In Genesis chapter 33 we read the story of Jacob's return to his homeland after his sojourn with Laban. Jacob is leading his large family and all of his livestock back to Canaan. During this trip Jacob encounters his brother Esau. But I want to look at one particular aspect of that encounter.
In verse 12-14 We read that Esau wanted to travel with Jacob but Jacob gave the following reason for this not to happen.
"But Jacob said to him, My lord knows that the children are weak, and the flocks and heards which are nursing are with me. And if the men should drive them hard one day, all the flock will die." Genesis 33:13.
In the end all of the strong warriors returned with Esau. The men, women, children, and livestock remained under Jacob's care. The men traveled hard and fast. Jacob took the pace best suited for the whole group.
We learned that you cannot disciple the whole church. Jesus chose out the disciples and worked with them separate from the crowd. So in any church there will be those called to pastoral ministry who need special training and attention and there are the rest of us who just need ministered to without the unnecessary pressure reserved for the disciples. You run with the runners, but you minister to everyone. If you push the whole church too hard some will die. Or at least they may drift off and look elsewhere for ministry.
We support the vision of evangelism, discipleship, and church planting even though we are involved personally in none of those activities. We can pray, we can give, and we stand with our pastor in his vision. It is a wise preacher who accepts us as we are and where we are and seeks for wisdom on how to minister the whole council of God to the whole church.
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