Jump Start # 3860
Acts 8:14 “Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John.”
One of the inner workings of the early church was the sending of preachers. In our verse today, Peter and John were sent to Samaria. Paul sent Timothy to the Thessalonians. Tychicus was sent to Ephesus. And, then Tychicus was sent to Colossae. Epaphroditus was sent to Philippi. Timothy was sent to Corinth. I am amazed at all the people that were sent to so many places. I can imagine a giant map on the wall with pins and strings showing where each person was. In our times we’d hire someone to coordinate all of this travel and moving around. The need was great and the preachers were willing to go.
I thought about this the other day after talking to a few churches who were looking for a preacher to come and work with them. The pool of preachers is small these days. The number of churches looking is many. And, this is causing stress and headaches for many shepherds across the land. They are having a hard time finding someone to come and work with them.
Here is a thought and only a thought:
There are many preachers who have retired. They do not want to move nor do they have the drive to get into the weeds of day-to-day working necessary in a congregation. What if a looking church were to reach out to a retired preacher and ask him to come for a month or two. Come preach. Come teach. Come help us. The looking church needs to pay for the accommodations for the retired preacher to come and stay. But, many, if not most retired preachers do not need income. Special classes could be held during the weeks that they are there and this would provide a steady voice in the pulpit and experience in the transition period before the next full time preacher could be found.
Now, imagine bringing a series of retired preachers, one after the other, for a short period of time. So many of these men have written class material and even developed special series of lessons that could be of great benefit to a congregation. Rather than just circling in a holding pattern until the next preacher can be hired, using what talents there are in the kingdom, even for a short period of time, could be of benefit to the congregation.
We have grown very accustomed to each congregation having their own preacher. That has worked well when there has been an abundance of preachers. Now, there is not. Now, it’s time to think how best to feed the flock of God with what we have. Timothy was at Corinth. Paul was at Corinth. Apollos was at Corinth. Rather than the thinking that this is our preacher and he is with us, what if we shared him with another congregation? What if he was with us only for the summer months and then was somewhere else for a period of time?
What I’m hearing across the land, “There just aren’t any preachers,” or, “No one wants to move.” So, we wait, often settling for the consolation prize, because we are determined to have our own preacher. Could it be that it’s time to move to another model about preachers and working with congregations?
If you could have ran into Timothy in the first century, you might have asked him, “Are you a preacher?” His answer would be, “Yes.” “Where do you preach?” He’d say, this month at Ephesus. Last couple of months, Thessalonica. Next month I’m on to Corinth. So strange that seems to us, but maybe a picture that would help during this shortage.
I have a ledger from 1912 that belonged to the preacher Henry Ficklin. He preached nearly every Sunday, but it seems he was in a different place every Sunday. Many preachers were like that long ago. They preached all the time, but they weren’t “located,” was we use that term.
It’s time to put on the thinkin’ hats and come up with some Biblical and workable solutions to keep congregations growing and moving in the right direction. It’s also a good time to develop men to teach and preach with depth and value. Invite preachers in to teach the men how to study and develop lessons from a text.
Out of these challenging times, great things can take place. Maybe the way we’ve always done things is not the best way these days. Having healthy conversations about things like this is good.
Roger