encouraging and leaving

“But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them” (II Timothy 3:14).

“For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you” (Titus 1:5).

Paul never abandoned his new disciples, churches and leaders. He always followed up with encouragement and further instruction, even as he left to preach the gospel in other places. He would do this primarily through faithful men like Timothy. He also sent letters to the churches along with his faithful disciples, to remind them of “his ways in Christ” (I Corinthians 4:17). Paul himself sometimes revisited the churches to strengthen and encourage them (see Acts 14:21-23).

Paul modeled a Biblical pattern for the new churches to follow. The new churches would model this same pattern for others while Paul observed their obedience. Most of the time, he heard reports of their faithfulness (or lack thereof) from a distance. Paul would revisit the churches to delegate authority to the recognized leaders who demonstrated obedience (Acts 14:23), or he would have faithful men like Titus do so (Titus 1:5). Finally, Paul would encourage them to continue following the pattern they had learned and practiced, even as he left for another place.

Jesus modeled the same pattern for His disciples. A careful reading of John chapters 13 through 17 reveals the same pattern for training: Jesus modeled, observed, delegated, encouraged and left. But He did not abandon His disciples; He left them “the Helper”, and continued to be ever present with them through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (see John 14:15-18). Jesus also prayed for the future spiritual generations of new believers that would believe because of His obedient disciples. In John 17 Jesus revealed how He was to accomplish the Father’s master plan, through reproducing generations of loving obedient disciples.

Jesus said: “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that you sent Me” (John 17:20,21).

Like the previous stage of delegating authority, we often fail to encourage and leave our disciples. It is difficult to let go and change our role; after all, we have invested so much of our time, effort and resources in them! Don’t we have the right to continue to be their instructor? And, what if they mess up?

Remember, we are not talking about abandoning our disciples. We are talking about moving on to another stage of development, a different level of trust and maturity. We can continue to have a mentoring relationship, but that relationship should mature into a higher level as we delegate responsibility and authority to them.

It is very similar to how we should train our children. At first, they are very dependent upon us. We are their role models, they observe everything we do and say. Then we observe how they do, how they follow our example. There is a great deal of correction and discipline in the early stages. As a child enters adolescence, they become more independent. They still need our guidance but they begin to handle more responsibilities on their own. As they mature, we delegate more freedom to act on their own accord, but we still hold them accountable for their actions. We continue to encourage them to live according to the pattern that we set before them. Sooner than we like, they grow up, become very independent and leave us (here the analogy breaks down, as church planters we should do the leaving). They become an adult and start their own family. They will make mistakes; nevertheless, the cycle of life reproduces itself and will repeat the whole process again through another generation. Our relationship still exists, but it is changed radically by this natural order of things. This is the natural progression of a healthy child who develops into a mature adult and starts his/her own family.

We should practice the same cycle of training in our spiritual life. But it should not take years and years to reproduce. Depending on how the mentor and trainee carry out their roles, the time it takes for the reproduction of a new spiritual generation should be relatively short. Christ took only 3 years. Paul never stayed more than 3 years in one place, but most of the time; it was only a matter of months before the second generation of disciples was delegating authority to a new third generation. When Paul saw that his churches were reproducing healthy churches, he let go and moved on. He continued to encourage them, sometimes he revisited them, sent letters, or left a disciple like Timothy who was fully authorized to do everything necessary to help the church obey the Great Commission. But Paul never stayed; he left them to continue the work on their own. Did they make mistakes? They sure did, but Paul still gave them full authority to carry on the work. He even left the job of choosing leaders for the third generation churches to second-generation disciples like Titus.

“For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you” (Titus 1:5).

What are your thoughts? Do you have any experience with leaving to make other disciples? How did you continue to encourage from a distance?