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The full devotional reads :

Early Church Wholistic Mission - Church Aid & Development Committees - Acts 6
A devotion by Julian Doorey, Bangladesh

Let’s do a mission journey together back in time to the early Jerusalem church described in Acts.

Text – Acts 6:1-7: ‘Seven Men Chosen To Serve’

1. But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.
2. So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program.
3. And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility.
4. Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”
5. Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith).
6. These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.

Principles and Practices

1. Disharmony existed due to neglect of meeting physical needs (widows were hungry), along racial lines (Hellenistic vs Hebraic). Separating the spiritual from the physical (and social, emotional etc) causes problems. You can’t split people into bits. A hungry person needs food; a lonely person needs a friend; a lost person needs Jesus.
2. The Apostles (church leaders) decided the church must meet human physical need – expressing God’s special love for the poor (feeding the widows), in addition to meeting spiritual need.
3. They set-up and worked through a special ‘aid and development’ group in the local church. The church became happy and harmonious.
4. Assisting the poor was an important job requiring people full of the Spirit and wisdom, with commissioning by the laying on of hands. Do we lay hands on social / development workers?
5. The Apostles (church leaders) didn’t have time to do everything, but focused on prayer and teaching. The aim is not to turn all church leaders into social workers. We’re not replacing theology with sociology – although both are helpful. But, in teaching the whole word of God, the Jerusalem church promoted and supported wholistic mission, meeting both spiritual and physical needs. This became a normal and integral part of local church life.
6. The resulting mission had dramatic results - spreading God’s word, increasing disciples and obedient church leaders.

Application for Today - Church Aid and Development Committees

Local churches could have ‘aid and development’ (social action / community service) groups – serving and witnessing alongside spiritual activities. The local church is at the heart of God’s purposes for this world. With Biblical teaching, motivation, training and resourcing the local church can be a change-agent in its local community.

A 'Resource Kit' to assist formation of local church ‘aid and development’ committees could include:

• Bible studies and sermon outlines presenting a Biblical response to the poor and marginalised, within an wholistic theology of mission (proclamation and demonstration).
• Guidelines for establishing an aid and development committee.
• Suggested small scale aid and development projects consistent with local church resources.
• Examples and stories of what has happened elsewhere - regional based promotion and training.
• Church link - urban churches linking with rural churches for practical assistance and visits.
• Promotion - brochures, handouts, posters.

Historical Problem

The Acts 6 model is used as a basis for various church ministry groups including youth, women, music, property etc. However, seldom have evangelical churches (even living in a context of poverty) established ‘aid and development’ committees as clearly modelled in the early church. Is this a result of evangelical mission historically focusing mostly on the ‘spiritual’ rather than the ‘physical’? A selective review of Church history indicates, despite some wonderful exceptions, that the evangelical church has been ambivalent in its pro-poor ‘good deeds’ role. Dualism plagues the relationship between evangelism and social action. Many evangelicals believe the gospel requires social action, but they fear losing the gospel by focusing strongly on social development. The ‘higher’ calling of evangelism can cripple their social action making it subservient in an un-Biblical way. (Walsh et al, 1984, p102)

A New Reformation?

The good news - a new pro-poor evangelical social justice movement is emerging. Small but discernable winds of change are blowing through parts of the evangelical church and mission agency world. The pendulum is swinging toward a more wholistic / integral mission, focusing on both word and deed, spiritual and physical, individual and community. Some refer to this as ‘mission as transformation’. (Samuel, 1998, p227) The evangelical church may be at a reformation-like cross-roads with 2 paths ahead. One path focuses on evangelism and personal discipling, with suspicion of social involvement - described as personally engaging, yet socially irrelevant. The 2nd path expressing Christian faith in broader terms, includes evangelism and personal discipling, but also includes commitment to peacemaking, justice, pro-poor advocacy, environmental care and such like - described as both personally engaging and socially relevant.

Will Ronald Sider, a champion and servant for the wholistic mission cause for more than 30 years - be right? Will the next few decades witness an explosive growth in wholistic mission from the evangelical church, resulting in Christians eager to love the whole person and their community the way Jesus did? Will we see “millions drawn to personal faith in Christ, broken people restored to wholeness, and renewal of entire neighbourhoods and societies?” (Sider et al, 2002, p11, 14). That answer will depend on you and I, the ‘word’ we speak and the ‘deed’ we do.

References

Samuel, Vinay. (1998). ‘Mission as Transformation’, in Samuel, Vinay; Sugden, Chris. (eds). (1999). Mission as Transformation – A Theology of the Whole Gospel. Oxford: Regnum Books International. p227-235.

Sider, Ronald J; Olson, Philip N; Unruh, Heidi R. (2002). Churches that Make a Difference: Reaching your Community with Good News and Good Works. Grand Rapids: Baker Books.

Walsh, Brian J; Middleton, J Richard. (1984). The Transforming Vision – Shaping a Christian World View. Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press.