Complaint Department

 Acts 6: 1-7

When I was in college, I worked at the customer service desk of a large grocery store. This was the early 90s, so I did tasks like printing money orders, sending faxes, and developing film. The grocery store also had a small video rental section, so customers would come to customer service to rent movies. Those tasks were simple enough and usually involved little drama. However, we were also the desk that received complaints. People came with all kinds of complaints. Some were valid. Some were ridiculous. Some I could easily remedy. Others were simply impossible to fix. We were trained to handle each complaint calmly and do whatever we could to make the customer happy. If things became heated, we referred the issue to the store manager.

No one likes to hear complaints. Churches hear complaints too. Sometimes we can make amends. Sometimes we can’t. That’s why forgiveness is so important. Yet complaints often result in feelings of anger, defensiveness, and justification. That is normal. Complaints can feel like an attack, but they can also be an opportunity to open lines of communication and solve problems.

The early Christian community in Jerusalem was facing challenges because it had started to grow a little too quickly, and the apostles could not keep up with everything it took to care for the community. So there were complaints. The complaints in today’s text came from the “Hellenists” in the church in Jerusalem. These Hellenists were more Greek than Hebrew in culture and background. They were probably Jews who had moved away from Jerusalem during the diaspora but had returned and become part of the Way of Jesus. They noticed that the people not being cared for adequately were the Hellenist widows. The apostles, who were mostly Hebrew, felt overwhelmed trying to care for everyone while also teaching, preaching, praying, and spreading the Gospel. Instead of becoming defensive or angry, the Hebrew leaders listened to the complaints and asked, “How do we solve this problem?”

Whenever a group of people gathers, there will be conflict. There will be complaints. How we respond can go a long way in determining how well the group functions. That’s basic problem-solving. However, as a faith community, it is especially important that we listen to one another, affirm one another, and seek peaceful solutions that involve repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation. When we are quick to anger or become defensive, we can easily begin to view others as enemies. It can be hard not to react so quickly, but by living into the grace God offers, we can respond in ways that promote unity and community.

The early church was made up of people just like you and me. That is why the witness of the early church in Acts and in Paul’s letters is still so important today. We can learn so much from how they handled conflict—both what to do and what not to do as a Christian community. The apostles took the complaints of the Hellenists seriously and worked to find a solution. May we all approach complaints and conflict in the same way.


Rev. Dana Ezell