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in my daily bible reading today (which i have been doing imperfectly since the beginning of the year!), i arrived at this passage:
In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” Acts 6: 1-4
i think this is a text that has been abused and misapplied by the church…at least most of the churches i have been associated with during my lifetime. and what’s funny is the abuse has no real consistency. check it out.
this passage has been used as a definition of the difference between elders and deacons. elders needing to focus their attention on prayer and the ministry of the word…deacons needing to pay attention to the nuts and bolts of church life, like taking care of widows and food distribution and other various ministries.
funny. the passage doesn’t even mention elder or deacon.
i used to work with a guy on a church staff (he was the primary preacher), and he believed his job…as the preaching pastor…was to stay focused on the ministry of the word and not get sidetracked with things like people or various ministries or other tasks of the church. his primary job was to study and then teach what he had studied. he believed this with his whole heart and had some of his justification from this passage.
funny. the passage doesn’t say anything about preachers.
on the other hand, there are a lot of churches i know that expect their pastors to be the primary ones to take care of widows, visit the sick in hospitals, be with people as they go through life’s ups and downs, run various ministries, work with organizations that help the poor, etc… sort of a hired gun mentality: what are we paying the pastor for anyway? he’s got the time to do those things…we don’t!
funny. the passage makes no reference to pastors at all. (side note: the word “pastor” only appears one time in the entire bible. really. )
what do i get from this passage? these were, literally, the first days of the church. it was exploding in growth. it was exploding with persecution. the twelve apostles (the church’s first and foundational leaders) were beseiged in intensity. needs were enormous. they had to stay focused on their unique historical purpose. they needed help so they could stay attentive to what was most important. they were the twelve apostles! history was being made. nothing would ever be the same.
that’s what the text says. nothing more. nothing less.
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