5 May 2026

The election of the newly established diaconate was born out of division within the early Church. We didn’t start well. Here there was complaint about the way food was being distributed to the women who had been widowed within the community. The Hebrew women were being favoured over against the Hellenist women.

The leadership of the church were very skilled. They do two things. Firstly, they decide that they are not going to take over the food distribution themselves. Their first priority is to preach the Word.

Life is all about discerning what is most important and prioritising what our work is going to be. Some people find it impossible to say no or to let go and spread themselves too thinly to the detriment of themselves and the kirk.

Secondly, the leadership decide to delegate the work of the foodbank to others. Not only that, they effectively create the new office of deacon. They are unafraid to let go and give up control, to trust others and to share the load.

And how are they able to do this? ‘It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait at tables.’ they said. This is not to say that waiting on tables is not important!

One of the seven newly appointed deacons was called Stephen and Stephen became the very first martyr of the church. Waiting on tables and all the other things which Stephen did resulted in the sacrifice of his life. Table work is dangerous!