God must do everything that will be of eternal value. “So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase” (1 Cor. 3:7). However, although He can speak through asses, and even rocks if need be, generally the Lord uses people to be the agents of His work, equipped and energized by His Spirit. And the man who wrote those words in 1 Corinthians very much appreciated his fellow-workers, as he called them.
Paul no doubt saw the wisdom of the Lord’s example in taking the twelve “that they should be with Him and that He might send them forth” (Mk. 3:14), and so did similarly. It was not simply a Paul & Timothy duo: there was Titus, Mark, Luke, Barnabas, Demas, Trophemus, Tertius, Silas, Epaphroditus, Tychicus, Stephanas, Fortunatus, Achaicus…
Are you sitting down?
It is lovely to see an older saint working with and training a younger disciple. But starting with one and ending with one when the teacher passes on—that isn’t good arithmetic. The world population multiplies. We need the multiplication of our forces as well. “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2).
I’ve been praying that the Lord of the harvest will thrust out at least 500 couples into the North American hinterland in the next year or two. Am I being too timid in only asking for a thousand people? Probably. When the Lord began harvesting from Jerusalem, He began with well nigh ten times that number! And consider that the whole world’s population estimated at the time of Christ’s birth was less than that of North America today.
But a thousand committed workers is a start, though nothing compared to the thousands of Mormons and JWs that are constantly looking for the unwary. On May 14 of last year, UPI announced that “the consecration of a Mormon temple in New York on June 13 will be a milestone in one of the most extraordinary religious developments of our time—the breathtaking growth of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The rather stark six-storey building opposite the Metropolitan Opera is the 119th LDS temple; four years ago there were only 50. This increase is paralleled by the construction of 400 new meetinghouses worldwide every year.”
New Muslim mosques and Hindu temples are springing up around us. Shall we continue living as we are, offering only an occasional sigh at the alarming statistics?
Considering one thousand pioneers for North America shouldn’t frighten us; it should inspire our prayers. Hudson Taylor died in China exactly 100 years ago. In the days approaching the Boxer Rebellion at the turn of the century, financial resources were very slim. But the need of the field before him drove Taylor to what some call audacious faith—asking for 1,000 new workers when the funds for the support of the Mission had dwindled almost to nothing. He wrote to a friend: “We have twenty-seven cents…and all the promises of God.” More than enough! (See True Story, p. 25 for more faith-building incidents from Hudson Taylor’s life).
The right ones for the job
Not anyone will do for this rigorous task, of course (see the previous article by A. E. Horton). Woe betides elders that “commend” their problem cases to some other area! The ones whom the Lord calls could well be the most expensive ones for an assembly to give away.
It may take some months for these workers to be able to leave their assembly for other parts. Usually they should train others to fill the ranks before they go, if some are not already available to step in. After all, if they cannot train replacements, they are not some of those evangelists, pastors and teachers mentioned in Ephesians 4, who can mature the saints to do “the work of the ministry” (v. 12).
Sometimes—at great sacrifice—the Lord may call on newly planted or small assemblies to give up a promising young servant, the way Timothy was released from the area of Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium (see Acts 14 and 16). Generally, however, it does not seem to be wise for a small, group to be expected to give up the bulk of its future workers to other areas of the field, leaving it to struggle on.
Of course there is always the temptation for an eager young man to look further afield when he believes his own local assembly is “perishing” because the leaders have “no vision” (Prov. 29:18). He is eager to lay his life down, but not for a cause that he believes is already lost.
What would the wise among us say to a young man like this? Never leave such a place? I can only say that he should spend serious time in the presence of the One who moves in the midst of the gold lampstands to be sure that his directions are from the Head and not from his heart. God can still use a young Samuel to rescue a seemingly impossible situation when his ear is open to the Lord’s voice, and—as is often the case—when godly, praying women compensate for the failure of weak male leadership.
The path of greater blessing
In most cases it would be the norm, wouldn’t it, that the healthy assemblies should be willing and eager to invest some of their capable, consecrated (and often under-utilized) believers in a work further afield. It should not be thought, however, that the larger an assembly, the more it can contribute. I am living proof that there is an optimum size for a body. Once that size is reached, it would be nice if increased growth meant spare kidneys or a back-up heart. But no, all that happens is increasing bulk and increasing lethargy.
It should also be noted that the idea of what is a suitable size varies dramatically around the world. This perception has certainly been affected by the megachurch phenomenon here in North America. But did you know that evangelical local churches on this continent still only average 50—that’s right, 50 members.
According to pollster George Barna, megachurches—those with 1000 attendees on a typical weekend—only represent 1% “of the Protestant church landscape.” These rapidly growing and high-profile congregations, though we thank God for every one saved through their ministries, are not winning the battle of taking North America for Christ. According to Barna, from 1992 to 1999, average church attendance has dropped by 12% in the US whereas the population has increased by 9%.
Far better to have many smaller groups where each one has a significant part to play rather than having great crowds of spectators with only a few who have vital roles.
A good number of North American assemblies, it seems to me, have an excess of qualified people who have little exercise because there is little opportunity. Young people, loaded with energy, therefore pour themselves into careers rather than the work of reaching eternal souls. As Paul would explain (Phil. 1:14), some gifted brethren are reticent to take public part when older and more developed ministers of the Word are available. Obviously having more frequent opportunities to exercise their gift should not require the imprisonment of senior men, as in Paul’s case!
Give generously!
How many gifted men should these healthy assemblies be expected to release? One indication is given by the assembly at Antioch (Acts 13:1). Five percent? Ten percent? The Holy Spirit requested no less than 40% of their preaching gift, as far as we are told—two men out of five. What’s more, the two happened to be Paul and Barnabas. How could they afford to give them up? How could they afford not to when the Spirit moved them? And how much poorer the whole church would have been if these elders stood in the way of their larger sphere of ministry?
I believe that the same principle regarding personal enrichment is also true of local churches. I am enriched only when I learn to give. Here is the path of blessing. Any assembly that becomes parochial, inward looking, interested only in what benefits them, is on the path to spiritual poverty. “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Phil. 2:4).
Paul pled with Corinth to follow the example of their poor brothers in Macedonia: “We make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality” (2 Cor. 8:1-2, nkjv). Their hearts, not their wallets, overflowed.
Note that these Macedonians provided for Paul’s needs, not when he was ministering to them, but when he was pioneering elsewhere. This is something else that must change. Many assemblies are happy to send money to workers on foreign fields (which we applaud) and give to preachers who occupy their platforms. We must, however, take significant steps to invest in pioneer works and workers in North America. For those that have been richly blessed by God, may we hear the ancient plea as if from these isolated servants and fledgling assemblies: “Think on me when it shall be well with thee…” (Gen. 40:14).