B. Deacons and Deaconesses

According to Philippians 1:1, 1 Timothy 3:8, and Romans 16:1, a local church also has the office of the deacons and deaconesses, as Witness Lee points out:

The second office in a local church is that of the deacons and deaconesses. In the church some brothers serve as deacons (Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:8) and some sisters serve as deaconesses (Rom. 16:1). The word “service” in Romans 12:7 denotes the service of the deacons and deaconesses in the local churches. (2165)

1. Serving the Local Church

In this section, based on the New Testament Greek word for deacon, diakonos, Witness Lee briefly describes the function of a deacon/deaconess of a local church as that of a serving one.

Deacon is an anglicized form of the Greek diakonos, which means a serving one. Deacons and deaconesses, therefore, serve the local church (1 Tim. 3:13), serving under the direction of the overseers, the elders. The overseers take care of the church, and the deacons and deaconesses serve the church by taking care of many practical matters. Those who serve as deacons and deaconesses should have a serving spirit and a serving attitude. (2165-2166)

2. Managing the Business Affairs in the Local Church

Acts 6 provides an illustration of deacons managing the business affairs in the local church in Jerusalem. Witness Lee says:

The deacons and deaconesses do the business affairs in the local church. We have an illustration of this in Acts 6, where seven well-attested men, full of the Spirit and wisdom, were appointed to care for the need of serving tables so that no one would be overlooked in the daily dispensing (vv. 1, 3). Those who were chosen to serve tables may be considered deacons, just as those were whom Paul and his co-workers appointed later in the churches. Apart from the offices of elder [see Elders] and deacon, there is no other office in the local church. (2166)

As Witness Lee points out, deacons and deaconesses are appointed under the direction of the elders to serve in a local church. They must have a serving spirit and attitude in caring for practical matters in the local churches.