Do You Nurture Those You Lead?

A Few Thoughts to Consider

Are you in a position of leadership?

Maybe you lead a small group, a Sunday School class, or kids ministry. If so, how well do you nurture those you lead? Do you genuinely care about their spiritual health, or do you show up, do your job, and check out?

In 1 Thessalonians, we see the Apostle Paul show almost motherly instincts for the believers in Thessalonica. Paul authored 1 Thessalonians, likely with Timothy acting as its deliverer. The letter was written around AD 49–51, during Paul’s second missionary journey, possibly while he was in Corinth. Though often categorized as an eschatological epistle due to its references to the end times, it is also a practical guide for church life.

Thessalonica, now modern-day Salonica, was a thriving hub of political and commercial activity in Paul’s time, with a population of 200,000. Located on the Via Egnatia, it served as Macedonia’s capital and enjoyed the privileges of a “free city” under Roman rule. Paul’s missionary strategy was to establish a leadership base in local communities, training men and women to carry on the ministry in his absence. He maintained contact with these congregations through letters meant to be read aloud to the church.

However, as Howard Marshall writes, “The problems and needs which lie behind the letter are thus those of a church in its infancy, facing opposition from outside and lacking in the detailed teaching that Paul would have given if he had been able to stay longer with them.”^[1] Paul is working with many newbie Christians, so he shifts his approach.

In other settings, Paul speaks harshly to those who are not living as they should, but in this case, Paul takes on a different approach. He writes in 1 Thessalonians 2:3-7:

³ For our exhortation didn’t come from error or impurity or an intent to deceive. ⁴ Instead, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please people, but rather God, who examines our hearts. ⁵ For we never used flattering speech, as you know, or had greedy motives—God is our witness— ⁶ and we didn’t seek glory from people, either from you or from others. ⁷ Although we could have been a burden as Christ’s apostles, instead we were gentle among you, as a nurse nurtures her own children.