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4. When the Apostle Paul left the elders of the church at Ephesus, he declared he had shared the “whole counsel of God” and urged them to be good overseers of God’s people. Read verses Acts:20:17-38 and discuss what Christian leaders should take do to ensure what God’s promises is shared by all.

5. Today’s study is about getting people enlisted and getting organized for ministry that will impact the world for Jesus. The Apostle Paul called his co-workers Epaphrodites and Archippus “fellow soldiers” in ministry. He wrote in 2 Tim. 2:3,4... “Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs- he wants to please his commanding officer.” An enlisted man or woman at their best has uncompromising commitment to the cause. What metaphors, other than military, might better help people in our time and culture to appreciate his meaning?

6. The plan of God for his people is not one minister, nor just one who knows the will of God—The plan of God for his people is not some ministers, nor just some who know the will of God—The plan of God is for all his people to be his ministers, and to know sufficiently in Jesus Christ, His Word and His Spirit what God wants us to do for Him in daily life.

What ministries in your church are you currently

involved in?

What ministries would you like to explore/know more

about?

What other service to God beyond your congregation are

you involved in?

Small Group Study Notes

Ministry with E’s

#2 enlisted for ministry

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INTRODUCING THESE STUDIES

This series of studies aims to help members of Christian small groups to embrace the New Testament assertions that every baptised person is called and enabled by God to serve others in the church and the world as God enables them to do so. A Greek word in the New Testament that is often translated as “ministry” is diakonia. The basic meaning of this word is “service”.

PROBLEM SOLVING

DISCUSS

Referring to the picture below, tell stories to others in your group of simple or complex problems in your workplace or household that were solved by using some of the suggested steps below...

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READ Matthew 9:37-38

37 … he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

It is God’s greater plan to enlist and involve every person

who believes in the Lord Jesus to spread his word and his love.

This way the knowledge of God’s will is spread far beyond the confines of the church to the nations.

When every person is involved so much more love and grace can be shared with the needy.

DISCUSS 1. How, in the light of God’s intention to involve all followers of

Christ in carrying out His mission, should your church go about involving its members in ministry?

2. What organizational structures in the church might assist in helping all baptized Christians find a place in serving in various ministries?

3. Romans 12:1,2 asserts that because of the Gospel (the “mercies of God” vs. 1) we can discern what is the will of God. How do you think this relates to “judging” daily religious, family and business concerns?

General William Booth, founder of the Salvation

Army, was asked the secret of his amazing

Christian life. Booth answered, 'I told the Lord that

he could have all that there is of William Booth.'

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God enlists us all Jesus enlisted a rag-tag group of ordinary citizens and sent them out to do ministry, giving them the authority to be ministers of his power and gospel. They went out with his authority and blessing and they preached Jesus words and shared his love and power. When his own ministry was reaching thousands of people Jesus told his followers of God’s even greater plan. In The Gospel of Matthew, chapters nine through ten, Jesus foreshadowed the intention that all would be needed in the mission of God (look at the titles in those two chapters).

Rick Warren tells in his book The Purpose Driven Church,

“A Gallup survey discovered that only ten percent of American church members are active in any kind of personal ministry and that fifty percent of all church

members have no interest in serving in any ministry.” Warren goes on to say, I believe the church is a

sleeping giant. Each Sunday, church pews are filled with members who are doing nothing with their faith

except ‘keeping’ it . . . If we can ever awaken and unleash the massive talent, resources, creativity, and

energy lying dormant in the typical local church, Christianity will explode with growth at an

unprecedented rate.

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BIBLE STUDY — Exodus 18

LEADER As asserted in the sermon and study last week, the solo approach to ministry falls short of both intention and example in the New Testament. In this study we find that the Old Testament also points towards collaboration in ministry as a preferred way to serve. READ Exodus 18:1-27 Getting into their Sandals

1. Note who the key characters are in the narrative. Using some on-line resources, have someone in your group find out more about the two key characters and the relationship between Moses and Jethro, and share it with the group.

2. With reference to the map below, can you work out where on the Exodus journey the people are located when we get to this part of the narrative (see Exod. 19:1-2)? What significant event is soon to happen and how might it change the lives of the tribes of Israel(Exod. ch. 20)?

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3. What might be the significance of Jethro’s testimony to a Jewish reader in ancient times (see vss. 9-11)? Why does the reference to sacrifices and a shared meal suggest about the relationship of Jethro to the elders of Israel (vs. 12)?

LEADER

Moses—Problem Solver Problem solving is a tricky business. And this is just what Moses was in the business of doing as described in Exodus chapter 18. Moses was problem- solver for the Hebrew people. He was the sole judge for people regarding all manner of issues of both life and religion. Note how Moses was being worn down by his solo approach to the ministry...

14 …. (Jethro asked), "What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?" 15 Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will. 16 Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws." Exod 18:14-16

Exod 18:19-20 explains further that, Moses was the “people's representative before God.” He brought “their disputes to God,…(taught)… God’s decrees and laws, and (showed) them the way to live and the duties they (were) to perform.” At this point in Israel’s desert wandering, the commandments and laws of God had not yet been delivered in written form. Only Moses received the direct revelation from God of the ways the people of

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LEADER Jethro’s advice enabled many to receive guidance from God, but it was a mere foretaste of God’s greater future in which knowing the will and purpose of God would be mediated through the death of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. On the great day of Pentecost after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, the Book of Acts, chapter 2, quotes the prophet Joel, stating:

17 "'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'

Jethro’s advice alleviated the load on Moses’ shoulders and spread the responsibility of leadership more broadly, but it was a mere foretaste of a grander design. Through Christ, God offers us a renovation of the heart that makes way for a new and universal access to knowing His will and a new capacity to live according to His ways (Titus 2:11-14). Christians enjoy a new status, power and privilege to serve as ministers of God in the world (1 Peter 2:9-10; 4:10-12).

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The Pentecost Principle Jethro’s advice helped to alleviate Moses’ leadership load and assisted the people of God to learn what God’s will was for them in various situations. However, within a short time their situation was to change again and, though the will of God would soon be presented to them in written and spoken form (e.g. Exod. 19:7,8), there would be new structures (Exod. chs. 20-31) and it would soon be evident that the hearts of the people were resistant to knowing and doing God’s will (Exod. ch. 32). The Bible is not merely offering us leadership and management advice. Given that New Testament writers considered Moses as a pre-figuration of Christ (e.g. Luke 9:28-36), we should lift our eyes to see why this curious aside in the Exodus narrative is included. What does it point to in the bigger scheme of salvation history? As Israel’s story unfolds, the consistent message is that a problem exists in the human heart where obedience to the will of God is concerned. A greater renovation of the community life of God’s people is revealed progressively in the Bible. Knowing the will of God and sharing the work of ministry was not to be reserved for a mere few. For example, Jeremiah the prophet, at a later time in Israel’s history speaks of the promise of a greater solution... READ Jeremiah 31:33-34

33 … "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

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Israel must live. Imagine the workload! Ex. 12:37 numbered Israel at 600,000 men, let alone women and children. Ex. 18:13 states that the people would queue up from early in the day till days end. Surely, it must have been exhausting. Issues brought Moses may have included: how and what to sacrifice, reconciling a bad debt, fixing a marriage , dealing with a wayward son, resolving a neighbour’s claim, or determining how much land and property was assigned distributed. As Judge, Moses’ responsibility was to bring the will of God to bear on the dilemmas of the people. The Jethro Principle Armed with advice, Jethro promised Moses three things in vs. 23. He said to Moses:

“If you do this (i.e. follow my advice) and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied." Ex. 18:23 I. Firstly, he claimed his advice was God’s idea that ministry

should be shared; II. Secondly, he promised that his new system would help

sustain Moses’ in ministry; III. Thirdly, Jethro’s new system would mean that the people

in the long queues would finally be satisfied (the word here in Hebrew is “shalom”- i.e. peace with God, even in times of trouble.)

READ Exod 18:17-23

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DISCUSS Referring to the diagrams below, how would you describe the “Jethro principle” applied to Moses’ ministry? Before... After...

LEADER

Perhaps based on a military strategy, Jethro’s advice to Moses offered several keys to sharing the load of judging the people’s concerns:

Ministers to take charge of 1000’s, 100’s, 50’s and 10’s The span of relationship never exceeds a ratio of 1:10 Leader of 10 at the base handles the simple problems of 10 More complex issues can be referred up the tree

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QUESTION Have you seen similar restructures in your field of work? In a

church? What advantages did you experience/observe? LEADER After implementing Jethro’s principles: Only the most difficult cases came to Moses.

Moses could get some sleep, reflect, write, and pray.

Knowledge of God’s will was spread among leaders.

A new level of resilience was introduced into the leadership.

H.B. London, Jr. and Neil B. Wiseman, in “Pastors at Risk”, report:

90% of pastors work more than 54 hours per week. The average pastor gets 6.8 hours sleep at

night. 80% believed that pastoral ministry affected their families negatively. 33% percent

said that being in ministry was an outright hazard to their families. 75% percent reported a

significant stress-related crisis at least once in their ministry. 50% felt unable to meet the

needs of the job, 90% felt that they were inadequately trained to cope with ministry, and

40% reported a serious conflict with a parishioner at least once per month.