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MentorNet #38 HE SENT THEM OUT TWO BY TWO Copyright © 2006 by Galen
Currah and George Patterson Dr.
Victor Choudhrie, whose biblical mentoring God has used to bring about great
numbers of house churches in In a recent training workshop held
in a very rural part of Reasons for Sending out Workers in
Pairs 1. Travelling in groups of two or
more was Jesus’ and the apostles’ consistent practice. To avoid working
alone is patently biblical. There are at least three levels
of authority for what churches and missions practice: 1) the commands of the
New Testament, 2) practices of the New Testament that were not commanded, and
3) church traditions that were neither commanded nor practiced in the NT.
Christians historically have preferred to adopt apostolic practices except
when those offend local culture or cause more harm than good. 2. There is more power from God when
two agree together in prayer. Jesus promised, “If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask,
it will be done for them by my Father in heaven” (Matt. 3. Two workers can usually bring more
spiritual gifts into play than can one. Since gospel workers have as their objective to
evangelize families and plant churches in the homes of receptive folks, they
will be better equipped to do so by the gifts of the Holy Spirit in each one
of them. God promises to give to churches apostles, prophets, evangelists,
shepherds and teachers who can equip those churches (Eph. 4. One worker may have teaching gifts
and another, other practical gifts. Fulfilling both the Great commandment to love God
and neighbour and Jesus’ Supreme command to make disciples, dual workers can
use both speaking gifts and serving gifts (1 Pet 5. Two workers can experience the
Presence of Jesus in their midst. Two workers can be more certain of the “voice” of
the Holy Spirit leading their activities and granting them insight. As soon
as the two have led a third to faith in Jesus, they already qualify as a
nuclear church in which Jesus dwells (Matt. 6. Dual workers serve as reliable
witnesses to the outcomes of their work. When the Apostle Peter went to the home of Cornelius in Caesarea, he
took along with him six brothers from Joppa who served as witness to the
unexpected outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon non-Jewish believers (Acts
10:45; ll:12). Reliable testimonials can encourage others and confirm
outcomes. In some cases, workers can better defend each other in cases of
false accusation as well as in courts of law, discouraging wanton attacks
against a worker who goes out alone. 7. A pair of workers can encourage
each other keep each other accountable. Lonely and frightened gospel workers can easily fall
prey to their fears and to various kinds of temptations, whereas a pair of
workers can more easily resist incitement to sin and can reason together
about obstacles to their work (2 Cor. 7:6). While it can happen that
co-workers come to a glad parting of ways, it is more usual that they remain
encouraged by each others companionship. In our experience as mentors of
church planters, most serious failures, both moral and strategic, have
occurred while workers were travelling alone
or during the fatigue
that follows ‘mountain top’ ministry, such as Elijah’s suicidal depression
after his triumph on Mt. Carmel (1 Kings 18-19). 8. When one worker trains another,
they will often go out together for a time. Neither Jesus nor his apostles made it a practice to
work alone; they both normally chose co-workers who were less experienced
than themselves, because they saw in their apprentices a potential to become
effective workers (Acts 16:1-3). In Acts 13, it is reported that the Holy
Spirit sent out Barnabas, the more experienced, and Saul. Later, Saul, called
Paul, became the more prominent. Travelling with less experienced workers is
a key component of mentoring. 9. When one worker is detained at a
place, the other can go or return where needed. Because Paul had taken co-workers with him to most localities, he was
later able to leave one at a place or send one where they were recognised (1
Tim. 1:3; Tit. 1:5; Col. 1:7). An independent worker can easily die, become disabled
or be detained, leaving earlier contacts undeveloped. 10. A pair of workers appears more
serious and important to sceptical communities. Whereas
an individual can be taken as a marginal babbler (Acts Mentoring Resources To find
mentoring tools and web sites, visit <http://www.MentorAndMultiply.com>. To obtain
information on how to use Train & Multiply® (pastoral
training combined with church planting) write to
Galen Currah <[email protected]>. To obtain information
on how to obtain T&M®, visit <http://www.TrainAndMultiply.com>. To
download free, reproducible training materials for new leaders &
missionaries: www.Paul-Timothy.net. To
download "Come, Let Us Disciple the Nations" (CD-ROM), visit <http://www.paul-timothy.net/dn/>. To order Church Multiplication Guide in
English, visit <http://www.WCLbooks.com>
or a book shop. To
download CMG free in Portuguese or French, visit <http://paul-timothy.net/cmg/>. To
download this article or earlier MentorNet articles, visit <http://www.MentorNet.ws>. To
subscribe to MentorNet write to <[email protected]>; to
unsubscribe from MentorNet write to <[email protected]>. To obtain
counsel on severe church planting obstacles and training challenges, write to
George Patterson at <[email protected]>. |