As I think about and seek to promote biblical, strong, faithful, Spirit-filled leaders, my mind runs to Paul. After the separation of Barnabas and Paul over issues with John Mark, Paul does not try to carry on the ministry solo. He immediately “chose Silas and departed” (Acts 15:40). Paul had a Spirit-given desire to both work with a partner and develop the next generation of leaders.
To accomplish that, Paul looked for younger men he could disciple, mentor, and release into ministry. As Paul and Silas pass through Syria and Cilicia, they come to Derbe and hear of a disciple named Timothy. He was “the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer…well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium” (16:1-2). You might say, these characteristics were criteria in Paul’s mind as he went from place to place. Not many people lined up with these qualities, but as in the case of Timothy, Paul found a young man that fit what he was looking for. “Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him and he took him” (16:3). This is what we call ‘training in the ministry.’ Does this method of leadership development work? As this newly formed team went from place to place, “the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily” (16:5). Discipling in view of developing leaders who are strong in faith and Spirit-filled will always have this result. Are you working with a team and who are you mentoring into leadership?
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Perhaps this is one of the most difficult subjects of any relationship or ministry. From years of experience, I can say that there is no better source of help on this subject than Scripture. Let me also confess that I am not an expert or example in this area and have failed often.
Most disagreements that are handled well by leaders end up with benefits on both sides. Paul and Barnabas had known each other for about ten years and worked in their calling from Antioch for about four years. They knew each other well and God blessed their work together. At the end of Acts 15, “Paul thought best not to take with them one [Mark], who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work” (Acts 15:38). This decision did not sit well with Barnabas who had taken “John called Mark” under his wing. It meant that Paul and Barnabas separated; Barnabas to Cyprus with Mark, and Paul with Silas went “through Syria and Cilicia” (15:41). Was this a terrible thing for the Church? No! Please note two things: 1) neither Paul nor Barnabas spoke ill of the other person and 2) they both continued the Lord’s work with commitment and energy. Did Paul forget about Mark? Never! “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11). It is important for the sake of God’s glory and His work that we strive to maintain this attitude even when differences might cause us to work separately for a time. We come back to the series on leadership. Barnabas and Paul were great partners and we have seen in Acts how the gospel spread because they worked so well together. In a couple days, I will move on to others who worked well with Paul.
After the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15), a letter was hand delivered by Barnabas, Paul and Silas, to the believers at Antioch, and they “rejoiced because of the encouragement. And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words” (15:31-32). It is easy to get consumed with issues of doctrine and practice, and forget that believers, especially those young in the faith, need encouragement as well as teaching. This encouragement was not a passing casual effort on the part of these leaders. “They…spent some time” with them which added to the sincerity of their work and effort at Antioch. Make sure to encourage, strengthen and build up the body of Christ where you are and where God calls you to minister. Even though Paul had to address some very hard issues with Corinth, he wanted to “use…the authority that the Lord has given [him] for building up and not for tearing down” (2 Corinthians 13:10). Make that a major part of your life and ministry. NEWS from MYANMAR “We are still in lockdown mode, but we have worship services with some church members at my home. I thank the Lord for that and praise the Lord for giving us a chance to study GPHD with some of our friends from Living Stream in Mandalay. That is the biggest thing in His ministry during this epidemic. God is wonderful! I praise the Lord for giving us contributions of rice, cooking oil and some potatoes for those who needs in our church. Please pray for our study and teaching on GPHD. Pray for all of our ministers, that God will show us His wonderful love for the Lost people.” AFRICA You may be very aware of the rising persecution of Christians in many African countries, particularly Nigeria. This is complicated with the restrictions that COVID-19 has brought. Though there is a lack of food in some places, there is also a longing for many who do not have Bibles to get their hands on the Word that provides the “Bread of Life.” As we can, we are seeking to provide Bibles in areas where they are scarce. If you are interested in helping us with this need, please contact us at: newfoundationsinternational@gmail.com. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14). VIETNAM A dear brother who translated both training books into Vietnamese and H’Mông, continues to train groups of leaders. He is currently conducting the 104th training session. This has reached into the least reached people groups of North Vietnam, including the Red Dao and Hmong people groups. This servant is always thinking of ways to improve the training and use visuals to help students grasp the biblical principles. He took Lesson 6 of GPHD, “How to Study the Bible” and created a chart from Acts 8:26-38, to illustrate this lesson (See diagram). It is having a significant impact on the students. Please pray for this Brother and his work. ECUADOR In these times when we are unable to travel because of COVID-19, it fills our hearts with joy to hear from faithful men who have taken what they learned and are training others. Juan continues to train 30 disciples in Ecuador by going through GPHC! Can you imagine the multiplication affect this will have as they in turn pass on to others what they are learning? True disciples make other faithful disciples. Be sure to thank the Lord for what He is doing and pray that these 30 students will understand the potential of what they are learning. I want to update you on important translations that will greatly impact this ministry in many parts of the world. We are pushing ahead to get both books, God’s Plan for His Disciples (GPHD) and God’s Plan for His Church (GPHC) into Arabic and Farsi (Persian), translated and in the right format. With approximately 420 million people speaking Arabic and 23 million people speaking Farsi, there is a huge potential to impact the unreached through indigenous disciples who can use GPHD to disciple others. An amazing part of this project is that we discovered communities of Arabic and Farsi speaking believers here in the USA. Like the Ethiopian Eunuch, God can motivate these Christians to carry the biblical truth back to people in their homeland! Please pray for this work to be finished quickly and accurately. OTHER LANGUAGES – in different phases of translation, editing and formatting:
Like many other times in the history of the Church, Acts 15 was a very crucial event. The Jerusalem Council was successful in that it came to the right conclusion regarding the gospel of pure grace. So strong was their decision that they sent a letter out to other churches by the hand of Paul, Barnabas, and Silas (15:22-29).
Before we conclude that all is well, we must turn to Paul’s first letter which was written very soon after the Jerusalem Council. It appears that a few false teachers took the opportunity to rush up to the Galatian churches and deceive them into believing a “different gospel.” Notice Paul’s strong language regarding this situation. “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6–7). Later Paul comments about those “who slipped in to spy out our freedom what we have in Christ Jesus…to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you” (2:4-5). Our love for the pure gospel of grace will be tested by those who desire to undermine the truth. Our love for the pure gospel of grace will also be proven strong when we are willing to stand up against forces of error that weaken its truth. Before we launch into Acts 15, it is important to remember all God did through the apostles in establishing the Church in so many places over a relatively short period of time. The Holy Spirit emboldened them to proclaim the gospel in the face of opposition, persecution, even stoning. Not only that, God showed it was His will to bring the Gentiles into the Church so that Jew and Gentile “might be reconciled…both to God in one body through the cross” (Ephesians 2:14).
You can be certain that when God is starting to do a new work we have not seen before, the ‘old traditionalists’ want the Church to hold onto certain practices. They said, “it is necessary to circumcise them [the Gentiles] and to order them to keep the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5). What Peter, Barnabas, Paul and James witnessed in their evangelizing was that God “gave them the Holy Spirit just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith” (15:8-9). What was taking place was a work of God, not man. Peter goes on to say, “we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord, just as they will” (15:11). What marked this council in Jerusalem was that those who witnessed God working did not abandon the manifest work of the Spirit to a hierarchy of leaders who did not see the work for themselves. Right after this council, Paul writes with passion; “to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you” (Galatians 2:5). We cannot afford to compromise on the pure gospel to any degree, at any time or anywhere! Most of us in churches that send out missionaries are familiar with those who come home from the field giving a report to the sending church. It is usually a very exciting time to hear first-hand what God has done through His servants. Food and fellowship are usually part of these events.
In Acts 14:24-28, Barnabas and Paul returned to Antioch “where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had fulfilled” (14:26). Based on the churches that were planted in the area of Galatia, they could say with confidence that “the work [was] fulfilled.” Remember, this first missionary trip for Paul and Barnabas was only over about a five-month period! There was another feature about their work that must be noted. Not only did these two servants plant churches and establish disciples and leaders in them, “they declared all that God had done with them, and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27). This was a major turning point for the Early Church. Up to this point, the Church had been ethnically Jewish. Now God had spread the gospel of grace to the Gentiles and brought them into the body of Christ. It is my firm conviction that if we return to the methods of church planting proven by Paul and Barnabas, we would see the last unreached people group taking their place in the Body of Christ very quickly. This is the way to increase Christ among the nations and glorify God! Unlike our present-day church planting models and leadership, Paul and Barnabas left the churches in Lystra, Iconium and Antioch with elders after only about five months.
“And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed” (Acts 14:23). There have been many arguments insisting that establishing leaders out of the indigenous “new” believers is too risky. If we talk about the role of pastor, overseer and elder, some would say that persons who fill these roles need years of training and even Bible College or Seminary training. If these views were viable, why did the Early Church succeed and grow as quickly as it did? There is one clear and firm belief that the apostles used in establishing any church; they trusted the Spirit in new believers He had regenerated and baptized into one body (1 Corinthians 12:13). His work brought to light in these “new creations” (2 Corinthians 5:17) qualities that were suited to the leadership role of “elder.” One of the reasons we are so far behind in accomplishing the Great Commission is because we have tried to replace the work of the Spirit with man-made methods. Let’s return to a biblical model. Prayer and fasting will put our hearts in the right attitude to hear the Lord confirm or not, those selected for leadership. “They committed them to the Lord” as the safest hands to be in; for “He is the Head of the body, the Church” (Colossians 1:18). |
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