Focus on Reproduction, Mentor's Guide, MG12

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F O C U S O N R E P R O D U C T I O N

Perhaps no other role in human life carries greater impact on the development of persons than the role of the parent. The kind of parent we had or the parenting we provide shapes a wide range of personal responses, capabilities, and perspectives. In some sense, the kinds of parents we are will dramatically affect (for good or ill) the children that we raise. This is why Paul’s adoption of this imagery is so significant for understanding our role in ministry. We have not “closed the deal” after we have shared the good news of the Kingdomwith the lost, and they have made a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus as Messiah and Savior. No, the work has just begun. In the same way that the most challenging and most rewarding part of parenting occurs neither at conception or birth, but in raising the child with discipline and love, so the same is true for raising godly spiritual children. Our ability to provide continuous and tender loving care to new converts will be the difference between conserving the fruit of our evangelism (to mix a metaphor), and losing it. How many people have responded to an offer of the Gospel by an enthusiastic witness who got someone to “pray the sinner’s prayer” but never saw them again, and made no provision for them to continue in their Christian life? While this may be common today, it would have horrified the apostles. Our New Testament itself is evidence that the apostles were deeply concerned about the maturity of the new disciples, not merely the certainty of their entrance into the Kingdom. The apostles sought both solid conversions as well as transformed lives of new creations in Christ . They sought and settled for nothing less (Gal. 6.15 - “For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”) Perhaps no book in the New Testament gives us a full portrait of the heart of a discipler like the Thessalonian epistles. Paul’s ministry there was brief, intense, and successful. His concern for their well being and growth is nakedly clear; he loved them with the very heart of a parent, willing to care for their most intimate needs and concerns, and proving it daily in practical ways of service and sacrifice. He alludes to his work among them as a “nursing mother” and as a “father cares for his children.” He simply didn’t go through the motions; he poured his heart and soul into them, and took pride in their growth, and pain in their error. In every way, Paul proved himself to be a spiritual parent to them, whom he took to be his very own children and kin. Paul’s use of this metaphor here illustrates a general principle which was central in his life and ministry. He used this metaphor in a number of settings in his work with growing believers and developing churches:

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