Read a scripture and sing worship songs.

(Optional) Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. He wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator also between God and man, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for all. (Philippians 2:11b; 1 Timothy 2:4-6a)

Choose a way to cast vision for who they can become in Christ or what God can do through them by:

• a scripture that reminds them of the Father’s Heart and of the end vision.
• reflecting on the changes in their life since they started following Christ
• reminding them of what God wants to do through them

Share BIG vision “A church for every village and community, and the gospel for every person.”

The Choosing of the Seven

¹ In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.² So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.³ Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them⁴ and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

⁵ This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism.⁶ They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

⁷ So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

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As the church grew, they faced threats from outside and inside: physical violence from governing authorities and moral compromise. The Jerusalem church was almost 100% Jewish, but they represented two distinct cultures: local Jews who grew up in Palestine and Jews who grew up in the Greek speaking provinces of the Roman Empire. The social issues of the city spilled over into the church. Having started in unity, the church was now experiencing grumbling about what appeared to be unequal caring and management of resources. The solution was to have the Greek speaking believers select seven men from among them to help. They looked for men who were well respected, filled with the Spirit, and filled with wisdom. The Apostles restructured the leadership roles by empowering these new leaders to lead the ministry of care and the management of resources. This change allowed the Apostles to focus on prayer and the teaching of the Word. This story also includes the first summary statement found in the book of Acts: the word of God kept spreading, the number of believers increased, and many Jewish priests became believers too (Acts 6:7).

Practice needed skills or previous topics to help prepare to minister to others:

• Prayer, Care, Share
• Gospel
• Foundational Bible Studies.