003:001 Faithful is the saying, "If any one is eager to have the oversight of a Church, he desires a noble work."
003:002 A minister then must be a man of irreproachable character, true to his one wife, temperate, sober-minded, well-behaved, hospitable to strangers, and with a gift for teaching;
003:003 not a hard drinker nor given to blows; not selfish or
quarrelsome or covetous;
003:004 but ruling his own household wisely and well, with children
kept under control with true dignity.
003:005 (If a man does not know how to rule his own household,
how shall he have the Church of God given into his care?)
003:006 He ought not to be a new convert, for fear he should be blinded
with pride and come under the same condemnation as the Devil.
003:007 It is needful also that he bear a good character with people
outside the Church, lest he fall into reproach or a snare
of the Devil.
003:008 Deacons, in the same way, must be men of serious demeanour,
not double-tongued, nor addicted to much wine, nor greedy
of base gain,
003:009 but holding the secret truths of the faith with a clear conscience.
003:010 And they must also be well-tried men, and when found to be
of unblemished character then let them serve as deacons.