The Acts 6 Approach

At The DMM Platform we firmly believe in the power of partnership and local ownership. We don’t develop apps for our own team. Instead we develop apps for specific teams in specific locations. To ensure that we do this to the best of our ability, we work with our clients to build what we have called Acts 6 Teams. This derives specifically from Acts 6:

1 But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. 3 And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. 4 Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.” 5 Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith). 6 These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them. 7 So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too. (Acts 6:1-7 NLT)

The Acts 6 Team is made up of movement deacons commissioned to support on-the-ground needs that The DMM Platform team can't directly meet. They will be focused on interfacing directly with The DMM Platform team and will free up local apostolic leadership (to the degree that apostolic leadership wants to be freed up) from day-to-day questions and support. Another way to say it, the Acts 6 Team are our eyes, ears and hands on the ground to ensure no one is overlooked. Specifically they:

1. Go to the "Apostles" as needed about strategic decisions & timeline.

2. Have the skills and trust to make plans and oversee progress to ensure no one is left out.

For highly localized apps and movements this team might be quite small, as 1 or 2 people can fill numerous roles. For larger regional movements, we would love to see an individual from each region be involved. For apps that span multiple movements especially, we want to make sure that all local leaderships needs are covered which may entail multiple local Acts 6 Teams.