Purpose of the deacon: free the ministers/ministry of the Word for their work
a. Preaching and teaching in public and from house to house, 5:42
b. Spreading the Word of God, 6:7
c. The Word not only taught, proclaimed, and applied, but also prayed in public and from house to house, 6:4
Work of the deacon: oversee whatever is needed in temporal things
a. Receive complaints, v1 (groaning pains and growing pains)
b. Make decisions as an independent council, v2
c. Facilitate service, v3 ("over this business").
i. Whatever is needed, incl. apostles, other poor, etc.
ii. Receive and administer the collections
iii. Many other things (facilitate gathering, when public location not readily available, etc.)