Would also like to add, that I think you are right about Phoebe probably not being an official "deacon", and as a woman I am ok with that 😊 additionally, I recently discovered a verb, "diakoneo" (g1247) taken from that word "diakonos", and the verb is usually translated as minister or serve, so we don't see in English that the words are related. So while the men *appointed* as Deacons in Acts 6 do this verb in serving the widows, this verb is also done by both men and women throughout the New testament. The women would be Peter's mother-in-law( who *waited* on them) Martha the sister of Mary (who *served* food) and the many women who *supported/ministered to* Jesus financially from their own private means, just like Phoebe apparently did for Paul. So we don't need the official title of "deacon" to do what needs to be done in serving others.
Would also like to add, that I think you are right about Phoebe probably not being an official "deacon", and as a woman I am ok with that 😊 additionally, I recently discovered a verb, "diakoneo" (g1247) taken from that word "diakonos", and the verb is usually translated as minister or serve, so we don't see in English that the words are related. So while the men *appointed* as Deacons in Acts 6 do this verb in serving the widows, this verb is also done by both men and women throughout the New testament. The women would be Peter's mother-in-law( who *waited* on them) Martha the sister of Mary (who *served* food) and the many women who *supported/ministered to* Jesus financially from their own private means, just like Phoebe apparently did for Paul. So we don't need the official title of "deacon" to do what needs to be done in serving others.
https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Lexicon.show/ID/G1247/diakoneo.htm