Someone posed the question in the search engine for Gospel Gazette Online, “Can a man serve as deacon in one congregation and preacher in another?” The question, of course, is whether such activity is biblically permissible.
Respecting every venue (e.g., politically, socially, religiously, etc.), humanity is prone to extremes. Religiously, even true Christians often tend to position their thinking either left of biblical center or right of biblical center. Instead, the children of God ought to seek a biblical balance – neither adding to the Word of God nor subtracting from it (Revelation 22:18-19).
Furthermore, Christians ought to be as tolerant of fellow Christians as biblically permissible (Mark 9:38-40; Romans 14:19, 22: 1 Corinthians 10:29). Certainly, none of us should imitate the posture of first century Pharisees who with their manmade additions to and interpretations of God’s divine revelation were the object of rebuke by our Lord. “…you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition …in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:6, 9 NKJV). “Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!” (Matthew 23:24).
Some things are salvation issues, but not everything is a salvation issue. We must be careful not to elevate our opinions to the status of Scripture. All of this said, we just need to make sure that our motives and attitudes are what our Lord would have them to be, especially when we encounter a fellow Christian or a way of doing things that differs from what we would do.
Now, let us more directly approach the question at hand. Philip was selected and appointed to a deacon-like role or perhaps as a deacon, along with others, in the Jerusalem church (Acts 6:5). Later, he traveled to Samaria and preached the Gospel (Acts 8:5-13). Still later, Philip traveled from Jerusalem to Gaza and preached to the Ethiopian treasurer (Acts 8:26-39). Afterward, Philip preached in various cities en route to Caesarea (Acts 8:40).
In seems to me from the foregoing information that, yes, a man may serve a congregation as a deacon and also preach at one or more congregations. It appears, though, that the Jerusalem church was the primary congregation with which Philip was aligned.
Somewhat different of a scenario, Paul and Barnabas or Silas apparently were members of and remained members of the church in Antioch of Syria, despite being absent for months or even years on missionary journeys.
In summary, ordinarily we would think that a deacon of a congregation, though preaching for another congregation, would primarily invest himself in the church that appointed him to the role of deacon. For instance, such a deacon might preach once on Sunday at the second congregation but spend other assembly times with the first church. By the way, deacons are not just deacons on Sundays and Wednesdays, but they are still deacons on other days of the week at non-assembly hours; most of what deacons typically do has nothing to do with when the church comes together in one place to worship God or study the Bible. Finally, a deacon’s role for a congregation may, like Paul, Barnabas and Silas, take him far from his home congregation for a period of time (e.g., personally follow up on foreign missions abroad). We should refrain from criticism when a congregation and its designates, such as deacons, serve our Lord, even if we would not do it that way – as long as they do not overtly and plainly transgress the law of the Lord under which we live. “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4 KJV).
