The local church officer next in rank to an elder. Deacons have care of the church’s temporal business, are responsible for the care of the church property (all bills for upkeep are referred to the treasurer), assist the elders in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper by receiving the bread and wine from the pastor or elder and serving the members, help in making the physical arrangement for the Communion service and the baptismal service, and have a particular charge of relieving the poor, the unfortunate, and the needy sick.
The deacon is elected to office by the church for a term of one year, and must be reelected if he is to continue in office. He must be ordained to his office ( see Ordination ) by an ordained minister holding credentials from the conference. A deacon once ordained need not be reordained upon reelection, provided he has maintained his church membership. If one who has been ordained as an elder is elected as deacon, he need not be ordained as a deacon, for his ordination in the one office qualifies him to function in the other as well. In a large church a board of deacons is organized, which is presided over by a head deacon.
The first reference to deacons in the Seventh-day Adventist Church is probably the mention of a committee of seven chosen at Washington, New Hampshire, in 1851 “to attend to the wants of the poor” ( Review and Herald 2:52, Nov. 25, 1851). In 1853 the Review and Herald mentions two men, one in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and the other in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, who were named deacons to administer the ordinances during the absence of a minister. These were approved by a full assembly of the churches and set apart by Frederick Wheeler by prayer and the laying on of hands ( ibid. 4:199, Dec. 27, 1853). Similarly the next year Charles Glover was chosen and set apart as a deacon at Sylvan, Michigan, and Cyrenius Smith at Jackson, Michigan. Apparently each church had only one officer, a deacon.
At first the office of deacon in the SDA Church seems to have combined the functions of deacon and elder. It was some time later that elders were appointed to carry the responsibilities outlined in Scripture, and deacons were assigned specifically to the temporal affairs of the churches.
It is generally thought that the incident mentioned in Acts 6:1–6 is a record of the origin of the office of a deacon in the Christian church. However, the seven men set apart are not called deacons; nevertheless their duties and responsibilities corresponded closely to those of the deacons whose qualifications Paul enumerated in 1 Tim. 3:8–13 . The New Testament shows that the office of a deacon implied more than caring for the material needs of the church. See Church (local) ; Deaconess .