Church Planting Insights From 1 Thessaloniansናሙና

Paul, Silas, and Timothy formed a church planting team that ministered in the Roman province of Macedonia. Macedonia is the northern part of the Greek peninsula in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. This team of three brothers in Christ, led by the Apostle Paul, wrote a letter to the congregation in Thessalonica a few months after they started the church. Many people study this letter and Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians because they want to understand more about the second coming of Christ. But these letters also show us what a good relationship between a church planter and a healthy church looks like.

Members of church planting teams devote their time and energy to start healthy new churches. It is not easy to start a church. And it’s certainly not easy to develop a healthy church. But with God’s help, you can do it. Healthy churches obey Jesus. Healthy churches don’t just say, “Jesus is Lord.” They intentionally follow his commandments. Healthy churches are safe churches. The members of healthy churches walk in the light as Jesus is in the light. In this way, the members have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses them from all sin (1 John 1:5-7).

Paul, Silas, and Timothy always thought about their brothers and sisters in Christ who formed the church at Thessalonica. How could they forget them? These men and women, boys and girls, had become very dear to the church planters. When the team prayed, they remembered the Thessalonian believers. Again and again, as they prayed, they thanked God for them. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 1:2 (NIV), “We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers.”

This church planting team’s example is good for us all. So often, when we pray for others, we pray that God will meet their needs. We pray out of compassion and ask God to care for our brothers and sisters. This is an excellent way to pray. But Paul and his team showed us how to pray, and we sometimes forget. They thanked God for new members of the family of God and continually thanked the Lord for the Thessalonian believers.

For Paul, Silas, and Timothy, people were a blessing, not a set of problems to be solved. For them, people were a gift, a gift from God. So they thanked God for the new converts he had given them. They thanked God for the new family members who blessed them. How about you? How often do you thank God for the new believers God has given you? Let me encourage you to follow Paul’s example. Take time in prayer today to name people in your church, one by one. As you do, thank God for each one by name. As you pray and remember each one, let God fill you with joy and peace.

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