Q & A: What Submission-Requiring Authority Do Deacons Have?

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In spiritual matters, as opposed to issues connected to serving tables, what submission-requiring authority do deacons have, if any?

Acts 6 is an archetype, prototype, precursor, or early form of Diaconal ministry, then authority comes by way of delegation from the united move of the Apostles and congregation. Strictly speaking, the Apostles lead in solving the problem, include the congregation in the process, and then as a solution delegate the matter to the deacons (the 7) chosen for the work. In this matter, the issue was handed over to those deacons. Unless a new issue outside the boundaries of what the apostles and congregation had intended arose, the deacons were to handle the serving of the tables. 

If we see this passage in Acts 6 as a paradigm for diaconal ministry, we must conclude that deacons do not inherently possess authority. In the same way, elders and congregations do not inherently possess authority. Instead, they have delegated authority relating to the sphere and tasks of ministry to which they have been called to serve.

If the elders delegate some matters to the deacons that may include even spiritual matters, then it is the deacons to uphold their duty relating to the task including the use of proper authority as delegated for the task. 

As with all things, confusion, confrontation, challenges, and conflict about the deacon’s use of authority ought to be then brought to elders. 

One of the most helpful paradigms for understanding church office dynamics is remembering we are a part of God's family, and in the family unit there is an authority head (serving as God's delegated representative head), and there is a helper to companion and assist. The husband-wife dynamic in the garden helps give us a track to think about how God has ordered his family in the church. Elders are to serve as delegated heads, and deacons are to support and assist as the elders lead, guide, direct, and seek out companion support. 

That may include spiritual matters, but the key distinction is that the Lord has not called deacons to the task of leading as elders, and has not called elders to serve as deacons. There are distinctions between the two offices, and they relate to calling (by the Lord in the design of the offices) and to authority (one office is that of a head, leading, thinking, perceiving, guiding, directing, and the other is that of hands and feet, moving, serving, sensing, striving).