God designed and willed for the Christian home and the local body of believers to function as two of the closest experiences to heaven on this side of eternity. As believers, we ought to love one another (John 13:34-35) and serve one another by that love (Galatians 5:13). Rather than backbiting and devouring each other (Galatians 5:15), believers ought to give themselves to ministering to each other. In Paul’s epistle to the Corinthian believers, God led Paul to mention a family addicted to the ministry. At some point, this family decided to sacrifice their own gain for the sake of ministering to others. Because of this commitment, the Bible says that Stephanas refreshed the spirit of other believers.
As is common with church growth, problems arose very early in the church at Jerusalem. Acts chapter 6 tells us of the Grecians who began to murmur against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected (Acts 6:1). The apostles chose not to ignore the problem but to tackle it head on. Yet, they understood their primary responsibilities of not leaving their study of the word of God in order to focus on handling the strife. The apostles instructed the disciples in the church to choose seven men to deal with this particular issue and similar issues that might arise later (Acts 6:3). The Bible also points out that the apostles determined to give themselves “continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). They understood that their study and distribution of the word of God was to take the preeminence in their ministry.
