Missionary Training - Acts 20

20 When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said goodbye and set out for Macedonia. ² He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, ³ where he stayed three months. Because some Jews had plotted against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia. ⁴ He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. ⁵ These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. ⁶ But we sailed from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and five days later joined the others at Troas, where we stayed seven days.

Paul continues on westward, back to Athens and Corinth.  He had only previously been in Athens for a short while.  He is constantly having to alter his plans because of Jews who plot against him.  He is also traveling with a seven or eight companions, each from churches that have been planted on previous missionary trips.  These are fellow missionaries now who have come from those church plants.  Luke is also traveling with him at this time.  Paul is visiting all the churches that he can that he has helped plant since he will not be coming back.

This is a training time for the people traveling with him.  Just as Jesus had discipled the twelve, Paul is discipling these men.  Counting Luke who travels closely with Paul, there are seven of them in the group.  They are learning how to be a missionary to other communities as Paul is, how to teach the message and how to encourage the churches.  I’m also sure they are learning how to exist in faith daily in the face of confrontation and opposition. 

Today the church does, in my opinion, a terrible job at preparing their congregations at how to live daily in faith.  It is difficult to point to an area of the church daily operations and see how faith works.  If someone asked me to show them faith, what could I point to at the church that they could observe and see faith?  How does the church demonstrate what living daily in faith actually looks like and how does it provide support channels to assist in that daily living?  Too many churches want people’s help to support their programs and their work, but offer little to support the actual daily, sometimes hourly, needs of the work of an individual member – which might be just as an important calling as that of the church’s programs.