With a World of Millions to Reach, Jesus Mentored Twelve.
There are those who regard mentoring as only personal or ministry development. Others see it as a hand-holding exercise.
During His earthly ministry, Jesus was not of either camp. He saw mentorship as much more. Personal and ministry related? Of course. Developmental? Absolutely.
But more importantly, He saw mentoring as global in its reach, eternal in its impact.
The New Testament makes it clear in breath and blood that Jesus established mentorship as His primary means of ministry, reason number two for coming to earth.
Consider these three observations on the ministry of Jesus:
I. Jesus set His entire global mission squarely on the back of mentorship.
Let me say that again: faced with the decision of how most effectively to fulfill His worldwide and eternal mission, Jesus chose mentorship as His foundational ministry and primary means.
Pastor and author Gordon MacDonald says it this way:
“With a world of millions to reach, Jesus chose to walk with twelve simple men.”
With multiplied thousands of people attending his public meetings, Jesus chose not to invest Himself heavily in those meetings or multitudes, but instead in mentoring twelve individuals. Facing unlimited harvest fields, Jesus focused on mentoring twelve limited men.
Much of Palestine was at the feet of Jesus, hanging on his every word, waiting for His next miracle. They came by the hundreds and even thousands every time He preached on hillsides or in synagogues. In the 21st Century American church, we would take this as a sign from God that we are to hold more and bigger meetings, amass even larger crowds.
But not Jesus. He drew away from the many to the few. He pulled away from preaching to multitudes to mentor twelve imperfect men in life and ministry.
“Jesus spent the majority of his time training a small group of men so his message to the world would go viral. If Jesus had followed the model of today, he would’ve spent all of his time preaching. But apart from a few public appearances here and there, Jesus chose to train people.” Gordon MacDonald, Going Deep
II. The longer Jesus was in ministry, the more He gave Himself to a few.
When Jesus began his 40 months of earthly ministry, He invested time in crowds. But over time, He pulled away from preaching to crowds to mentor just twelve individuals. And, here’s the point, the closer He drew to the end of His ministry, the more He gave Himself to mentoring a select few.
“The longer Jesus walked the earth, the less time He gave to crowds, the more time He gave to few.”
Again, Jesus goes against the grain of 21st evangelical ministry in America.
A new pastor starts small, hoping to go large. His first pastorate is a smaller church. As he demonstrates “success” (bigger numbers, buildings, and budgets), he gains stature. As a result, he moves “up” to more prestigious places of ministry, i.e., larger churches and higher positions.
If a minister retires after 40 years of service to a small church or churches, we politely applaud him at his retirement dinner, wondering at the “smallness” of his ministry. Meanwhile, the retiring minister who has pastored thousands we hail as a conquering hero. We pat the first pastor on the back for not giving up, for staying the course; the second, we invite to tell us how we can be “successful” too. When we pray, “Lord, give me a ministry like his,” we’re certainly not thinking of pastor number one, are we? Be honest.
At His birth, there was no room in the Judean inn for future missionary pastor Jesus. If Jesus were a retiring minister today, there would be no room for Him in the “In-Crowd” of church leadership.
No fruit, you see. No numbers. Even worse, a poor track record: He started with twelve and ended up with eleven. He probably should have remained a carpenter, right? Look at our bookshelves, conferences, and denominational meetings, and tell me I’m wrong.
But when Jesus was a “beginner” in ministry, He started large, looking to go small. The longer He was in ministry, the less He focused on the many, the more He focused and invested in the few – the multipliers through whom He could maximize His impact on the world.
At the beginning of Jesus’ 40 months (approximately) of earthly ministry, Jesus spent a good bit of His time preaching to crowds of attenders. But as the clock wound down on those 40 months, He didn’t seek more prominent ministry platforms. Instead, He sought ministry multiplication, and so, He chose to invest more of His time, more of Himself, in a few disciples.
III. Jesus gave His words to many, but He gave Himself to a select few.
I’ve preached in hundreds of churches across The United States and Europe. I’ve preached to thousands and I’ve preached to as few as three. After service, many have expressed their thanks, and some have expressed their “less than thanks,” shall we say. But in either case, after the building had emptied, I was on my way home or to the next speaking engagement. I had talked to thousands or just three, but I had walked with no one. However, as a pastoral coach, i.e. mentor, I have the privilege of walking – deeply walking – with the members of our ministry, Journey Pastoral Coaching. Where did I learn this approach? From the Gospels:
Jesus talked to thousands, but He walked with twelve.
Biblical scholars calculate that Jesus invested over 80% of His time in just twelve individuals.
Not very “fair” in 21st century America, but very Jesus, very Kingdom of God.
Reading the Gospels, we see that Jesus preached in synagogues, on hillsides, and in houses early in His ministry. In those meetings, He taught en masse the principles of the kingdom of God. After speaking, He often performed signs and wonders and then was on his way to the next town, accompanied by His twelve disciples. Along the way, He would more fully explain his teaching to the Twelve, allowing them the opportunity to ask questions and, importantly, to observe His way of living out kingdom principles.
He talked to hundreds perhaps dozens of times, to thousands a handful of times.
But He walked with twelve individuals every day for three and one-half years.
Day in and day out, Jesus walked with twelve men, pouring His life and teaching into them. After the mission of the Cross, mentoring them was His primary ministry on earth. It was how He ensured that the message of the Cross would go out to all the world.
As He walked with The Twelve, Jesus taught them more about the things He had talked to the crowds about, and He talked with The Twelve about things He had not taught the crowds.
As Jesus walked with The Twelve, He mentored them in things like:
- The Kingdom of God: Its life, ways, power, character, its presence and future;
- The God of the Kingdom: His truth, holiness, glory, unity, presence, and love;
- Prayer: Communing with God, asking of God, trusting God;
- The Great Commission: Its global mandate, power, urgency, and certainty of success;
- Ministry, servanthood, and leadership: How to lead with a basin, a towel, and a cross;
- His coming death and resurrection: and what that would mean to The Twelve.
Even more, He opened His life to them 24×7. He opened His heart, inviting them into His joys and sorrows, His hopes and heartaches, His sacrifice and His suffering.
All these lessons, Jesus reserved for The Twelve and the private cloister of their intimate fellowship.
FINAL WORD
As we examine the life and ministry of Jesus in the Gospels, it is clear that, after the Cross, mentorship was His primary ministry, His primary means of personally launching the Great Commission and seeing it fulfilled.
The twelve men He mentored continued that model, mentoring men like Barnabas, who mentored Paul, who mentored Timothy, Titus, Epaphroditus, etc. We and heaven can name even more in that human equation that shook the world with the Gospel of Jesus.
In employing mentorship, Jesus chose to build people according to our creation. As Creator, He had formed all people to be mentored – He wove it into our DNA. Using mentorship to fulfill His mission, Jesus chose to build people according to our very nature – spiritual, psychological, and relational: health-giving for each of us personally, health-giving for the world eternally.
In recent years, the church has seen a decided move away from mentorship, instead emphasizing large gatherings and cookie-cutter discipleship programs. Consequently, it’s difficult for many Christians to identify more than a handful of people in our churches we would love to be mentored by, and we would never think ourselves able to mentor someone.
Is the absence of mentorship a significant reason for the decline of the church in America? I am convinced it is.
Is the absence of mentorship a significant reason for the following in the evangelical church:
- Our alarming Biblical illiteracy;
- Our disappearing Christian worldview;
- The decrease in discipleship;
- The disfavor of doctrine in the church
Is the absence of mentorship a significant reason for the following among ministers:
- Burnout and dropout;
- Flameout even as we stay in;
- Moral failure – not just adultery, but in the areas of finance, pride, power, envy, craving celebrity;
- Weak, even false-gospel preaching in the pulpit.
It’s time for the church to do ministry the way Jesus did ministry. It’s time to return to mentorship.
If you would like to learn more about how you can walk with a mentor or help fund mentorship for young ministers, contact us here at Journey Pastoral Coaching.
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