THE FIRST CHURCH CONFLICT
The first conflict in the church concerned the distribution of food to widows. In Acts 6:1-7, there were a group of Hellenistic Jews whose complaints drew the notice of the church leaders. They had to restructure the ministry so that the disenfranchised groups could get adequate representation and service. Here the precedent was set for church conflict to be solved. In Acts 6:2, “the Twelve gathered all the disciples together”[2], presented the dilemma, and involved the Hellenistic Jews, who felt discounted, in the rectification of the problem by allowing them to select certain individuals who they trusted to handle the distribution of food. They choose men who had evidence of being filled with the Spirit; in so doing, they were seeking the counsel of God in their judgment. The apostles then certified those who were selected with prayer and the laying on of hands showing their support for the choices of the Hellenists. This problem was not solved by one person, by one apostle, or even by a subgroup within the larger assembly. It was solved by the group of disciples in discourse and qualified by the church leadership.
[1] Raposa, W.. An evaluation of the historical reliability of Acts based on Lucian's "How to Write History". Ph.D. diss., Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, In Dissertations & Theses: Full Text [database on-line]; available from http://www.proquest.com (publication number AAT 3411357; accessed November 23, 2010).
[2] The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), Ac 6:2.. All scriptures are quoted from the NIV unless otherwise noted.‖
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