This Ministry’s standing duties include:
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Preparation of the Lord’s Supper table, including maintaining the linens, and assuring that all things are in order for the Lord’s Supper.
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Deaconess are on duty during Baptism to prepare the candidates and assist the Pastor and Deacons during the service.
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Assist the Deacons in worship during the devotion.
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Be available during worship to provide assistance as directed by the Pastor.
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The Ministry is open to the wives of ministers, Deacons, or any other mature woman of the church that is willing to work in a capacity of spiritual leadership and service.
Paul could commend this woman not only for what she had done as a faithful sister and servant of Christ but also for what she was soon to do in further service to their Lord. It is almost certain that Phoebe delivered this letter in person to the church at Rome, a responsibility of considerable magnitude. The name Phoebe means “bright and radiant,” and from Paul’s brief comments about her, it seems that those words did indeed characterize her personality and her Christian life. Paul commends her to the church at Rome in three different ways: as a sister in Christ, as a servant and as a helper of many, including himself.
In Christ, we belong to God not only as “fellow citizens with the saints” in His divine kingdom but also are brothers and sisters in His divine “household” (Eph. 2:19). To refer to Phoebe as our sister meant that she was a devoted member of the family of God, and the context makes clear that she was especially dear to Paul.
Paul next commends Phoebe as a servant beloved by those she served in her home church at Cenchrea, and probably in the mother church at Corinth as well.
I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever business she has need of you; for indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also. Romans 16:1-2 NKJV.