Alongside on the journey
Acts 20:1-6
1 When the uproar was over, Paul sent for the believers and encouraged them. Then he said good-bye and left for Macedonia. 2 While there, he encouraged the believers in all the towns he passed through. Then he traveled down to Greece, 3 where he stayed for three months. He was preparing to sail back to Syria when he discovered a plot by some Jews against his life, so he decided to return through Macedonia.
4 Several men were traveling with him. They were Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica; Gaius from Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. 5 They went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. 6 After the Passover ended, we boarded a ship at Philippi in Macedonia and five days later joined them in Troas, where we stayed a week.
Travelling companions… Paul gathered them along his way – here we see six listed and can safely assume that mentoring and leadership development was going on. Planting churches means growing leaders and the best way to learn is “alongside”. This is what we are called to do as we “build people in Jesus” at Carlingford in readiness for all that God is calling us to do, planting services, churches, whatever God has for us. The same God that was with Paul as he preached the good news about Jesus is with us.
Lord who am I bringing alongside – building up in faith, so that the church can grow and spread across this community, this nation and the world we live in? May I be obedient to make time to invest in the wonderful people you have placed around me and who I may not even have talked to yet! Open my eyes…
Written by Ps. Linda Quinn