Today’s passage: Acts 6:1-7
Helpful thoughts:
- The “Hellenists” were Jewish people who had lived outside of the area of Israel. When they moved back and brought back some of their Greek ways, they were often treated as outsiders. (James 2:1-10)
- The elders of the church (At that time, the Apostles) needed to devote their time to prayer and the ministry of the Word. Deacons (Taken from the word which means “Service”) were chosen to minister to the physical needs of the church.
- “Serving tables” was used to refer to financial matters as well as things like food.
- This does not mean that Deacons can only count money, write budgets and organize meeting physical needs. However, the office of the Deacon was created for these purposes. We will see these deacons doing other things in Acts, but they aren’t doing those things because they are deacons…they were chosen to become deacons because the church had already seen them serving in various ways.
- We also see in this passage the beginning of congregational government. The elders did not choose the deacons, they led the congregation to make a choice. Then the congregation approved and followed through on the final decisions.
- The church is to be elder led, deacon served, and congregationally ruled. (This article could be a helpful resource for you to learn more about what this means)
Questions to consider:
- Who suggested how many deacons the church needed in Jerusalem and what they should do? If we were to follow the pattern of the early church, how should each church decide how many deacons there will be and what they will do in their roles?
- Why would it be wrong to say that elders do spiritual ministry and deacons do non-spiritual ministry? In what ways could deacons be vital to the church spiritually in areas of unity, encouragement, service etc.? How is the biblical definition of a deacon different than the business-styled executive board member approach that is quite common in our culture?
- With the example we see in this passage, what do you think it means for a church to be elder led, deacon served, and congregationally ruled? Why is each role so important? How can you contribute more faithfully to the role that God has place you in?