-speaking Jewish Christians and the Greek-speaking Gentile Christians had created this problem. On this Feast of St. Stephen we will explore the office of deacon, and how we are to serve others. The Prayer Book presents Stephen as both a deacon and a martyr. We will focus on his pioneering role as a deacon today, and comment on his role as a maryr another year.
In order to resolve this dilemma in the Jerusalem church, the apostles asked the Church to pick seven men to wait on tables. If they were forced to do it themselves, they would have to give up much prayer time and the preaching of the Word of God. They didn't want to do that. The seven must be willing to serve sacrificially. Moreover, they would need a good dose of diplomacy in order to work with people in a delicate situation.
The congregation therefore elected Stephen, Philip, and five others for this ministry. They were men of good repute, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom. Once the parish had appointed these seven, the apostles laid hands upon them and prayed for them. This was a form of ordination. Though the book of Acts does not call them “deacons,” the Church later would do so. Irenaeus in A.D. 185 was the first of the early Church fathers to call the seven deacons. Once they were ordained, Stephen, Philip and the others organized the daily distribution to the widows. This included serving tables at the common meal, as well as handing out other allotments. Surely the Seven deacons delegated much of this work to helpers.
What happened in Jerusalem, this holding of possessions in common, was a unique situation, not the norm. We need to keep that in mind. In fact, it became an economic basket case. Later on, after the members were practically starving, St. Paul had to go around to other churches making a special collection for the Jerusalem parish. Why did the Jerusalem Christians pool their resources? Possibly because Christ had promised to destroy the Temple and Jerusalem within their generation. Remember that? In Matthew 24:34 Christ prophesied, “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” This He said in reference to the abomination of desolation and other signs of the great tribulation. As soon as they saw this they were to flee to the mountains (vv. 15 ff.). In anticipation of that imminent destruction many Jerusalem Christians sold their possessions and put the money in a common treasury. Stephen and his colleagues distributed fairly the meals and money among the brethren. The Hellenist widows were no longer neglected.
What about the office of deacon? Since Bible times it has undergone many changes. The Early Church quickly set up the three-fold ministry of deacon, presbyter and bishop. For a time the deacons were assistants to a Bishop; they served on his staff. Some of them, like Athanasius, were elevated to the episcopate. With the authorization of the Bishop the deacons could preach and baptize as the deacon Philip had, but they were not allowed to celebrate Holy Communion. Eventually, the deacons came under the supervision of the local parish priest. In the Anglican Church the office of deacon has been seen as a mere stepping-stone to the presbyterate. 90% of deacons are in transition. They have no intention of remaining deacons. After six months to a year they move on to the priesthood. Permanent deacons who are content to stay deacons and dedicate themselves to benevolence are rare. Following the example of St. Stephen, the primary duty of the deacon should be the oversight of the charitable ministries of the Church. However, it has not always turned out that way. [Please see the valuable study The Diaconate by James M. Barnett.]
When the diaconal function has been faithfully carried out, men of passion, conviction, and concern have done immense good. To take one example, Charles Spurgeon's church in London had a wonderful diaconate ministry. The deacons were actively serving the needy on many levels. They administered service in almshouses, orphanages, relief missions, training schools, retirement homes, tract societies, and Bible distribution. This was an age when society at large looked to the Church to help the poor, and the Church did it. Sadly, there has been a sea change in the thinking of society. Federal programs like the New Deal and the Great Society shifted much responsibility for helping the poor from individuals and the Church to the state. People no longer look to the Church to take care of poverty; or if they do, the Church plays a minor role. In Europe citizens have virtually stopped giving voluntarily to charitable causes. They look to the state to cover all the needs, and the state taxes at a very high rate in order to do its job. And yet, the state does a terrible job.
Why is the civil government unsuited to administer poverty relief? State relief is by nature impersonal, inefficient, and secular. Impersonal in the sense that the poor people seeking help must normally deal with complete strangers in distant posts. Nothing is colder than the offices of welfare, unemployment and food stamps. The state is too impersonal. Inefficient also, in the sense that big bloated bureaucracies waste money, and more easily fall into corruption. A small percentage of the designated tax revenue actually reaches the hands of the needy. State relief to the poor is secular in the sense that monetary, material relief is given without regard for the spiritual and moral dimensions of the people seeking help. The spiritual is the central factor in the benevolence equation, yet the state can't treat the spiritual. The secular won't allow it. The secular strangles the spiritual.
While I was a seminary student in Buenos Aires I noticed men living in crude shelters under freeway overpasses. The highway above protected them from rain, but not from the damp, bone-chilling wind. I stopped to talk to the guys and made friends with some of them. In the mornings, they often sat around a fire warming their hands.
Enrique was the guy I got to know the best. He was a smart, strong, handsome man. Why was he living under a bridge? He had been convicted of murder years earlier and spent time in jail. After getting out he came to the bridge. He had nowhere else to go. He worked some days, but many days he didn't feel like working. Moreover, he was having an affair with a lady a few blocks away. He was spending too much money on liquor and cigarettes. It took me about six months to learn these details. More than anything else, Enrique needed to be set free from the chains of sin; he needed the life-transforming, liberating power of the Gospel of Christ. Loving families and individuals within the context of the Church are best equipped to offer this, not the state. Eventually, Enrique surrendered his life to the Lord, and was able to move into an apartment. I was very happy when this took place. However, he lapsed back and ended up again under the bridge. Those who spend time with homeless people discover that in many cases a bad lifestyle goes hand in hand with their poverty.
This last summer in Argentina I met another lady who had lived under a bridge. She now works in the diocesan offices of Bishop Axt. Her name is Eugenia. When she was barely an adolescent her father gambled away the family's money. He then abandoned them. Eugenia, her mother, and two siblings were left homeless. They went to live under the bridge. Eugenia spent her days rummaging through garbage to find food for the family. This went on for years. It was a miserable existence, and she found little hope for living. Then, an Anglican missionary came in contact with her family. They became Christians. The missionary family virtually adopted Eugenia. Her life changed for the better in a dramatic way. Charitable work is pretty much worthless without the spiritual dimension.
Here is another rule: the Bible instructs the Church to distinguish the deserving poor from the undeserving poor. This is a key rule for ministry. St. Paul instructs us, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat…” (1 Thessalonians 3:6-12). Scripture teaches that the slothful must suffer the consequences of their sin. To carelessly lump all the poor together is unwise. Likewise, it is commonly heard that God is “on the side of the poor.” The Liberation Theologians speak like that. The poor are regarded as morally superior to the rich. Humanity is divided into rich and poor, setting up class conflict. Such thinking is Marxist and wrong. To automatically and mindlessly side for the poor every time, no matter what the issue, is unbiblical. Granted, the poor are often innocent and the rich guilty of oppression and injustice. The Bible warns about that frequently. We are to defend the widow, orphan, and foreigner from greedy and unjust evildoers. But it is not always the case that the rich are the bad guys. Sometimes the poor are. They exploit the middle class, or they exploit one another. Every once in a while, the poor have been known to steal from people with money. You have to examine each situation. Exodus 23:3 commands, “You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute.” If there is a divide in humankind it is between the righteous and the unrighteous, the good and the evil, between the decent and the indecent. God is on the side of the righteous and just, against the unrighteous and unjust, regardless whether they are poor, middle-class, or wealthy (Ex. 23:2, 3, 6). Any charity that fails to distinguish between the deserving and undeserving poor is probably doing an inefficient job, and is certainly violating the principles of the Bible.
So after making these necessary qualifications, we can ask the question, how do we reach out to the deserving poor? Do we first need an ordained deacon before we can do any benevolence? No. That work is for everybody. A deacon is a symbol of service. The deacon epitomizes within his office the ministry Christ has given to his church, the servant ministry to which we are all called and commissioned in our baptism. What can we do? Here are some suggestions.
1. Visit the sick and shut-ins. We could be visiting more often the retirement homes. Mark Shields has a teaching ministry to the elderly in Phoenix, and God is blessing his ministry.
2. Befriending prisoners. The prison population is larger than ever. It seems that there should be ways for some of us to make contact with prisoners and those in halfway houses. They need help to get on track spiritually.
3. To work with the handicapped. Joni Erikson Tada does superb work in this area.
4. To advise people on finding jobs. Unemployment is a frustrating condition.
5. Trash pickup in the neighborhood. Trash and broken glass encourage sin and vandalism. Cleanliness and fixed windows encourage dignity and obedience.
6. Alcoholics and drug addicts need volunteers to help them overcome their addictions.
7. The gay population needs Christians to help them out of that lifestyle.
8. The orphanage in Mexico has been one of our projects. We'll continue our support for “Let the Little Children Come,” also called “Agua Viva.”
When the early Church set aside seven men as deacons, those men waited at tables. Stephen and the rest dedicated themselves to the area of material help. Sometimes they preached and baptized with the bishop's blessing. The moment-by-moment teaching by the apostles was accompanied by the moment-by-moment example of the work of Christ. The Church should be orthodox in her teaching, but she should also be beautiful in her outreach, abounding in love and good works. This is not merely the job of ordained deacons; it is the job of every Christian, the priesthood of all believers. We follow the example of Stephen who followed the example of Jesus, loving and helping those in need.
Let us pray.
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