Meet Phoebe

             Have you heard of Phoebe1? Very little is actually known about Phoebe, but she is a woman of valor mentioned in the Bible. We read about her in Romans. Paul writes, “I commend to you our sister, Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae2. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me” (Romans 16:1-2). That’s really all we know about her. She must have had some wealth to be a benefactor. She had some standing in the community, even as a woman (almost unheard of back then!). And she was a deacon.

            Phoebe is the only named female deacon in the Bible. The fact that Paul “commends” her to the Romans might be that she was even trusted and able-bodied enough to carry Paul’s letter to the Romans physically to the Romans. The way she uses her position to help is what earns her such praise.

            The word “deacon” means to help or serve. It also means “minister” which I always think is so cool because if you look at the Greek, you can see that almost every time the word “minister” comes up in English, it’s from the Greek word for deacon. As a former youth deacon, I love knowing that as a pastor, I’m still technically a deacon according to the Greek. It also makes me question the logic in calling pastors “teachingelders,” but that’s another story (but seriously, what if we were known as “teaching deacons?”).

            Phoebe reminds us that deacons are people who help. Deacons may be women, men, or persons of any other gender identity. Deacons help and serve their community. Deacons are a treasure in the church. 

            Deacons answer this vow in the church: “Do you promise to be a faithful deacon, teaching charity, urging concern, and directing the people’s help to the friendless and those in need, and in your ministry will you try to show the love and justice of Jesus Christ?” I think the best way deacons fulfill this vow is by modeling this vow. As I heard someone say once, “We preach a better sermon with our lives than with our lips.” As a person serving as a deacon practices charity, shows concern, and reaches out to the friendless and those in need, that person models what being a deacon is all about. When a person serving as a deacon shows compassion, that person models what it looks like to show compassion. We can teach each other by the examples we set. 

            I am especially grateful for deacons because of the way they engage with and care for the church family. I am unsure how churches that don’t have deacons manage to care for their congregations. As a pastor, I know having deacons helps me share the care ministry, and I very much appreciate that partnership. 

            God bless the memory of Phoebe, who was a woman of means who used her privilege to serve as a deacon in her day. And God bless each deacon now, who serves in the ministry of compassion for the church family today! 

             

1Phoebe the person, not the healthcare facility in Allentown. But guess where the facility gets its name from?!           

2Cenchreae (pronounced sen-cree-ay): A village in Corinth, which is in modern day Greece. In Acts 18:18, we hear that Paul has his hair cut there. Don’t you wonder if Paul went to show his new hair cut to Phoebe? Maybe that’s just me who wonders that…

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