As the church and her leaders continue to be bombarded with urgent needs from every direction, John Stott draws out an important and urgent ministry insight as he reflects on Acts 6:1-7 in conjunction with his lifelong pastoral ministry:
A vital principle is embedded in this incident [i.e. the choosing of the Seven], which the church urgently needs to re-learn in every generation, namely that 'everybody cannot do everything'. Indeed, everybody is not called to do everything.
Or let me express this principle in three positive statements:
- God calls all his people to ministry (diakonia).
- God calls different people to different ministries.
- God expects those called to the ministry of the word to concentrate on their calling and on no account to allow themselves to be distracted by social administration.
It is obviously deliberate that the work of the Twelve and the work of the Seven are both called diakonia ('ministry'). The Twelve were called to the diakonia of the word (verse 4) or to pastoral ministry, while the Seven were called to the diakonia of tables (verse 2) or to social ministry. Neither ministry is inferior to the other. On the contrary, both are Christian ministries (ways of serving God). Both require Spirit-filled people to exercise them. And both can be full-time Christian ministries. The only difference between them is that they are different!
Quoted from John Stott,
The Living Church: Convictions of a lifelong pastor (IVP).
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