These men began to argue with Stephen, but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke. -- Acts 6:9-10

The Church Appoints People in the Workplace - In the beginnings of the early church, the disciples were seeing God move in mighty ways. The disciples found themselves preaching the word of God all over the region. However, practical needs that arose among the people were not being met adequately. One of these needs involved food distribution to widows. There became an issue as to whether the needs of all the widows were being cared for. This brought pressure upon the disciples, who felt their primary focus must be to preach the gospel. They now realized they could not do both adequately. This led them to appoint seven men whose lives qualified for service as leaders to serve these needs.

This is a remarkable turning point in the early church. When this action takes place we see a number of things happen. The first man named to fill this responsibility was Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit; he had a strong faith in Christ, and was full of courage, gifts and graces. He was an extraordinary man, and excelled in everything that was good; his name signified a crown.

Empowering those in the Workplace - We see here an empowering of the rest of the workplace believers into service. But it is important to see that Stephen was more than just a person who could lend a hand to the service needs of the local church at the time. The Bible describes Stephen this way: Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people (Acts 6:8-9).

The Church Spreads Rapidly - This was a time when the church began mobilizing other believers in the workplace for ministry in the community. Stephen was the first chosen and interestingly, became the first martyred believer. One of the most interesting things one can notice when the disciples took this action is described in these passages. So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith (Acts 6:7). It is as though the Lord took the cap off and everything started happening. Even a large number of priests came into the faith.

The Paradigm Shift - Today we live in a time of paradigm shifting in the body of Christ. God is beginning a movement among those in the marketplace. You and I are part of this movement. As we begin to see more and more men and women take their rightful place as ministers in the workplace with signs and wonders that accompany their life, we will see pastors and church leaders understand this movement and begin to embrace it. It will be the fruit of the lives of these workplace ministers and the power of God that changes these paradigms. However, be sure of this, whenever there is a move of God, there is also opposition by Satan, just as in the early church movement.

Os Hillman is President of Marketplace Leaders in Atlanta, Georgia.    marketplaceleaders.org    ICWM.net     Content distributed by WorkLife.org > used for non-profit teaching purposes only.