Stephen was a lay person, a member who was asked to take care of things for the church. There were preachers, prophets and leaders all over the place in the early church. They were preaching to masses, baptizing and meeting all sorts of spiritual needs, but they realized there was a need for so much more. Stephen stepped up and filled that void along with many others. They were asked to take care of the needy, and the widowed and of all of them Stephen is mentioned several times more. HE didn't take that lightly and realized that the leaders could only do so much. He could no longer sit back and just be fed, he wanted to be a part of the feeding. He wanted to impact his community for Christ, and so he did.
Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people (Acts 6:8-9).
He stepped out and did amazing things, reached many for Christ and basically did this all as a deacon or Trustee. He wasn't a leader in the church, he wasn't innitially a part of the team that was doing the preaching. But, he is mentioned by Luke in ACts and has a few chapters dedicated to him. He stepped out and impacted the community in many, many ways because he realized that it was up to the church to be the church. THat meant meeting the needs of teh community both physically and spiritually.
So I ask you, are you a Stephen? Are you ready to realize that it is the church and its members that reach the community. No matter how much work your leaders, pastor and staff do in the community it's up to you to make the difference. You are the minsters of the community, you reach out every day at work, in your neighborhood and where ever else you go. So step out and take charge, kick your pastor out and let him know you have it covered, trust me he won't mind.
Have a great day and I will be writing sporatically over the next week on vacation. We are headed to Gatlinburg soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment