Partners in Ministry
a sermon based on Thessalonians 3:6-13
by Rev. Randy Quinn

Those of you who have internet access and an Email address know about the numerous things that get forwarded around. They go from one person to the next without giving credit to the original source. Sometimes they are jokes. Sometimes they are political tirades. Sometimes they are inspirational stories.

My sister sent me one this week that I had read before. In fact, I had sent it out as one of my “Weekly Quips and Quotes” on July 29, 1998! (I know, because I went to find the original source of the story!)

Myra Pemberton gave me one this week entitled, “Ten Little Christians.” Some of you have probably read it, but I think it makes a powerful commentary on our text for today, although neither she nor the person who sent it to her put it into this context:


10 little Christians standing in line.
1 disliked the preacher and then there were 9.
9 little Christians stayed up very late.
1 overslept Sunday and then there were 8.
8 little Christians on their way to heaven.
1 took the low road and then there were 7.
7 little Christians chirping like chicks.
1 disliked music and then there were 6.
6 little Christians seemed very much alive,
but 1 lost interest and then there were 5.
5 little Christians pulling for heaven’s shore,
but 1 stopped to rest and then there were 4.
4 little Christians each busy as a bee.
1 got his feelings hurt and then there were 3.
3 little Christians knew not what to do.
1 joined the sporty crowd and then there were 2.
2 little Christians, our rhyme is nearly done,
differed with each other and then there was 1.
1 little Christian can’t do much ‘tis true,
brought his friend to Bible Study and then there were 2.
2 earnest Christians, each won 1 more.
That doubled the number and then there were 4.
4 sincere Christians worked early and late.
Each won another and then there were 8.
8 splendid Christians if they doubled as before,
in just so many Sunday’s we’d have 1,024.
In this little jingle, there is a lesson true,
You belong either to the building or to the wrecking crew!


I wouldn’t have thought of that little jingle in this context had it not been for our discussion in Bible Study this week. Ruby asked if Paul is referring to the work of sharing the Gospel rather than work in the secular sense of being employed and being paid for our work.

Her question made me take a second and a third look at the text.

I know there are those who think this is one of the source-texts for the Puritan Work Ethic. “If a man will not work, he shall not eat” (2 Thess 3:10) is often taken out of context and used in civic discussions about employment and unemployment, generally with a sense of “looking down on” those who are perceived to be shirkers.

We have heard all kinds of words to describe people drawing unemployment and welfare benefits, and most often they are used in a derogatory sense as if the unemployed are not victims of the economy but are rather the perpetrators of a failing economy. Some people would like to disenroll the disenfranchised from society rather than make the necessary changes to incorporate and validate what each person has to offer.

But Paul is not talking about society at large. To put his words into that context is not only inaccurate, it’s inappropriate. It is like pointing out our daughter Melissa and suggesting that since she will never be able to work for wages that she has no place in society. (Those who know her best know that she contributes immensely to our family, to our church, and to our community . I know we would be much poorer without her presence.)

Paul is talking to the church and about the church. He speaks in a very straight-forward manner to those in the church who are not carrying their share of the burden. And he speaks to those who have let them get away with it.

A couple of weeks ago, I heard the story recounted of a pastor who came to an Episcopal Church. The building was built in an era when the congregation was much larger, much younger, and much more active than it had become. It was clearly a church that was dying a slow death.

The new pastor began by approaching every member of the governing board and every committee member. He told them in no uncertain terms that as leaders in the church he expected them to be present in worship every week. He expected them to be present at board meetings. And he expected them to tithe.

He went on to give timeframes within which he expected them to either comply or resign, depending upon their position. Committee members were given two years. Committee chairs were given six months.

He raised the bar.

And while some people left the church in response to his challenge, most accepted it and lived into it. Within three years there was a sense of excitement about the growth taking place. Not only were there more people in church, there were more resources for ministries and mission. The church was being used regularly throughout the week, not just on Sunday morning.

It was no longer a dying congregation, but a vitally alive church.

In Peter Drucker’s book, Managing the Non-Profit Organization, he suggests that one mistake many churches make is lowering the standards rather than raising them. When one person says they don’t have time to teach an evening Bible Study, we assume that no one has time for evening Bible Study so we stop offering one.

And I know I’m guilty at times. I have found myself lowering the standards. Confirmation classes are only six weeks long, not two years of weekly meetings. Adult membership classes are usually done in a single one hour session. Leadership on committees is offered to those who come most regularly, rather than the one who has the skills to lead but is bored to death by the way meetings have been running.

And while I try to convince myself that I’m just being pragmatic, I know there are those who might call those lower standards “Cheap Grace.”

But I am also convinced that a part of the dilemma is our view of the church and worship. I can’t remember where I heard it first – although I have since learned that Kierkegaard is the origin of the image – and you may have heard it before, but let me offer his overly simplified picture using the orchestra as a metaphor.

For many people – myself included at times – church is where we go to see a performance in which the pastor and the musicians perform under the direction of God. Some people, in this metaphor, see the offering plate as their admission ticket to sit in the audience of the performance hall.

A more theologically correct portrait that raises the bar for all of us, shows the pastor and the musicians as the directors with the congregation as the performers, where God is the only one in the audience. In that metaphor, every one of us has a role. Every one of us has an “instrument” to play. And the rest of us rely upon each other to do their part. When one of us fails to do our part, the orchestra is not complete. Melody lines are lost and the music becomes less pleasing to God.

If I may keep with that metaphor for just a little longer, let me suggest that Paul is telling each of us to play our instrument. At the same time, he is encouraging those who prefer to skip practice to re-join and to re-commit so that our music may be more pleasing to God.

Paul is telling each of us to play our instrument.

Maybe I can shift metaphors a little and talk about the High School plays we saw this weekend? What made those plays so powerful is how each person learned their lines, independent of the others. But those lines only work when everyone else knows their lines. And it wasn’t just the people with speaking parts that made the play work. Without each person doing their piece of the presentation – from the director to the musicians to the ones who made the sets to the one who put make up on the actors – the play would have been of a lesser quality.

Paul knows that we cannot change anyone other than ourselves. We can only be effective at our part, our role, our instrument. To those of us who have shirked our responsibilities Paul says to get back at it. If we have voluntarily benched ourselves for whatever reason, Paul is telling us to get back out on the field and play.

We may need to find a new position or a new role, but the team needs each of us, and each of us must do our part for the team to be a success.

But we cannot force another person to do the same thing, so Paul tells us to change our behavior towards those who are shirking their roles. We cannot change them, but we can change the way we react to them and to their absence.

If the “show must go on,” then we find a replacement as soon as possible or we find a different piece to perform. If some have abandoned their instruments, for instance, we might become a quartet rather than an orchestra – and while the music is different, some of the most beautiful music I’ve heard has been performed by quartets of various combinations of instruments.

At the same time, Paul reminds us that former partners in ministry, like the members we removed from our membership rolls at Charge Conference, are no less loved by God than the day they joined the church. We shouldn’t become angry with them, but rather invite them back in love.

I often tell people who withdraw their membership from our church that the doors are open – and that means they can walk out as easily as they can walk in. In sadness I let them go, but I lovingly keep the door open for their return. If I make it difficult to leave, I’m afraid they will be less likely to return.

Rather than allowing former members of our congregation – or us – to think they are still partners in our ministry, however, Paul is suggesting that we begin to see them as recipients of our ministry. We are to reach out in love to them and invite them back into the fold.

If Paul is speaking of the work of reaching out to others and sharing the Gospel, as Ruby suggested by her question, then people are either partners with us or need us to reach out to them. If we each do our part, God’s Spirit will work as a silent partner who plants seeds into the hearts of those we reach out toward, and one by one, we will see the team roster grow in numbers and grow in depth.

Thanks be to God. Amen.