Every so often, there’s a question that crops up when I’m reading/thinking about church planting. This is especially true when church planting gets slotted under the heading of “apostolic ministry.” Here’s a quote from N.T. Wright that assesses, accurately, I believe, the priority of first century apostles:
The heart of the apostles’ reasoning in all this was the priority of the word of God and prayer. Only when a crisis emerges do we see what is really important. We noted earlier that ‘the apostles’ teaching’ was top of the list of the defining marks of the church (2:42), and that the apostles, faced with persecution, were instructed by the angel to ‘go and speak the words of this Life’ (5:20)… The early apostolic testimony stands solidly: the task of an apostle is the word of God and prayer.
Based on what we find in the New Testament–that apostolic ministers, the men God uses to begin new gospel movements, are first and foremost preachers and prayers–how do we reconcile the massive amounts of time that church planters today typically pour into fund raising, advertising campaigns, and infrastructure?
I’m not saying that any of those latter things are extraneous. Just wondering how to keep first things first and how to go about explaining this apparent dichotomy… If anyone else wants to take a shot at this, I’m all ears.
Do like the first ones did: Get a B-team.
B is for backup this time, not quality.
When faced with a severe management crisis–food for Greek widows–the disciples realized they needed more of the Spirit, Who provides unity and wisdom (hence the “we must devote ourselves to prayer and scripture”). So, they called for seven “men full of wisdom and the Spirit” to help with the social issues. Even Moses had his seventy Spirit-filled elders (don’t know the math, but I bet this 7 to 70 is due to proportional sizes of the church/Israel, but same concept)
Basically, we can’t go it alone. God never intended us to. The disciples walked around in pairs (John and Peter, Paul and Silas) with their own disciples (Timothy, Titus, Luke, Matthew etc…), mentoring these little men to become heads of churches themselves. Once an apprentice grew to size–or the Lord simply asked–he took up a church (such as Timothy in Ephesus). This kept the leadership flowing, with the apostles moving from place to place to plant and guide as needed.
Not sure this covers the whole, but that has been a brewing issue for me as well. I love seeing the Church grow and unite; hopefully, we will see more of the Spirit’s work and less of us men running around after permits and payments.
Oh, as one commentator once said, these servants/deacons were already men of prayer, too, but in need of a ministry position in the church. Key point. We don’t need Trumps; we do need Timothys.
Cheers
I couldn’t agree more about the fact that God doesn’t intend us to strike off into ministry alone. I think the dilemma becomes pressing when circumstances aren’t ideal. Many of the church planting stories I hear are told by guys who had to go it alone for awhile–not by choice but by necessity… They didn’t have a sending church, didn’t have strong fellow leaders, had a very small core team, etc.
When you get stuck in a situation like that, it seems like you start wearing about 101 hats because there aren’t other heads around.
The other side of that issue is the fact that the apostles probably did all the fund-raising, permit chasing stuff as well, but Luke never wrote about it. Who wants to read about Paul standing in line at the Corinth Department of Religious Licenses when we could be hearing stories about earthquakes and shipwrecks? Suffice it to say that when somebody finally writes the story of the Apostle Ariel at the end of your long life, the telescoping of your story will probably necessitate leaving out all the bits where you stood around gathering funds, glad-handing politicians, and struggling with mindless functionaries of the current Caesar.
I think Paul hits your concern, Ariel, here:
“For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.”
-1 Cor. 4:9-13
He is addressing the rich Corinthians who felt they had rank and merit. He quickly says he will demonstrate his apostleship not with words, but with power–something anyone in apostolic ministry must ask: What power does he mean? And how do I gain the proper strength he speaks of? Obviously, he is speaking of something very dire and more weighty than words…because he ends the chapter saying this power will either be used as whip or in a spirit of gentleness and love.
Sorry for the long quote above. You’ve given me something to chew and pray over. However, I know one thing: God is faithful and the true owner of riches. When we ask the Lord to provide, He will. Perhaps a lot of issues come down to personal faithfulness, esp. in finances. A man of prayer once said, “Truly, when you pray you put not God but your own spiritual life to the test.”
Overall, we see clearly in scripture the apostles trusted God to provide, that they consistently reminded the churches of their unity as one Church, seeking the Spirit to open avenues and destroy obstacles–Satan’s greatest trap is to turn us from trusting Christ to chasing riches.
We might have to learn to walk in faith–even if its ministering amidst the poorhouse as the poor.
@Benjamin:
I think those verses are pertinent. An apostolic calling is not a calling to general acclaim, wealth, and sexiness. Radical dependence and humility is the order of the day. Surely the power Paul speaks of is the power and authority of Christ, expressed with clarity through a man who has surrendered his own personal agenda? I like what you said in this paragraph:
One school of thought these days suggests that a church planter is a campaigning fund-raiser before he is a church planter. I’m not necessarily convinced. However, I do feel the tension between being “faithfully poor” and taking care of my family. Ultimately, God provides for his work in his ways. That leaves a some gray regarding our part in tracking those provisions down. But based on what we hear about Peter, James, Paul, etc., I have a hard time seeing them as primarily dudes who were good at finding the big donors.
@ Lanz: Your way with words makes me chuckle. And I think you have a point. Luke doesn’t include all those fascinating details that we wish he had. It’s clear that the disciples had to deal with the “mundane” aspects of ministry too–overseeing a famine relief fund and stitching tents together come to mind.
What gets me is when apostolic church planting gets described PRIMARILY (as in time allotment) in terms of admin. I don’t see how that’s true to what we find in the NT.
How do you reconcile the constant passages on selling our goods and giving to the poor, esp. with the apostles called to not carry extra provisions or goods?
I don’t know, myself…My next adventure will be to take inventory of my things and boiling them down to necessaries–mainly spiritual necessaries, actually. I come from a decent income house, but I think we could live on less to give more. The Church seemed to live in contentment for basics (food, clothing, etc)–and those not in abundance. “Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap…yet God feeds them.”
I don’t have to support a family yet, so I cannot empathize properly, AJ. Yet, I know if we sacrifice for the Father, He will help earthly dads raise strong men.
“Surely the power Paul speaks of is the power and authority of Christ, expressed with clarity through a man who has surrendered his own personal agenda…”
Yes…but I’d be curious as to what that looks like. I guess my confusion comes from a lack of examples, since most of American Christianity totes verbal eloquence as authority; Paul seems to think it resolves elsewhere.
“How do you reconcile the constant passages on selling our goods and giving to the poor, esp. with the apostles called to not carry extra provisions or goods?”
I believe we need to live as smart stewards. I like John Piper’s “war-time mentality” description. This will mean taking our financial lumps and being content. However, Paul says he also learned how to deal with the burden of plenty. Poverty and plenty–they each have their pressures, and God turns both to his purposes. We’re told that gospel workers have “a right” to their wages–you know, like the studly ox.
Living in America, I think part of being a good steward–and a good witness–is seeing one’s family cared for with an adequate salary.