“Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the holy ones in union with Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, along with overseers [e·piʹsko·poi] and ministerial servants [di·aʹko·noi, Greek].”​—Phil. 1:1.

11. To judge from the Philippi congregation, how were all other congregations with sufficient manpower staffed, in contrast with the later system of “bishops”?

¹¹ From this there is no mistaking that the Philippian congregation had more than one overseer as well as more than one ministerial servant (di·aʹko·nos).

Those who assisted the overseers by taking care of congregational matters that were not of a specifically spiritual kind were appointed as “ministerial servants” (di·aʹko·noi, Greek). The requirements for these “ministerial servants” are set out by the apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 3:8-10, 12, 13. The name “deacon” is merely the Anglicized or transliterated form for the Greek name di·aʹko·nos, which ordinarily means a “minister” in the sense of a servant. Thus the word “minister” (di·aʹko·nos) can have a very broad, general meaning.