Seven Helpers

“So the word of God continued to spread.” — Acts 6:7

The church kept on growing and growing. But as it grew, a problem came up.

Every day, the believers gave out food to widows, women whose husbands had died and who had nobody to look after them. Some of the believers had grown up speaking Greek, and others had grown up speaking Hebrew. And the Greek-speaking believers began to grumble. “Our widows are being left out when the food is handed out each day!” they said.

It would have been easy for the church to start arguing and splitting into groups. But the twelve apostles called all the believers together.

“It wouldn’t be right for us to stop teaching God’s Word in order to hand out food,” the apostles said. “So, brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. We’ll put them in charge of this job. And we will give our attention to prayer and to teaching God’s Word.”

Everyone liked this idea. So they chose seven men. One of them was called Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. Another was called Philip. Look out for both of them in the next stories!

Did you notice something about the names of the seven men? They were all Greek names. The church chose people from the very group who had been left out, to make sure everyone was treated fairly.

The believers brought the seven men to the apostles, who prayed for them and laid their hands on them.

And the word of God kept on spreading. The number of believers in Jerusalem grew very quickly, and even a large number of priests came to believe in Jesus.

Handing out food might not seem as important as preaching. But the apostles chose men full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom to do it. Every job in God’s church matters, the jobs that everyone sees and the jobs that nobody notices. And when everyone does their part, God’s work keeps growing.

The church found a way to make sure nobody was left out. It’s still a good question for any church, or any family, or any class at school: is anyone being left out? And what can we do about it?

Read it in your Bible: Acts 6:1–7

Dear God, thank you that every job in your family matters. Help me to notice when someone is being left out, and to do something about it. Show me how I can help. Amen.