All Articles For Ministering to the Saints

Previous article in this series: January 1, 2010, p. 159. With official sanction, and on a wider scale, Reformed churches ought to permit women to serve as assistants to the deacons. Arguing that this should be done on a wider scale, I recognize that it is already done to a limited degree by a Helping Hands Committee or by some other means. This is good. Where it is already being done, let us be sure that it is being done with a clear understanding of the biblical basis for it, and that it is being done in a biblical manner....

Rev. Kuiper is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Randolph, Wisconsin. Previous article in this series: October 15, 2009, p. 36. In our last article, we surveyed the history of the Christian church permitting women to assist the deacons through the time of the Middle Ages. We concluded that at times the early Christian church did let women perform duties that Scripture does not permit women to perform; that, nevertheless, one cannot appeal to the history of the early church to defend women holding church office; and that the church in her early history did set a positive example...

Rev. Kuiper is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Randolph, Wisconsin. Previous article in this series: October 1, 2009, p. 18. That God in His Word both forbids women to hold the office of deacon, and at the same time permits the deacons to use women as assistants in their work of mercy, we have seen in our last article. In this article we begin to survey the history of the church permitting women to assist the deacons. Noting the teachings of the church fathers, the statements of church councils, and the opinions of scholars, we will draw some...

Rev. Kuiper is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church in Randolph, Wisconsin. Before concluding our detailed examination of the office of deacon, we must yet delve into the matter of women assisting the deacons. Historically, such women were called deaconesses, or said to hold “the office of widow.” Regardless of the terminology, we desire to investigate the matter of women assisting the deacons. The reader should know from the outset that the following articles will not advocate opening the office of deacon to women; nor will these articles evaluate the practice, all too common in Christian churches today, of admitting...