I sent out a ministry update the other day and received a response from a missionary lady serving in an African country. At first, I was really pleased that she was having success using discipleship materials from my organization The Navigators. She wrote:

I was assigned to mentor a single gal serving here for one year, and in recent weeks she’s asked to transition more into discipleship and learning of spiritual disciplines. We’re beginning with “Compact Discipleship” a small project put together by a [Navigator] staff member at Colorado College in the mid-2000s and introduced to me through campus Navs at Texas A&M. We’ll then start through the 2:7 series (using a workbook I happened to find in the one Christian bookshop here in town) for as long as we can until she heads back home to Germany. I’m grateful for the many, many Nav tools that I’ve been exposed to (either through my parents, through college ministry, or from other mentors who use Navigator material), and for the opportunity to pass things on to faithful [wo]men who will teach others also.

As I say, good for The Navigators! But as I was crafting my response, I remembered something that I had written 20 years ago about 2 Timothy 2.2 which reads:

What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. (ESV)

I wrote to the missionary:

Thanks for taking time to write. I’m excited that you have the opportunity to practice 2 Timothy 2.2! Some missionaries don’t, thinking their primary missionary work is sufficient ministry. I was once teaching this concept in a mission compound in Haiti. There were missionaries there as well as volunteers on a short-term mission. I said something like:

2 Timothy 2:2…

• It’s so easy anyone CAN do it, even lay people.
• It’s so important, everyone MUST do it, even pastors and missionaries!

Thanks for leading the way.