LET'S TALK TEAMWORK

How many missionaries can you name in the New Testament? You probably thought of the apostle Paul. You may have thought of Barnabas and Silas. Did you remember that Luke, John Mark and Timothy were also foreign missionaries?

The book of Acts and the epistles give us several more names of missionaries that most people never think about. Have you ever heard of these missionaries: Sopater? Aristarchus? Secundus? Gaius? Tychicus? Trophimus? Jesus, called Justus? Epaphras? Demas? Erastus? Onesimus? Epaphroditus? (See Acts 20:4; Colossians 4:7-14; Philippians 2:25; 4:18; II Timothy 4:20; Philemon 23,24; etc)

That is a long list of missionaries listed from the first century. Now, did you ever stop to think that all these men worked together? That’s right; they worked together with the apostle Paul.

It was the Holy Spirit’s idea to do missionary teamwork. (See Acts 13:2-4.) The church at Antioch, after fasting and prayer, sent out the first team of missionaries, Barnabas and Saul, to the foreign fields. They also took John Mark with them, making a missionary threesome. (See Acts 13:5.)

Later on, when Paul and Barnabas had some serious contention (it happens even among good missionaries once in a while, Acts 15:36-40), Paul did not go out on his own but took Silas with him. And Barnabas went another direction, but again, not by himself; he took John Mark with him.

Paul soon chose Timotheus to join their team. His team had three members once again. (Acts 16:3; 17:14) Luke shortly joined to make a team of four. (Acts 16:10 ff; notice the word “we”). And somewhere along the line Erastus joined the team as well. (Acts 19:22) In Acts 20:4 six new, different men now join this dynamic team of missionaries. There is a world to win for Christ and several want to be involved with Paul. What an exciting team they had!

The apostle Paul was the leader. These men gathered around him to learn from him, to minister unto him, and to participate in planting and edifying new churches around Europe and Asia. Paul makes the amazing statement in Colossians 1:6 & 23 that the Gospel was preached to every creature in all the world!

Now how did that happen? It was a three-fold process. First, the Holy Spirit sent out a team of missionaries. Secondly, that team became two teams and the teams increased in number. Churches were established in major metropolitan areas. Thirdly, the churches reached out into the suburbs and surrounding areas. This was effective teamwork.

Silent Word Ministries International believes in team ministries with the deaf. We want to be effective in reaching the deaf before the Lord returns. We need teams of dedicated hearing and deaf men, along with committed wives and single ladies to build new missionary teams for the advancement of the Gospel to the glory of God.

If you would like more information about our new missions program, please, write me, David Bennett, or call me at 803-230-0653. May God bless you.

Article Index