The Book of Church Order of the Presbyterian Church in America, Chapter Nine, summarizes the teaching of scripture concerning the functions and authority of the Office of Deacon.  The office of Deacon is an office of “sympathy and service” patterned after the example of Jesus.  Although it deals chiefly with the physical and social needs of the church and the City, it is a spiritual office and exercises only spiritual authority.  It is designed, at least in part, to make visible the communion of the saints.  It does this principally through helping one another in time of need. Among the many privileges of the office, it lists the following:

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.

As a denomination, The Presbyterian Church in America does not recognize the ordination of women to either of the two offices of the Church: elder and deacon. Yet, within the separate branches of reformed practices that have converged to form the PCA, there is a tradition of recognizing women who serve the church in specific, public ways as deaconesses. This tradition was—and still is—most notable among the churches in the PCA which were formerly part of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod (RPCES), several of whom are part of the Susquehanna Valley Presbytery, where The City’s Gate enjoys its membership and employs it for the extension of God’s Kingdom.

The Deaconate at The City’s Gate PCA will be charged with Oversight, Delegation, and Management of the following areas of ministry:

• Finance
• Budget Preparation
• Budget control & disbursements
• Counting & depositing financial gifts
• Providing means for gifts (envelopes?) and recording contributions
• Reports on receipts & disbursements
• Stewardship promotion & education
• Property
• Oversight of the use of all property & equipment of the congregation
• Approval of purchases of new items of property & equipment as they are needed (all major purchases, i.e., greater than or equal to $10,000, must be approved by the congregation)
•  Keeping an accurate inventory of church-owned property & equipment
• Helps
• Ushering & Collections at services
• Lighting, opening & locking, and ventilation/temperature control of rooms of building used for worship (set-up, tear-down)
• Monitoring & taping of sermons & PA systems during worship
• Counting & keeping attendance records
• Preparation of elements for communion
• Flowers/Decorations appropriate to worship (incl.