Do you want your leaders to burn out?

That's an easy question to answer isn't it?  (At least I hope it is, for those of you wondering the answer is no.)  We don't want our leaders burning out, at least in theory we don't.  But what about the practice?

In Exodus 18 Moses and Israel are in camp.(v13-18)"The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “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?” Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.” Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone."

Jethro sees that Moses desire to provide God's word for the people and their good desire to have it is in danger of burning him out, and leaving them discouraged and disaffected.  They will both be worn out, exhausted because the burden is too great.  So what's the solution it is to empower and equip other leaders and for them to oversee small groups.  That practical solution will avoid burn out, multiply ministers and encourage people to hear God's word.

We need to hear that warning.  Sometimes in ministry we can be like Moses - we want people to hear God's word and they want to do it so we must do it.  Sometimes we can be like the people.  But the solution is key multiply ministry via leaders who lead small groups.  If you want spiritual care and oversight be in a small group, don't expect one person to provide pastoral care for everyone, unless your expectation is for them to burn out rather than thrive in ministry.

Every day every person ministry

Acts charts the phenomenal spread of the gospel over 30 years from a provincial backwater to an Empire spanning faith, from 120 Jews to thousands reconciled from every tribe and tongue.  It is quite simply a stunnung story of how the gospel changed the world one life at a time.

However, I think we often read Acts wrongly.  We read it and think it was through Peter who is the focus of the first 12 chapters, and then Paul who is the focus for the rest, that the gospel is spread. Now they are hugely significant, but if we focus solely on them we miss the great encouragement for us in the normal spread of the gospel.  Focusing on Peter and Paul leads us to have a sit and wait theology of evangelism – where we sit and wait for the really gifted person to come along, or run missions where they do all the gospel-ing.

But alongside the gifted preaching of Peter and Paul are the ordinary people; workers, shopkeepers, slaves, jailors, civil servants, mums, grandmas, and so on who take the gospel with them everywhere they go. In (2:47)it is the everyday life of the church that speaks so powerfully for the gospel, in Acts 6 it’s the practical service of the 7 alongside the Apostles teaching that sees phenomenal growth.  When the early church is persecuted and spreads to Samaria and Judea (8:4) "Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.”   In (8:39) the Ethiopian Eunuch is saved, baptised and heads home bursting to share this joyful news. Throughout Acts we see again and again ordinary people saved and serve as they live lives transformed by the gospel.  Every believer is a minister, every believer lives out and declares the gospel as they live life transformed by the gospel and as part of a gospel community.