They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit… (Acts 6:5)

Stephen was among the founding members of the church in the immediate aftermath of Jesus’ ascension.  His name is Greek, Στέφανος (Stephanos) and it means ‘crown’.

Stephen was one of seven ‘deacons’ (from διακονέω diakoneó to serve ‘waiting tables’) chosen to oversee a dispute arising from perceived inequity in dispensing alms to the widows within the church.  We need to remember that at this early juncture the church bar a very few exceptions (such as the author of Acts) was Jewish, but Luke’s text shows that there were two types of Christian Jew, those who had kept the Law of Moses, and others who had adopted the ways of the prevailing culture and become ‘Greek’, these Luke refers to as Hellénistés, or Hellenists.