I ended yesterday with my commentary on 2 Timothy 2.2: “Pass on what you heard from me…to reliable leaders who are competent to teach others.” (MSG)

2 Timothy 2.2: it’s so easy, anyone can do it, even laypeople! It’s so important everyone must do it, even pastors!

Here are three simple “first steps” applicable to pastors or lay people:

(1) Teach people to have daily time with God so that they are connecting with and hearing directly from God.

(2) Pray for God to give you one person to invest in. If you can’t give one person, one hour, once/week, you need to rethink what else you’re doing. This is a critical step for a pastor since the pastor needs to model for the laypeople what to do. My friend and former pastor Dr. Jim Singleton, now a professor at Gordon-Conwell Seminary in Boston, writes:

You can have a realistic expectation that a pastor could do a micro-expression of discipleship every year. I did that for 29 years. Today, we have a discipleship initiative at the seminary, and I am discipling four pastors-to-be now – plus two men in the church. 

Jim has developed his own content, but there are a lot of wonderful tools out there, as I’ve written about before. This page lists a lot of them.

(3) Begin to implement the Imagine Church message of helping everyone make a contribution where they are. Teaching everyone that they are on mission even if they’re not fully-developed “disciple-makers.” This goes to the 6Ms, borrowed from Mark Greene’s book Fruitfulness on the Frontline, which I blogged about beginning February 4, 2019.)

Those steps are doable by anyone starting today.

He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. (Colossians 1.28, 29, NIV)

I wrote yesterday on the need for pastors and churches to find new ways to meet people’s spiritual, emotional, and discipleship needs instead of merely using technology to replicate Sunday morning.

The challenge is that many pastors don’t seem to see the need to find new ways of meeting discipleship needs. For example, several years ago, a pastor, retiring (early) from active ministry, chose for his final sermon instructions from Paul to Timothy. The pastor focused on these four points:

• Be faithful in your duties (1.8)
• Hold on to sound doctrine (1.13, 14)
• Guard your heart and your relationships (2.22-24)
• Don’t be surprised when hard times come (3.12-15)

These are certainly good instructions, and the pastor wanted to make some points to the folks in the congregation upon his departure. But I have to wonder, why did he leave out 2 Timothy 2.1, 2?

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2.1, 2, NIV)

As advice for members of a congregation, you can’t do better than “be strong in grace” and “invest in others.”

• Take care of yourself–don’t sit back and wait for the next pastor to feed you. Take responsibility to be strong. And you only become strong by daily training.

• Invest in others–don’t think about whether you’re being fed or not; feed others!

I’m afraid those concepts are not on most pastors’ radars. And it’s hard to preach about what you’re not doing. 2 Timothy is written first and foremost to a pastor. And 2 Timothy 2.2 is clear that the pastor is supposed to invest in others so that they become leaders who invest in others.

I’ll have a couple of simple suggestions tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s my commentary on 2 Timothy 2.2, which reads like this in The Message: “Pass on what you heard from me…to reliable leaders who are competent to teach others.”

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!

If you’re a regular reader of The Ewellogy, you know that I am a huge fan of The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, founded by John Stott in the early 80s (https://www.licc.org.uk/). Here is their vision:

We have a dream that every Christian would go out into their bit of God’s world confident that God can work through them, confident that Jesus is good news for the people they meet, good news for the things they do, good news for the organisations they engage in.

And of course opportunities abound. 98% of Christians spend 95% of their waking lives ‘on the frontline’ – in shops and schools and shelters, in homes and offices and gyms.

Several years ago I hosted LICC’s Neil Hudson presenting the message of his excellent book Imagine Church. In the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, what does LICC recommend for churches? On May 3 they posted answers from pastors to the question: What would you pray for God to do in this context to serve people in this season? They responded:

• Instead of trying to keep old ways and systems going simply by utilizing new technology, pray that we would grasp the direction the Spirit is leading, helping us find new ways to meet people’s spiritual, emotional, and discipleship needs.
• Perhaps there are people who will experience real conversion during this season, coming see to see Christianity as a relationship rather than as religious observance. May we see what God is doing, as he calls his people back to what matters most, to be his ambassadors wherever we find ourselves.
• People have said that they are excited to finally gather together again because it will be “amazing”. Surely every Sunday should be like this?! Pray that we may grow in appreciation and praise through this.

I especially resonate with the first one. It’s nice to use technology to simulate the Sunday gathering, but how can we get on with finding “new ways to meet people’s spiritual, emotional, and discipleship needs”?

I’ll have more to say about that tomorrow.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up… (Ephesians 4.11, 12, NIV)

I wrote yesterday about the importance of a dual focus: the Word AND the Spirit. It’s fitting that we publish this today. It’s Star Wars Day: “May the Fourth be with you!”

If you’re not a Star Wars fan, I’m sorry, but there’s a lesson in thinking about the power (the Force) that was an essential element in the Star Wars stories. Power should be an essential element of our stories too:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1.8, ESV)

OK, back to the Word AND Spirit theme. Here’s a lesson from the world of music. You may know that I’ve played piano all my life, and my wife, June, taught piano as a second career. She is very big on “musicality” – something that is sometimes lost even among today’s concert artists who seem to be playing faster and faster…because they can.

At any rate, there’s a difference between playing all the notes correctly and making music. A few years ago, my son-in-law, a high school band director, was short some players and asked me to sit in with my trumpet. He was desperate because he and I know that I’m not very good on trumpet, especially in a band setting (I’m self-taught and don’t have a lot of band experience). I sat next to another high school band director, a drummer by training, who was filling in on trumpet. He played every note, exactly on time, exactly on pitch, but also all notes at the same deafening volume. It sounded like a jack-hammer. I shouldn’t criticize because he could at least play the notes, but it wasn’t musical.

It reminded me of something Seth Godin wrote about his clarinet experience:

Starting at the age of nine, I played the clarinet for eight years. Actually, that’s not true. I took clarinet lessons for eight years when I was a kid, but I’m not sure I ever actually played it.

Eventually, I heard a symphony orchestra member play a clarinet solo. It began with a sustained middle C, and I am 100% certain that never once did I play a note that sounded even close to the way his sounded.

And yet…And yet the lessons I was given were all about fingerings and songs and techniques. They were about playing higher or lower or longer notes, or playing more complex rhythms. At no point did someone sit me down and say, “wait, none of this matters if you can’t play a single note that actually sounds good.” – Seth Godin, March 2014

It’s the word AND the spirit. You can’t play the clarinet without fingerings and songs and techniques…or complex rhythms (the Word), but you also need musicality (the Spirit).

I wrote about this just over a year ago using the analogy of paint-by-number versus real art. It’s the same principle.

We need Spirit-empowered, Word-directed life and ministry. Jesus knew that:

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. (John 20.22, ESV)

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24.45 – 49, ESV, emphasis mine)

I’m still meditating on John 20.19 – 23, and a new thought popped out from verse 22:

After he said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20.22, ESV)

You wouldn’t build a theology around the first part of this verse, but here’s what hit me:

• Breathed on them: the Holy Spirit
• Said to them: the Word of God

It’s both: the Spirit AND the Word. Most of our traditions emphasize one or the other. I know many learned Bible teachers who excel at sharing truth, but they’re not so good at the fruit of the Spirit. They’re not open to the movement of the Spirit in others. Some are not very loving or kind, especially to those who disagree with them. Other folks seek ecstatic experiences of the Spirit, but they are sometimes ill-informed on the Word.

One way to capture both is to read the Bible, not in an academic way, but while being open to what God’s Spirit may say to us while we’re reading.

Here’s the Apostle Paul receiving direct guidance from a verse that is clearly Messianic. Isaiah 49.6 is about Jesus…

Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” [Isaiah 49.6] When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. (Acts 13.46 – 49, NIV, emphasis mine)

Tomorrow I want to share an example from music.

The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (John 6.63, ESV)

I wrote earlier about “doubting Thomas” and suggested he could be known as “seeking Thomas” because he wanted his own encounter with Jesus. This leads to an obvious implication for ministry: I need to help folks learn to have their own encounters with Jesus: initially and daily. That’s why I push so hard for daily time with God. Meeting with God is for everyone.

However, the challenge is that not everyone wants such an encounter. This problem goes back at least to Exodus 20, not counting Adam and Eve hiding in the garden in Genesis 3. Here’s what the folks at the foot of Mount Sinai said:

Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” (Exodus 20.18, 19, ESV, emphasis mine)

A friend of mine tried to help his aging father meet with God through daily scripture reading and prayer. His dad’s response? “Leave me alone. If the pastor wants me to know something from the Bible, he’ll tell me!”

Since time with God is one of the first things I teach when I meet with a man, I was surprised when my friend had slipped out of the habit. When he told me, I wrote him this note:

I am surprised that you seem to be substituting “Our Daily Bread” for your own time with God. Please recall what we learned about hearing from God directly. “Our Daily Bread” is a fine publication, has been for decades. But it is, essentially, a record of other people’s times with God. Babies need pre-digested food, but grown-ups feed themselves. Parents feed others.

You said you don’t know where to read. The best thing to do is pick a book and stay with it until you’re finished. Why don’t you try the Gospel of John? Not even a whole chapter each day—just a paragraph. Start with John 1:1 and do a paragraph a day until you’re finished.

I hope I’ve earned the right to speak to you directly. I’m praying you’ll take action.

I’m pleased to report he did take action, starting that very day. Here’s the verse I closed my note with:

Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD. (Proverbs 8.34, 35, ESV)

Yesterday I shared the new hymn about our scattered church gatherings. And earlier I wrote about the different ways churches are handling Sunday morning. Our church continues the Zoom approach including putting us in “rooms” after to visit. With the interaction, it’s been the next best thing to being together.

But my friend Ray Bandi in New Hampshire told me about a church up there that’s using a completely different approach. Instead of using live-stream or Zoom or live-stream via Facebook, the pastor is developing an order of worship and sending it to heads of households who are then running “church” in their homes! And he uses it as a leadership opportunity by bringing those heads of household together for a coaching session mid-week. Ray told him, and I agree: “This may be the most important thing you do at this church!”

What’s better than doing what Ephesians 4.11, 12 commands?

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry… (Ephesians 4.11, 12, ESV)

Now I’d be the first to say that there’s way more to ministry than having folks conduct a worship service in their home, but think of the engagement this practice promotes!

It reminds me of the time when we took our kids to Christmas Eve service at First Presbyterian Church, Colorado Springs. It’s a large church with a relatively small sanctuary, so they had multiple Christmas Eve services. We aimed for the 4:00p service, arriving at 3:30p as the previous service let out. We found a LONG line in front of us with no hope that we could get in. So, we picked up a few copies of the bulletin, went home, and ran the service ourselves. We let the kids read the various scriptures, we sang all the carols, including lighting the candles for Silent Night. Everyone loved it, and they still remember that service.

Do you remember that Passover, the primary feast in the Jewish calendar is a home celebration?

You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. And when you come to the land that the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. And when your children say to you, “What do you mean by this service?” you shall say, “It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.” (Exodus 12.24 – 27, ESV)

Last Sunday, our church used a fabulous Easter hymn, written by popular hymn writer Carolyn Winfrey Gillette especially for 2020. It applies during this time of social isolation:

Tomorrow, I want to write about the lines from the third stanza: “With sanctuaries empty, may homes become the place we ponder resurrection and celebrate your grace.”

But for today, let’s meditate on the last stanza, which correctly describes what churches ought always to be:

A scattered, faithful body that’s doing ministry. In homes and in the places of help and healing, too, we live the Easter message by gladly serving you.

There are two excellent books challenging churches to major on scattered as much as they do on gathered. I recommend them both.

• And: The Gathered and Scattered Church by Hugh Halter
• Scattered and Gathered by Neil Hudson

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. (Acts 8.1, 4, ESV, emphasis mine)

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia… (1 Peter 1.1, NIV)

I wrote yesterday about the thick-headed, slow-hearted doubters to whom Jesus entrusted the Great Commission. Today I want to add one more thing about doubters, an idea from my friend Bill Mowry, author of Ways of the Alongsider, an excellent tool for developing disciple-makers. Here’s the text:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. (Matthew 28.16, 17, ESV)

Bill’s observation?

They doubted, but they showed up!

Same with Thomas, whom we wrote about last week. He may have doubted, but he showed up!

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. (John 20.26, ESV)

We don’t need to be superstars. We don’t need to be free of doubt…of our ability or of Jesus’ ability to use us. We just need to show up – another word for that is faithful.

What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2.2, ESV, alternate reading, emphasis mine)

I wrote yesterday about the minimal instruction Jesus seemed to leave the disciples with after the resurrection.

Did you ever consider that immediately before his ascension, Jesus entrusted doubters with the Great Commission?

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28.16 – 20, ESV, emphasis mine)

Consider the audience of the Great Commission from Luke 24:

²⁵  Then he said to them, “So thick-headed! So slow-hearted! Why can’t you simply believe all that the prophets said?
²⁶  Don’t you see that these things had to happen, that the Messiah had to suffer and only then enter into his glory?”
²⁷  Then he started at the beginning, with the Books of Moses, and went on through all the Prophets, pointing out everything in the Scriptures that referred to him…
⁴⁴  Then he said, “Everything I told you while I was with you comes to this: All the things written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms have to be fulfilled.”
⁴⁵  He went on to open their understanding of the Word of God, showing them how to read their Bibles this way.
⁴⁶  He said, “You can see now how it is written that the Messiah suffers, rises from the dead on the third day,
⁴⁷  and then a total life-change through the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in his name to all nations—starting from here, from Jerusalem!

Jesus left the most important mission in history to thick-headed, slow-hearted doubters! Terrific! I’m qualified, right along with the “unqualified” Apostle Paul:

I’m so grateful to Christ Jesus for making me adequate to do this work. He went out on a limb, you know, in trusting me with this ministry. The only credentials I brought to it were invective and witch hunts and arrogance. But I was treated mercifully because I didn’t know what I was doing—didn’t know Who I was doing it against! Grace mixed with faith and love poured over me and into me. And all because of Jesus. Here’s a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I’m proof—Public Sinner Number One—of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy. And now he shows me off—evidence of his endless patience—to those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever. (1 Timothy 1.12 – 16, MSG)