Jay Adams, "Shepherding God's Flock:" pg. 351-354.
"Acts 6 describes the origin of the New Testament diaconate, a body of men whose specific calling is to help elders and pastor-teachers by relieving them of numerous administrative details that otherwise might pull them away from the work to which God has called them.... the deacons too may learn to delegate... [their tasks] to persons within the congregation who have peculiar gifts for ministry.... [This] involves the utilization of gifts.... Sharing of work means everyone doing some of all of the whole, and everyone focusing on some parts of the whole."
Too often, when leaders hear from the leadership team, "You're responsible for x, y and z," they think that means, "You have to do x, y and z." When really, it's a golden opportunity to include someone else in the task, who wants to serve the church, but doesn't know just how. Empowering leaders must take the initiative to include others in the work of the Church. If they don't, as they say, it's like the football game where 70,000 sit watching 22 do all the work! Fine for football, but not for the Body of Christ!
Ephesians 4:11-13: "And [Jesus] Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."
The New Geneva Study Bible comments wisely on these verses: "It is not primarily those mentioned in v. 11 who do the work of the ministry; it is the people they equip. Effective teachers help each believer to find their own way of benefiting the rest of the church."
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