Meditations from 1 Thessalonians 2:7

I have had a lot of time to think about ministry this past week especially as I have been walking through 1 Thessalonians in my daily devotions. If there is any principle I am confident we must master, it is to do all things in love for God and for one another. This is so evident in the life and ministry of Paul, and it needs to be evident in us as well.

With the growth of the church body, it can become very easy to reduce ministry to programs. With this mentality, you just treat people as if they are problems that need to be solved. We forget that they are people with hearts that are oftentimes broken and in need of mending. We analyze a person’s situation and treat ministry as if it is simply taking a round biblical principle and plugging it into their round problem hole. I wish ministry was that simple, but unfortunately it isn’t. People are more complicated than that. Problems are more complicated than that. Oftentimes you unravel one problem to realize there are thirty more underneath it.

On top of that, a person isn’t just a problem that needs a solution. People feel. They hurt. They can be broken. Paul’s attitude towards the church was to treat them with gentleness as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her children (1 Thess. 2:7). The idea of gentleness literally means to be "mild, warm or kind." It is the exact opposite of using “tough love” or treating people coldly as if they are projects that need to be worked on. Paul’s example of love for the church is something I know I need to learn. There is so much to ministry I do not yet know and am still in the process of learning.