Time for a Change
Acts 6:1-7
All seems to be going well in the early church. The apostles are preaching. The crowds are growing. And the poor and powerless are being cared for.
But with growth there is necessarily change. And where there is change, there is a good chance for conflict. In our passage today, the conflict has to do with caring for the poor. The impoverished Grecians believers, those whose primary language was Greek, were not being cared for as well as the Hebraic believers, those whose primary language was Aramaic.
Upon hearing this report, that the Grecian believers were not being cared for as well as the Hebraic believers, the Apostles realized that they were being stretched thin. They couldn’t keep doing their ministry of prayer and preaching while also overseeing the distribution of food. It was too much. It was time for them to give up some of their authority.
And so, they asked the body to choose seven persons who were both wise and filled with the Holy Spirit. The Apostles prayed and laid hands on the seven, thereby both blessing and transferring authority to them. With the issue resolved, everyone got back to their ministry and the church continued growing.
Traditionally, these seven individuals are known as the first diaconate, from the Greek word for servant. Their ministry became the ministry of compassion or caring. And that is still very much what they do today. Though it varies by location, in our Presbyterian Church (USA) denomination, a church’s diaconate is generally charged with the ministry of care and compassion. They are very much the public face of the church and so it is important that they do their ministry well. We should all be proud of how well our deacons care for others, both in our community and far beyond.
Our session, our governing board, is composed of ruling elders. They do not rule, like kings and despots. Rather, they act as a yardstick or other measuring device. The session measures the distance between our church and the foot of the cross. By their examples and policies, they help our church move closer to the cross, helping us all be the kinds of people God calls us to be.
In our own struggles with who does what, who is in charge of who, and how we hold ourselves accountable, it is good to remember that the early church was also plagued with these problems. When an issue arose, they did not try to run from it or ignore it. Rather, they talked about it and devised a plan. And if the plan meant that one group of people would have less power than before, that was fine. The leadership knew that what mattered was ministry. Who did it was more important than who got the credit.
Change almost always involves conflict. When it happens, it’s not something to be run from or ignored. Rather, it is an opportunity to find new ways of spreading God’s love.
A good lesson for us all.
God’s peace,
Pastor Ken.
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