Introduction
Watch the video from “One By One Part 6:
Getting going
1. In our study, “One by One” we considered the following points:
1) Jesus frequently and even usually (but not always) loved one sheep at a time by loving them uniquely.
2) Every Christian has been uniquely prepared through their experience and God’s work to love others.
3) We might feel many reasons to be afraid of loving others, but with honesty, personal conversion and the experience of seeing others come alive, we can have courage.
4) God only uses the gospel to save people.
5) We can do many things to love other people. We always bring the gospel and will often only see any kind of effect with the Word.
2. What two simple things does Pastor Rosenau tell people he meets and invites to church?
3. Doing those two things not only makes the people he invites more comfortable when they visit. What is the added benefits for outreach for his church members?
4. How does Pastor Rosenau remind himself to make visits and hold himself accountable for making visits?
Getting into God’s Word
At first it seems like there is no way we could replicate Pastor Rosenau’s work. And yet it is nothing more than the healthy, functional partnership of pastor and people in caring for souls.
5. Mark 2:1-5 is one of the most famous examples of pastor and people working together in the Bible. Who works with whom? What do they do?
6. John 1:40-42 is another good example of pastor and people working together. What did they do? It seems so easy and natural. What do you think made it so easy?
7. Let’s jump ahead to Acts 16:13-15. Who works together there? In what way?
8. Sometimes that partnership is much harder and even confrontational. In 1 Corinthians 5:9-12, what does Paul want the Corinthians to do to work with him?
9. There are many passages that show us the partnership of God’s ministers and people. This partnership is deeply rooted in the doctrine of the ministry. We summarize this doctrine saying,
“That we may obtain this faith, the ministry of teaching the gospel and administering the sacraments was instituted. For through the Word and sacraments as instruments, the Holy Spirit is given, who works faith where and when it pleases God, namely, that God, not for our own merits but for Christ’s sake, justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ’s sake”
If you read that quote and say, “I have no idea what it means”, don’t worry. None of us did the first 10 times we read it. But it means that God gave us ministry so that God can approve of believers. He didn’t give us pastors to fix everything. He gave us a job. And we all are glad to do it. Even you. You get to be part of God’s work.
Taking it home
10. If God is so big on the pastor-people partnership, what are some reasons it is so hard most of the time? Try to go beyond surface, basic reasons. Think about sociological, cultural, and interpersonal reasons.
11. What do you think are some of the ways we (pastor and people) can effectively and wisely work together right now? (For example, we could say, we’re going to work together to start a university. That doesn’t seem wise. We could also work together at preaching - like joint preaching. Again, that doesn’t seem wise.)