There are only two places in the Bible where deacons are mentioned in any depth. I Timothy 3 gives the qualifications of deacons, and Acts 6 tells of the one instance of their selection.
The role of deacons is evident in Scripture too. They are ministry servants. Assistants. They were never involved in church oversight or the supervision of the apostles.
Nowhere in the Scripture are churches actually commanded to have deacons. Therefore, each church must decide for itself whether to have deacons and when to have them. Once it chooses to do so, the question becomes how to choose them.
The Bible tells us how. Most ignore it. In its place, many churches choose the worst possible method:
By popular vote.
There is no system on the planet worse than simply handing a ballot to the membership containing the names of all adult men and asking people to “Please mark no more than 5”, or whatever.
Some good and godly men will be nominated, but you can take it to the bank that some real scoundrels will be nominated too, lacking integrity, and some without a genuine faith in Christ.
Could there be a process worse than this? Probably, but I can’t think of it.
If you use this system, you’re going to get what you ask for.
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