In other words, this new group of leaders would focus on helping and assisting the existing leaders of the church by meeting the pressing and practical needs of the church, which would enable the existing leaders of the church to focus on protecting, caring, leading, and feeding the church spiritually. The disciples would be able to love and serve from their spiritual gifts and strengths, while unleashing another group of leaders to come alongside and assist them in the advancement of God’s kingdom mission by loving and serving from their spiritual gifts and strengths. Luke then records how the rest of the early church responded to this recommendation in verse 5:
The statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch. And these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them.Luke records for us that the early church responded to this recommendation by fully embracing and acting on their recommendation. The early church carefully inspected, evaluated, and recommended seven men to present before the leaders of the church. These early leaders then prayerfully inspected and evaluated the seven based on the qualifications that they had presented. And after being affirmed through their prayerful inspection and evaluation, the seven were commission to fulfill a new role in the life of this new movement called the church; a new role that the Bible refers to as a deacon.
At City Bible Church, here is how we apply what the Bible teaches when it comes to leadership within the church. As a church, we have three specific leadership positions, which are referred to as Elders, Deacons, and Deaconess. The first leadership position, which are called Elders, are responsible for protecting, leading, caring, and feeding, the church. The second group, which are called Deacons, are responsible for assisting the Elders as part of a team that ministers to the pressing and practical needs of the church.
The qualifications for Elders and Deacons are provided for us by God in two letters that are recorded for us in our Bibles, called 1 Timothy and Titus. 1 Timothy 3:1 and 10 state that these men must meet the qualifications of being above reproach, which means that no one can point a finger of accusation against them that is accurate. Verses 2-9 of 1 Timothy 3 lay out for us what being above reproach practically looks like in the lives of these leaders. The third leadership position, which are called Deaconess, are responsible for assisting the Elders as part of a team that also minister to the pressing and practical needs of the church with a focus on the needs of women.
Now you might be wondering “but Dave, you did not mention a pastor as part of the leadership of the church. Where does a pastor fit in?” If that question is running through your mind, I want to let you know that it is a great question to be asking. To understand the answer to this question, we first need to understand what would happen in a church in the first century. A church in the first century would be what we describe today as a church plant. In many cases, when a new church is planted, the leadership of the church work full time jobs elsewhere to support their financial needs. The church is small and the main ministry occurs once a week.
As a church grows, more people are attending and more ministry is happening. The needs of the church call for a greater time commitment by the elders. It soon becomes apparent that leading the church, especially in the preaching and teaching aspects, becomes overwhelming when combined with a full time job. So what happened in the first century church, and in churches today, is that a decision is made to support one of the elders financially so that they can place their full energy into the day to day leadership of the church. In our culture today, we often refer to this position as a pastor.
It is important to understand however, that Biblically a pastor is an elder who has been placed in a position of full time commitment to the ministries of the church and receives compensation so that he can commit his time and his energy toward that responsibility. At City Bible Church, I am a part of the Elder team who has been placed in a position where I am financially compensated in order to fully devote my time to the preaching and leading of the church. And as an Elder team, we work together with the Deacon team and Deaconess team to ensure that we are fully engaged in the co:mission that we have been given as a community of believers called the church.
And it is in this story that we see Luke reveal for us a timeless principle that is necessary to embrace when it comes to the co:mission we have been given. And that timeless principle is this: God’s co:mission requires teamwork. Throughout this series, we have seen that the mission God has given us is not a solo mission. It is a mission where we partner with the presence and power of God to advance His Kingdom and enhance His reputation. The co:mission that we have been given is also a mission in which we partner with one another as followers of Jesus. As followers of Jesus and a part of the community called the church, we are to work together as a team as we engage in the mission we have been given. We are to invest the spiritual gifts, the talents, the time, and the treasure that we have been given in a way that works together for God’s glory, our spiritual growth, and others spiritual good.
And as we work and serve together as a team that is serving from our spiritual gifts and our strengths, we position ourselves as individuals and as a church to partner with God in the co:mission that we have been given to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal His Son Jesus and His message of rescue through the message of the gospel to the world. We see this reality revealed to us as Luke concludes this story in verse 7:
The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.As these early followers of Jesus embraced working together as a team and in a way that they were loving and serving others from their strengths and gifting, God’s kingdom mission advanced and God’s reputation was enhanced. As the early leaders of the church that we would now refer to as Elders led from their strengths and gifting to protect, care, lead and feed the church; and as this new team of leaders that we now call Deacons led from their strengths and gifting that assisted the Elders by meeting the pressing and practical needs around them, the early church functioned in a way that equipped, empowered, and unleashed followers of Jesus to fully engage in the mission from their strengths in a way that revealed and reflected Christ.
Luke tells us that even members of the Jewish priestly class were embracing the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel in a way that resulted in them placing their confident trust in Christ and following Christ. God’s co:mission continued to advance as the early church functioned as a healthy and effective team that served from the spiritual gifts and their strengths and that was focused on revealing and reflecting Christ. Because God’s co:mission requires teamwork.
So here is a question to consider: Are you engaged in God’s co:mission as part of a team? Are you investing your spiritual gifts, your talents, and your abilities by leveraging those strengths in a way that results in God’s glory, others good, and your spiritual growth? Or are you on the sidelines as others invest their time, talents and energy outside of their strengths and our gifting to advance the co:mission we have been given?
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