“Now 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.” – Acts 6:1
The growth of the early church was threatened by ethnic inequality in her ministry. While poor Aramaic-speaking Christian widows born in Israel were being well cared for, the Greek-speaking Christian widows born outside Israel were being neglected. This seemingly wasn’t intentional, but it was real and this injustice threatened the health and future of the church. Would the church be a place for all who followed Jesus or primarily a place for those Christ-followers fortunate enough to be born in Israel?
Praise God! The church didn’t ignore the problem, pretend it didn’t exist, try to deny it, rationalize it, explain it away, or justify it. Instead, as a body (leadership AND congregation together) they leaned into the problem and developed an effective solution. They raised up servant-leaders from the neglected ethnic group and gave them responsibility for administering this critical ministry.
Because the church cared for the neglected among them, took seriously the concerns about injustice, and developed innovative solutions that truly addressed the problem, a tremendous period of gospel advance began, as even hardened opponents were drawn to what they saw. Verse 7 reports, “And 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.”
That same opportunity lies before the church today, if we can take seriously the problems and concerns that divide us along racial, ethnic, economic, and cultural lines and seek to genuinely heal those divisions through the gospel of Jesus Christ!
#FOLLOWJESUS
NOTE: While Pastor Brian is on sabbatical, we offer this devotional which was originally published on June 9, 2020.