A church bulletin has arrived listing the names of an "Evangelist" and seven "Deacons," but no elders. Since church deacons are servants (diakonoi), they have to have elders (presbuteroi, Acts 20:17) as overseers (episkopoi, Acts 20:28), to assign the deacons what services they are render. Therefore, a New Testament church cannot have church deacons without elders.

If a church has deacons and no elders, supervision is lacking. If they are their own supervisors, they should be called overseers or elders, but not church deacons. Paul did not ask for the deacons of the church at Ephesus to meet him at Miletus, but the elders (Acts 20:17, 28).

If the seven men listed as "deacons" do not meet the qualifications of elders as listed in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, then it would be wrong to call them elders. Unless at least two are qualified a New Testament congregation will postpone elder appointment (Acts 14:23), and consequently will postpone the appointment of church deacons.

The New Testament tells of no congregation having church deacons without elders (Philippians 1:1). Some have mistakenly thought that the emergency charity committee of "seven reputable men" who were "full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom" (Acts 6:3) in the congregation at Jerusalem were the first church deacons. Advocates of this idea have even resorted to the Greek to sustain their erroneous position, citing diakonein, the word from which we get "deacons," to serve, as being written about the seven men at Jerusalem (Acts 6:2).

However, a form of the same word is used in the same passage about the apostles (diakonia, Acts 6:4), which would prove (?) that the apostles also were church deacons. But actually, both the seven Jerusalem appointees and the apostles were servants (diakonoi), the seven serving tables (trapezai, Acts 6:2), and the apostles serving the preached word (logos, Acts 6:4).

If the appearance of the Greek word that sometimes means church deacons in Acts 6:2 proves that seven men were appointed as church deacons, then the appearance of the same Greek word in John 2:5 proves (?) that the servants at the wedding feast in Cana were church deacons. Furthermore, it would prove (?) in Romans 13:4 that Emperor Nero was a church deacon.

Broadly speaking, all Christians are deacons, but they are not all church deacons. The same Greek word, that in Acts 6:2 refers to the seven appointees, in Hebrews 6:10 refers to all Christians (diakonountes). Not all of the Christians at Philippi were church "deacons" (Philippians 1:1), but they were all deacons in the sense of their service (Philippians 4:15).

The same word used of the seven appointees at Jerusalem in Acts 6:2 is used of Phoebe in Romans 16:1. If the Scriptures anywhere set forth the qualifications for deaconesses we could rightly conclude that Phoebe was a deaconess of the church in Cenchrea. Qualifications for deacons are clearly set forth in 1 Timothy 3:8-13, but not for deaconesses. The RSV is therefore too eager in styling Phoebe a "deaconess" or "deacon" (NRSV). All we know for sure is that she was a servant just as all Christians, male and female, are servants (Hebrews 6:10).

Broadly speaking, Jesus was a deacon, the same Greek word being used of him as is used of the seven men at Jerusalem (Matthew 20:28), but he was not a church deacon.

The qualifications for church deacons of 1 Timothy 3:8-13 are not the same as for the ones on the Jerusalem charity committee. We know that one of the seven had a family (Acts 21:8-9), but we do not know that any of the others were married.

We do not know when the first elders were appointed in the Jerusalem church, but surely long before the first mention of them 13 years later, about 43 A.D. (Acts 11:30). On the other hand, there is reason to believe that the first elders were appointed in Antioch of Pisidia, Lystra, Iconium, and Derbe within three months after the churches were established, all in 49 A.D. (Acts 14:23).