Paul speaks to the church in Thessalonica with an intimacy that rivals the love letter of Philippians. Paul reminds them that he made no demands on them when he came preaching, and that they received him in the same love.
Paul labored night and day, so as not to be a burden on the saints. Paul worked to earn a living and ministered as well. This “tent making ministry” may become more common in the future as the economy worsens and the cost of supporting a full time pastor goes up. Many churches already either share a pastor, or have a part time pastor that works a “secular” job.
I think I can feel the love that Paul has for these churches after pastoring here in Boonville for 18 years. It is hard to move from church to church in the itinerant system that I am a member of, and so it is tempting to keep ones heart from being broken by keeping a professional distance on some level. I have loved all of the churches I have pastored, but the Boonville church has my heart.
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"So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us."
That's a beautiful verse and thought. When I came to FLUMC, in talking about the transition with both churches, Oneida, and here, I thought about how, in spite of ourselves, and the walls we'd like to put up, because we're God's creations, we have a tendency to love even when we don't want to, if that makes sense. And so people do become very dear to one another, when we don't fight against that happening! (I think I'm rambling now.)
Elizabeth, don’t worry – most of what I do on here is ramble ;-P. This was a really interesting chapter also. He spoke of not wanting praise from men when they had preached the gospel there before – they just wanted to make sure that what was said was the word of God. Even though some had felt their previous visit to be a failure, he said that he was sure that the visit had been a success. Maybe we should think that more in our ministry – no matter what we do, where we go, if we do it in the name of God and keep our hearts on the gospel, how can it be a failure?
The tent making thing scares me for someone like you Bill – because of the time you put into this whole church thing, so many lives are changed. It’s not something that should come with a cost, or belittled. If people are trusting God, the economy thing shouldn’t affect the church….but then again, people don’t want to trust anything when they can’t trust their money and their retirement… I just see how a ministry can suffer when you have to split yourself with stuff – like how I can’t devote enough time to Young Life or Sunday School because I do both, plus student teaching and working. Something still happens, but so much more could if I could give my whole-self to it.
Paul worked really hard!
Ttys,
Marshall
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