ABSTRACT
In the second part of his Politica Ecclesiastica, dedicated to the people in the church, in the second chapter on the ministry of the church, Gisbertus Voetius devoted a section of about twenty pages to the adjutores ministerii (assistants to the ministry). 1 Remarkably, it starts with deaconesses. They get an entire paragraph that is in a sense a logical continuation of the previous chapter, where a discussion about deacons is followed by a section on women. Voetius uses the paragraph on deaconesses not only to describe their specific function in the church, but also to define his categorisation of pastoral assistants. He distinguishes between those who do, and those who do not have a Scriptural basis. Deaconesses are a good example of the first category, as the Pauline epistles mention widows as a specific ecclesiastical office in the early Christian communities; the deputies of synods and classes are examples of the second category. Yet all are useful for the ministry of the church.
