1Now 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. 2And 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. 3Therefore, 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. 4But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5And 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. 6These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

7And 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. (ESV)

In a time of great blessing upon the church, problems can suddenly arise from (seemingly) left field. A violent storm is whipped up, and bears down on our little boat, and we feel under threat. How comforting to know that Jesus is with us.

This is a section which commences with growth and concludes with (it would seem) even greater growth (1,7). But in between there lay a wise leadership decision by the apostles: one which embraced the whole church, though it was initiated by ”the twelve”. There could have been a huge rift. The ”Hellenists’ were Greek-speaking Jews, and they had a grievance, feeling that their widows were not getting their fair share. Decisive leadership action nipped it in the bud.

But note the priorities of the apostles (2,4). No church should stray from them. Especially in a time of explosive numerical growth (but not exclusively so) it is easy for leaders to get sucked into constant firefighting, and lose their focus.

Some people see here the formation of the first diaconate, and you can see why. But note that leaders in practical matters had to be godly men of known good character. At least two of them (Stephen and Philip) had, or went on to have, powerful speaking ministries.

With the focus on ”the word of God” (2,4), it’s fascinating that the growth of the church is described in terms of the growth of the Word (7). They saw significant growth – a growth which made deep inroads into the ranks of the leadership of Judaism. This is one of several growth summaries that we will find as we work through ‘Acts’.

PRAYER: Lord, bless the leaders of your church with all the wisdom they need, and bless our churches with deep unity in you.