Acts 6:1-7 - Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
I was reading Acts 6, and thinking about the kinds of complaints that arise and how it impacts pastoral ministry. Being involved in the technology aspects of our church, I see many of the technology related "complaints". These often aren't really complaints, but they are things that need to be done. It could be an HDMI cable that needs to be replaced, it could be a bathroom that is out of paper towels, it could be a chair that is stained with coffee. It could be a projector not working in one of the kids classrooms, it could be a widow that has a need, or someone who needs a hand moving. All of these things are real needs... and they are good things to do, but often they fall back on pastors who are called to prioritize ministry of the Word and prayer.
I love that the apostles didn't say, "this work is too low for us"... or "this isn't important, figure it out". Instead, they said yes, this is important, and we need to pick seven men, not just any men, but seven men who have a good reputation, men who are full of the Spirit and wisdom to do this work.
What was the result? The Word of God continued to increase, and disciples of Christ were multiplied! This should be of great encouragement to anyone who has a service role in their local church. 1 Timothy 3, in talking about deacons (deacon means servant), those who serve well as deacons [servants] gain good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. That's quite a statement, but it is God who made that statement.
Seeing this need in our own church, to protect the ministry of the Word and prayer, I was motivated to create Steward My Church. It is a tool built specifically for churches to make it easy to spread the burden of service and lighten the load for pastors. Rather than everything falling back on pastors, they can easily report what was shared with them and let those who are full of the Spirit and called to be servants in the church handle those things which in turn causes the Word of God to increase and disciples to be multiplied. That is our end goal--to make faithful followers of Christ. When we serve, it is for His sake, that the Word would go forth and people be saved.
I hope this passage encourages your heart like it does mine, and reignites the passion to serve well, and acts as a guard against burnout. There is something deeply motivating about knowing that our service, however small it may seem, is part of what God is doing to advance His Word and multiply disciples. Serving Him is glorious work. May we do it with all our might!
