There are only two offices in the church. One is that of a deacon and the other that of an elder or overseer.
In the Bible the work of the deacons is altogether for service; besides service they have no other responsibility. In the church God does not set up the deacons to be the authority. The deacons in the church are altogether for service, for ministering to others. The word deacon is the same word in Greek as the word minister in the phrase the minister of the word, meaning service for taking care of things. Therefore, in English you can call the deacons’ responsibility service or ministry.
Please remember that the so-called ministry is service. In Protestant Christianity the Episcopal Church likes to use this English word ministry; the Methodist Church likes to use the word service. Because the Methodists separated from the Episcopal Church and they feel that the Episcopal Church is too formal, they like to use the less formal word, even though these two are from the same word. All those in the Methodist Church say service and only rarely say ministry. As the Episcopal Church is a state church and has an official form, it uses ministry. In fact, both words refer to service.
The office of the deacons in the church is especially for service. Therefore, in the church it is best in the beginning to let all the brothers serve and take care of things. Some brothers, however, are stable, are reliable, and have spiritual weight before the Lord. The church can set these up to be the deacons. All the saints are deacons, but only those who are reliable and who have spiritual weight can be set up as deacons formally. This work is rather ordinary, but this office can be held only by those who are reliable. Only those who are reliable can be called by this name. We do not want the church to change deacons frequently. Therefore, we need to allow only those who are reliable and spiritual and who have spiritual understanding to be deacons.
I hope that when you go to different localities, you will pay attention to this matter. When there are brothers rising up in a locality and you want them to be deacons, do not by any means select those who only know how to do things but lack spiritual understanding. This is the greatest danger and temptation to a worker. Some brothers or sisters are especially gifted in doing things, and you would often like to set them up to be deacons. However, though many people know how to do things, they may want to bring their worldly mentality into the church. Their ability to do things is still in the worldly way. Worldly wisdom and worldly ability are brought into the church by them. Therefore, especially in selecting deacons, do not look only for those who do things diligently, but also for those who have the proper ways to do things.
By all means you should consider whether or not a person indeed has spiritual understanding in the Lord and has value on the spiritual side. Otherwise, worldly means, worldly ways, and worldly skills in doing things will often be brought into the church. Even though things may be handled very smoothly, for the church to be changed into a society by this one will cause a serious problem. Please remember that today we are in the church; therefore, we need to maintain the spiritual standard of the church and cannot lightly allow people to bring worldly skill and worldly wisdom into the church. I hope that the brothers and sisters will not depreciate talent, but neither should they love talent too much. If you are careless, worldly means will be brought into the church, and the future problems will be greater than those that would have occurred if nothing had ever been started. The problems will be so great that it will not be easy to resolve them.
I think the Bible has made the requirements for a deacon quite clear, and there is no need to speak more about the rest of them. I want you to see these two sides. On the one hand, a deacon must be a diligent person who can work with his own hands; on the other hand, he must have spiritual understanding and spiritual feeling. You can let this kind of person be a deacon.
The second office is that of an elder. The office of an elder is also spoken of often in the Bible.
The office of the elder is for the purpose of taking care of the church, that is, for administrating the church.
The elder does not necessarily need to be a gifted person. In other words, he is not necessarily a minister of the word. If he is a minister of the word, he is even more worthy. In the Bible the ministry of the word is one thing, and an office in the church is another thing. The elders belong to the side of the office of the church and are altogether for executing, administrating, and overseeing the whole church. But the eldership is an office. At the same time an elder may or may not be a minister of the word. If he is a minister of the word, he is even more worthy. As Paul says, he is “worthy of double honor” (1 Tim. 5:17). Because he is a minister of the word before God, being apt to teach, and an elder of the church at the same time, he is worthy of double honor.