One of my favourite New Testament characters is Philip who we first meet in Acts 6 where he is mentioned as one of the seven who were chosen to wait on tables so as to sort out a problem between two groups of early believers. Then in Acts 21:8 he is mentioned as Philip the Evangelist. I’m really impressed with that career path; from waiter to evangelist. In our world, that seems quite a leap. We are also told that Philip had four daughters all of whom had the gift of prophesy. That could make for lively family get-togethers. It seems a shame that we know so little about this fascinating character.
So what do we know?
Well, Philip was a Hellenic Jew; that is he spoke Greek as his first language and probably hadn’t grown up in Palestine. He was a bit of an outsider. This is something that Luke highlights in Acts. It is very often the outsiders, people from the Greek speaking Jewish diaspora who were responsible for taking the Gospel over cultural boundaries. I suspect that the same is true in many churches and mission agencies; the people at the centre can be too busy maintaining things and it is those in the margins who come up with the real innovations.
So what else do we know about Philip?
Acts 6:1-4
“In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
What is fascinating in this account is the qualifications required for the people who were going to be overseeing the feeding of the widows; they were to be known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.
“Full of the Holy Spirit and Wisdom” – waiters!
I’ve seen adverts for mission agency CEO’s that were less demanding than that. However, it is perhaps the most important factor in choosing people to work in God’s mission. They need to be tuned in to what God is doing and saying and wise enough to make decisions based on that. Perhaps it’s no surprise that he ended up as a respected evangelist, when his starting point was already so high.
To me, Philip’s story raises some big questions over how we select people for various aspects of Christian service. We tend to focus on technical skills of one sort or another; these are easily assessed and measured, but those aren’t the things that will ultimately achieve what is needed.
22 replies on “Philip the Waiter”
Catherine Young liked this on Facebook.
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This is spot on, Ed.
@kouya agree 100%, it is those who don’t quite conform with us, who are most likely to be able to crossover to those who are v diff to us.
Tongue firmly in cheek here: it looks as though they also need to be male. 😉
@kouya this has lots of applics to our work in uk multicultural cities and who we are looking for to be pastors etc
Phil Prior liked this on Facebook.
RT @kouya: What are the skills and qualifications needed in Christian work? Do we need to rewrite our job adverts? … https://t.co/chXkyVA…
Remarkable also that the apostles deemed the ordinary folk capable of discerning those who were endowed with the Spirit and wisdom!
RT @kouya: What are the skills and qualifications needed in Christian work? Do we need to rewrite our job adverts? … https://t.co/chXkyVA…
Tim Herbert liked this on Facebook.
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Heather Farrier liked this on Facebook.
RT @kouya: That well known Bible character, Philip the Waiter. https://t.co/lEMuMn9kP2 Do we need to change the way we advertise jobs in mi…
@M_Catalyst I did a little take on this same question this morning: https://t.co/lEMuMn9kP2
RT @kouya: @M_Catalyst I did a little take on this same question this morning: https://t.co/lEMuMn9kP2
RT @kouya: “They need to be tuned in to what God is doing & saying & wise enough to make decisions based on that.” https://t.co/ozzsfChmaR
Jutta Blühberger liked this on Facebook.
What I think is fascinating is that Stephen and Philip both seem to have far greater gifts than just waiting tables, and their use of those gifts are demonstrated in the next couple of chapters. Did they actually do a good job at waiting tables? Was that a short-term stretch assignment that launched their careers? Did they end up neglecting the widows as much as their predecessors did?
One suggestion is that the persecution that sprung up in the wake of Stephen’s martyrdom targeted hellenic Christians in particular (which is why Philip had to flee, but not the Apostles) and that this effectively solved the problem in Jerusalem.
Richard Antony Weston liked this on Facebook.