a church planter’s ethic – Paul and his church-planting colleagues worked incessantly right along with those they wished to impact with the gospel for the purpose of role-modeling how the Christian life is lived out in the 24/7 as well as not to burden (epibareo = "to weigh in on") their converts and seekers. The pattern is clear: Paul did not receive funds from a church while he worked among the believers to establish and shape that church, though according to modern church-planting, he might well have drawn a stipend.

• caesarius of arles [ fl 503 ] – Who can always be thinking of God and eternal bliss, since all men must be concerned for food, clothing and the management of their household? God does not bid us be free from all anxiety over the present life, for he instructs us through the apostle . . . ‘We worked night and day so that we might not burden any of you.’ Since God especially advises reasonable thought of food and clothing—so long as avarice and ambition are not linked with it—any action is most rightly considered holy . . . but they should not be so excessive that they do not all us to have time for God.
• This entire section (vs. 1-12) models the "foundational leaders’" persistence in their twin role of proclaiming the gospel and nurturing new Christians amidst great resistance and hostility. Under such circumstances, the team urges the Thessalonians to live their life in a way that bears credibility to the God who has claimed them.

 

List the characteristics of a faithful church planting team—you may need to move behind the text—that you can discover in this passage.

• What other characteristics do you think a church planter would need in order to successfully plant a new congregation—especially in a hostile area?
• Interview a church planter to learn more of what such an endeavor requires.

 

You might consider on this "All Saints’ Sunday to hold up a particular kind of "saint" among us today—the church planter. Such a task requires bi-vocational commitment, the ability to "exegete" the culture around them, and much prayer and support from others. Perhaps some will hear of such saints will seek theirs to become a church-planting congregation.

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[1] New Interpreter’s Bible XI (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2000), page 700.
[2] Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture Ib (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2000), page 67.