Acts 6: Meeting Needs to Spread the Gospel

Acts 6 offers an interesting look into the first church. Jews with a Greek cultural background were being bypassed in the daily distribution of food for widows among the first believers, a group numbering several thousand Christians by this time. The response by the apostles was to select a group of seven men of integrity who could oversee this need, allowing the apostles to continue their spiritual leadership of teaching and prayer.

In the end, the account states, “So the word of God spread.” That was the result. Christians desire for the word of God to spread, for new people to hear the good news, and for those who follow Jesus to mature spiritually. One way this happens is when practical needs are met by God’s people. When widows need food, it can cause problems in terms of resources and leadership, but it can also serve as a way to see the word of God spread.

Interestingly, spiritual and social needs are addressed together in the first church. In our culture, there is often an emphasis to separate the two. Social needs are seen as less spiritual than teaching or preaching. However, the first church realized these issues must be addressed together in order for the word of God to spread.

The same is true today.

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Dillon Burroughs is the author or co-author of numerous books and is handwriting a copy of the New Testament in 2011 at HolyWritProject.com. Find out more about Dillon at Facebook.com/readdB or readdB.com.