Acts 6 - People Problem

Have you ever had a people problem? Where there was just so many people you couldn't meet the needs of all of them? It may have been overwhelming and you may have been unprepared it happens.

Sometimes in churches growth can be a blessing, but ministry opportunities can be missed. It has been said that people will often make their decision to return to church within 5 minutes. We must not miss an opportunity to serve all people and we must figure out to deal with the problem.

Such was the case with the early church. They had explosive growth. Acts 6:1 says, 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.

There were probably almost 10,000 people in the church and some people were being neglected. Intentionally or not, they had a legitimate gripe. So it looks like the Pastor's were going to get involved and start serving these people food. NO! In fact, listen to what they said. We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word. Acts 6:2-4 (NLT)

Here is the point. God assigns people to serve. He gives you the talent to serve. He uses people to serve people. Sometimes the "people problem" is us. The church. We are too busy to serve, that we don't seek solutions but seek prayer. Prayer is used as an excuse instead of acting on what people need.

How do you tackle people problems? Do you wait for others to solve them? Do you "pray" that God would send someone? Do you not act? Maybe the people problem is you!