We find this situation at the beginning of Acts 6. People are being converted and they need discipling (6:1) but there is an added problem with distribution of food to the widows of the Gentile Jews, leading to disunity (6:2). How will they make more disciples? The load is too great and they have added administrative problems.

So what will the apostles do? Request more money in offerings? Write some discipleship material? The solution is simpler than we imagine:

“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.” (6:3-4)

They make 3 key decisions that enabled them to make more disciples:

1.Prioritise Prayer

This appears simple. But it was one of the keys of the vibrant church life that started the church, where they met all together to pray daily (Acts 1:14):

“They all joined together constantly in prayer“

Most churches don’t hold daily prayer. Have we lost something?

John Wesley, who oversaw a great expansion in the church said:

“God does nothing except in response to believing prayer.”

David Yonggi Cho, who masterminded the growth of the biggest church in the world, wrote a book entitled, ‘Prayer: key to Revival‘. He argued that prayer started the revival but also was necessary to maintain and grow it.

At my church a few of us, and one family, are visiting our church to pray for a few hours, 5 days during the week. It’s beginning to bear great fruit. God is beginning to speak to us about how to get ready for growth and to be able to make more disciples.

2.Prioritise the Word

In the context this is much more than simply studying the Word regularly, although the apostles did this. It’s maintaining the preaching and teaching of the Word in the context of discipleship

This is more than just Sunday morning preaching. Jesus told them to make disciples and so the goal of their teaching is to do this and not just on Sundays!

Just look at the verse that immediately precedes and gives the context for Acts 6:

“Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.”

They visited the believers and taught them in their homes daily as Jesus did. How many of us do this today?

So they didn’t want anything to distract them from this. But how did they manage to disciple more people with the growth in numbers? We get the answer at the end

3.Exercise great self-discipline

There was a very good reason to be distracted. Widows were very dependant on help in their culture and many depended on the church distribution of food to survive. So this was a great need to attend to.

But instead of dealing with it themselves they appointed 7 capable men to do so, in order to maintain their self-discipline in prayer and the Word. This ensured they fed themselves and had time still to feed others. Jesus told Peter to “feed my sheep”.

Today we are very tempted to neglect the Word and prayer because of the stressful demands of modern life, the pull of our cell phones and easy access to Netflix and video games in our houses. Or even by attending to the needs of others (a good thing) but we sideline the best for the good. To grow a church we need to exercise great self-discipline over our personal lives.

Look at who God chose to lead the Methodist Revival: Howell Harris, John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield. All leaders known for their rigid self-discipline and passing it onto their disciples. That is why their critics called them Methodists, because they were so methodical in all they did.

However, this self-discipline and methodical lifestyle in prayer, preaching and general life was necessary to disciple well all the new converts

The Result

This is where God kicks in to help. The result of these three key decisions is truly amazing:

“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.” (6:7)

The result was that the number of disciples grew rapidly (lacking in many churches today) and that God enabled them to make more discples.How?

God converted more priests who already were very learned in the Word and so were already well prepared to disciple others by the Word and through the Holy Spirit.

What we need to do

So if we want to see more converts and to make more disciples and hence fulfil the Great Commission, we need to exercise self-discipline and prioritise prayer and the teaching of the Word in our lives, and not get distracted.

When God sees this He will see that we ready for growth and give it to us.

My book GRACE OUTPOURINGS: 21 DAYS REVIVAL DEVOTIONAL is designed especially to help stir us up to passionate prayer, committing more to the Word and self discipline through stories and verses on revival. Do read for a great devotional experience.

Also see HOW TO DISCIPLE THE NEXT GENERATION: 7 PRACTICAL THINGS TO DO