In this chapter, the church begins to organize around specific tasks that need to be done. With growth, the amount of work that needs to be done grows too. In those days, it was difficult for older widows with no adult children to support themselves. In the Jewish culture, it was common for these widows to be supported by the community. The widows from Jerusalem are already being cared for, but the Helenistic, or Greek-speaking, widows are not. The Apostles don’t want to be distracted from their main duties to address this problem, so they delegate the responsibility to those who can be trusted to take care of the issue well. One of these trusted people is Stephen. He not only helps widows but spreads the message of Jesus as well. Since the Apostles are too popular for the religious leaders to arrest, they go after Stephen instead.
Churches still organize in this way today. The Senior Pastor can’t do it all, so some of the work that needs to be done is given to other staff or volunteers. The task isn’t delegated to someone else because the Senior Pastor is too important to do the job, it’s so the job he is uniquely suited to do continues to get done while others perform tasks suited to their strengths. We should all be involved in the ministry of the church and do our jobs in ways that honor God.