Recently I’ve been very studying the early chapters of Acts. God has been teaching me what it looks like to live changed by His Spirit, much like the disciples after Jesus left the earth. We can learn a lot from their ministry about faith, and even a thing or two about leadership.
In the first seven verses of Acts six, we see that the Twelve had been entrusted by Jesus with the task of spreading the Gospel. As good leaders, they had two realizations: the details are unmistakably important, and the details can be entrusted to others. So what did they do? They turned over the responsibility of feeding the town widows to seven new leaders.
It’s important to realize that the Twelve do not appoint new leaders so they can go take naps or because they don’t want to feed the widows themselves. Rather, they do so in order to continue the big picture of what they know they have been called to: “prayer and the ministry of the Word” across Jerusalem. They continue to seek God and fully trust those they have put in ministry positions. They have carefully selected leaders who are seeking God and who are wise, and we see in verse six that they are praying for them.
Do you ever have a hard time trusting others in your ministry to fulfill the role God has given them? Remember that you are called to something specific, and so are they. As leaders, we have to trust those we work with and be in constant prayer for them. We see in Acts 6:7 that as a result, the word of God spread and the number of disciples increased rapidly.
What might God do in your ministry if you learn to trust Him to lead those around you?