Acts - Week 3 / Thursday

Reading for today: Acts 6:1-7

What happens when a community of believers grows rapidly? All those newcomers crowding in causes some bumps in the road. In this case, the growing church was a cross section of society as it was in Jerusalem and Judea. Some of them were born there and spoke Aramaic. However, the Jews born outside of Palestine did not know Aramaic well and normally spoke in Greek, which was a common language of trade and commerce and government.

When this murmuring arose among the Greek-speaking believers because they felt their widows were being neglected in their need, the disciples decided that the best solution would be to increase the "ministry team." So, they select 7 men to oversee this ministry to the widows. The qualifications for these men were: they must be known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.

The maturity of this fledgling church is found in the fact that the 7 men all had Greek names, which meant that they were undoubtedly from among the Greek-speaking believers. This truly shows the grace of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the Hebrew-speaking believers. They were in the majority, but they chose all the "deacons" out of the minority group. That meant that there was no possible complaint that could be lodged by the Greek-speaking believers any more.

That was wisdom. It also shows how the Holy Spirit broke down this first barrier that rose up in the church. And the result of all this? The Word of God spread, and the number of believers continued to grow, including a large number of priests. This was a major breakthrough, since most of the priests were Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection. So, the influence of this young church just keeps spreading and spreading.

I wonder if the same could be said of CLF? Is our influence spreading throughout our community? And if so, what are the effects of that influence? Is the Word of God being spread in an ever-increasing manner?

Tomorrow: A new paradigm for ministry emerges