Timothy
I heard an interesting thing the other day at a mentoring group session... a mentor of mine told me (and the group) that "every man needs a Paul in their life, and a Barnabus, and a Timothy." These relationships obviously are Biblical models of the types of horizontal relationships we build to build and strengthen our faith...
A "Paul" - meaning having an older, wiser guy that can mentor you and provide wisdom based on experience and a deeper faith
A "Barnabus" - meaning confidants that I can mutually encourage and are at the same stage of life. People that can cheer us on and relate to us in our struggles, and
A "Timothy" - meaning a younger guy that we are mentoring and providing wisdom to based on the experience we have being at a later stage of life.
I totally buy into that... over my life I've had several "Barnabus" people in my life, many of whom I meet with regularly for lunch, coffee, etc. to talk about life and to mutually sharpen one another. These have been valuable relationships. I have also over time had the "Timothy" relationship being an Upstreet leader and mentoring these kids and as a small group leader. I've lacked "Paul's" - they are hard to find, especially for guys because we are SO busy and many times in our culture we're not really looking at life relationally. Being a leader in a church where singles and older marrieds so often don't mix, it's hard to cultivate those relationships. I'm happy to have at least one that's being fostered now.... and would like more (the more wisdom the better :) )
One thing that I've been noodling over, though, is this "Timothy" example and what the example of leadership that Paul and Timothy's relationship really modeled. I think that in many cases we tend to look at some of the exhortations in the book of Second Timothy as the model, and look at Timothy as a relatively inexperienced, shy/timid type of guy that needed a good pep talk. I'm not sure... or that he was somehow not seen as an equal to Paul in ministry or something. It's totally true that Paul was a father figure to Timothy and Timothy was being intentionally mentored by Paul... but I don't think that sometimes we see Timothy in the right light because of the "timidity" verses. That letter, as we know, was Paul's last words before Nero beheaded him... and was in a sense the official "passing of the torch" of Paul's ministry to Timothy. He obviously had some HUGE shoes to fill now. But, in contrast, Timothy wasn't at all inexperienced or unqualified... far from it. After all...
1.) Timothy was hand picked by Paul to pastor one of the most strategic churches he founded: The Church at Ephesus.
2.) Timothy coauthored some of the letters Paul wrote that are in the Bible (Phillipians 1:1, Colossians 1:1)
3.) Timothy was seen as "one like no other" - he was Paul's ROCK STAR (Philipians 2:19-23)
4.) Timothy was hand picked by Paul to check on churches that were struggling (1 Cor 4:17)
What is interesting to see is how involved this guy was in ministry and how much Paul entrusted him with important stuff. It also sheds some light on the dynamic of the mentorship relationship... and something that I want to find in my "Pauls." True leadership (mentorship) is in the context of a relationship where the leader reproduces him/her self. Timothy did not remain "green" but was out doing the hard work and had a reputation for greatness. I imagine that Timothy himself had guys in Ephesus and Corinth and everywhere that HE was mentoring just as Paul had mentored him.
The truth is, if a leader is not producing other leaders by his/her example and direction, then you don't really have a leader; what you have is a dictator. This is not the model of Christian leadership that Jesus gave us; what He gave us was a picture of servanthood where the leader lays down his own life for others. What I have been impressed with the guys that I have seen as the most influential mentors in my life are that they are the guys that enabled me to fly. They encouraged and enabled me to take on new and great things that I would not have been able to do without being under their leadership AND enabled me to own it for myself. That, my friends, is what Timothy had in Paul.... so in my "Timothy" relationships, I want to make sure that they are "Paul-ing" as a result of my influence in their lives... so that they can create more "Paul" mentors, etc. And I definitely want more "Paul" mentors in my life that I can learn and grow from as well. The statement above is indeed correct (about having Paul's, Barney's and Timothy's)
The thought from the heat-stressed day at Habitat... supposed the bottom of the water bottle.
chris <><
A "Paul" - meaning having an older, wiser guy that can mentor you and provide wisdom based on experience and a deeper faith
A "Barnabus" - meaning confidants that I can mutually encourage and are at the same stage of life. People that can cheer us on and relate to us in our struggles, and
A "Timothy" - meaning a younger guy that we are mentoring and providing wisdom to based on the experience we have being at a later stage of life.
I totally buy into that... over my life I've had several "Barnabus" people in my life, many of whom I meet with regularly for lunch, coffee, etc. to talk about life and to mutually sharpen one another. These have been valuable relationships. I have also over time had the "Timothy" relationship being an Upstreet leader and mentoring these kids and as a small group leader. I've lacked "Paul's" - they are hard to find, especially for guys because we are SO busy and many times in our culture we're not really looking at life relationally. Being a leader in a church where singles and older marrieds so often don't mix, it's hard to cultivate those relationships. I'm happy to have at least one that's being fostered now.... and would like more (the more wisdom the better :) )
One thing that I've been noodling over, though, is this "Timothy" example and what the example of leadership that Paul and Timothy's relationship really modeled. I think that in many cases we tend to look at some of the exhortations in the book of Second Timothy as the model, and look at Timothy as a relatively inexperienced, shy/timid type of guy that needed a good pep talk. I'm not sure... or that he was somehow not seen as an equal to Paul in ministry or something. It's totally true that Paul was a father figure to Timothy and Timothy was being intentionally mentored by Paul... but I don't think that sometimes we see Timothy in the right light because of the "timidity" verses. That letter, as we know, was Paul's last words before Nero beheaded him... and was in a sense the official "passing of the torch" of Paul's ministry to Timothy. He obviously had some HUGE shoes to fill now. But, in contrast, Timothy wasn't at all inexperienced or unqualified... far from it. After all...
1.) Timothy was hand picked by Paul to pastor one of the most strategic churches he founded: The Church at Ephesus.
2.) Timothy coauthored some of the letters Paul wrote that are in the Bible (Phillipians 1:1, Colossians 1:1)
3.) Timothy was seen as "one like no other" - he was Paul's ROCK STAR (Philipians 2:19-23)
4.) Timothy was hand picked by Paul to check on churches that were struggling (1 Cor 4:17)
What is interesting to see is how involved this guy was in ministry and how much Paul entrusted him with important stuff. It also sheds some light on the dynamic of the mentorship relationship... and something that I want to find in my "Pauls." True leadership (mentorship) is in the context of a relationship where the leader reproduces him/her self. Timothy did not remain "green" but was out doing the hard work and had a reputation for greatness. I imagine that Timothy himself had guys in Ephesus and Corinth and everywhere that HE was mentoring just as Paul had mentored him.
The truth is, if a leader is not producing other leaders by his/her example and direction, then you don't really have a leader; what you have is a dictator. This is not the model of Christian leadership that Jesus gave us; what He gave us was a picture of servanthood where the leader lays down his own life for others. What I have been impressed with the guys that I have seen as the most influential mentors in my life are that they are the guys that enabled me to fly. They encouraged and enabled me to take on new and great things that I would not have been able to do without being under their leadership AND enabled me to own it for myself. That, my friends, is what Timothy had in Paul.... so in my "Timothy" relationships, I want to make sure that they are "Paul-ing" as a result of my influence in their lives... so that they can create more "Paul" mentors, etc. And I definitely want more "Paul" mentors in my life that I can learn and grow from as well. The statement above is indeed correct (about having Paul's, Barney's and Timothy's)
The thought from the heat-stressed day at Habitat... supposed the bottom of the water bottle.
chris <><
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