К сожалению, опять нам попался случай полного соответствия терминов с абсолютно противоположным значением.

В современном религиозном мире teaching deacon - это что-то типа "подмастерья" или "практиканта"

Does a man have to be aged before taking up tasks in the Church? By no means. We should have ruling deacons and teaching deacons. A teaching deacon would be a younger man appointed to teach and lead in worship in a local church, but because of his relative youth, he would be under the oversight of the older men in the presbytery (the wider association of churches). In meetings of the presbytery, such teaching deacons would have the right to speak and contribute to the discussion, but when it came time to vote, perhaps only the elders, the old men, would cast a vote. Similarly, ruling deacons would sit in with ruling elders and the local teaching elder or deacon, and contribute to the leadership of the church in the discussion, but perhaps not in the vote. Perhaps only elders (teaching and ruling overseers) should have the power to pronounce excommunication. We shall return to this matter of voting later.

http://www.biblicalhorizons.com/rite-reasons/no-39-eldership...