JOIN THE JOURNEY JR.
Families Abiding in Jesus together
With shorter reading assignments and kid-specific focus areas, Join The Journey Jr. is designed to help parents disciple their kids and engage with Scripture in the best ways for their age.
This month's memory verse
All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
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And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.”
Acts of the Apostles 6
Seven Men Chosen to Serve
1But 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.
2So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. 3And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. 4Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”
5Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith). 6These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.
7So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.
In Acts 6:1-7, the apostles knew they were supposed to teach the Word of God to others, but there were people in the church who needed to be cared for through serving. The seven men they chose helped them serve the people of the church so the apostles could keep teaching God’s Word.
Today, play a game with your family called “Serve or Teach?” Designate one corner of the room “Serving” and another corner of the room “Teaching”.
After the game, briefly explain how both roles are important, just like in Acts 6.
Spend a few minutes talking about how you can serve others or teach others about God this week. Take a moment to pray for opportunities to serve and teach this week.