When there is no functioning deaconate within a church, the ministry of the deacons is done by the elders.  This is so because it is clear in scripture that the formation of the deaconate was a ‘spin off’ of the role of the elder.  Deacons were to handle the specialized ministries designed to meet temporal and spiritual needs of the people.  The deacons’ authority, in other words, was delegated to them from the elders.  This freed the elders to devote themselves more exclusively to the ministry of the Word and prayer.  However, the responsibility for meeting these needs remains the elders’ responsibility.  The elders see to it that the functioning of the deaconate is effectual and within the greater vision and call from God to the church.  In much the same way that the Elder stands in Christ’s place to minister as the under-shepherd to God’s people, the Deacon stands in Christ’s and the Elder’s place to minister as an ‘under-shepherd’s right hand’ to God’s people.