We all want to be concerned for the advance of the gospel, supporting gospel work, taking opportunities to share the word of life. All Christians are in gospel ministry. But there are also some who are specially approved and appointed for gospel work, those like the people Paul calls his ‘co-workers’ or ‘fellow workers’:
Timothy has proved himself …in the work of the gospel (Phil. 2:22)
Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent (Phil. 2:25)
I ask you, my yokefellow, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers (Phil. 4:3)
These ‘fellow workers’ are those who have devoted themselves to gospel work (giving it a large proportion of their time) and, crucially, they are those who are recognised by the churches for their hard work, courage, doctrinal soundness and competence in gospel ministry. These 'gospel workers' are not doing all the gospel ministry (that is for all of us) but they are commissioned by the church to be especially devoted to it and to enable others in their ministries.
What is particularly striking, when we look at Philippians, is the range of people who are gospel workers and the range of types of work and contexts they are involved in.
- Overseers who shepherd and equip God’s people (Phil. 1:1)
- Deacons who serve the church in various ways that enable gospel ministry (Phil. 1:1)
- A cross-cultural missionary / church planter / preacher / trouble shooter (Phil. 2:22)
- Someone sent by a church to support gospel work (Phil. 2:25)
- A mission / church planting team (Phil. 4:3)
- Someone trusted to mediate conflict resolution in a mission team (Phil. 4:3 - if this is Dr Luke (as Gordon Fee and FF Bruce suggest) then this yokefellow also has an extensive writing ministry and was an important member of a missionary church planting team).
Among the twenty or so co-workers that Paul names as such in his letters are men and women, different ethnicities (Greek, Jewish, mixed heritage), different ages, different social status, single and married. Some are based in one church, others are moving around. Some are full-time and paid, some are literally tent makers.
And interestingly, many of them change roles, context and support model through time. So for example someone like Timothy might start as ministry trainee, develop into a cross-cultural missionary, roving preacher, envoy and trouble shooter, then settle in pastoral ministry in one place. Someone like Luke might move between missionary church planting, a period settled in one church and writing ministry. Someone like Paul might sometimes do part-time unpaid gospel work, other times full-time supported. This kind of fluidity is really important to notice.
As you think about whether you should be a gospel worker it is important to see the full range of different gospel workers. The danger is that we might look at a particular role like ‘pastor’ and think ‘I could never do that’ and so assume that full-time gospel work is not for us. But we need a wider perspective:
- It may well be that ordained pastoral ministry is not right for us to pursue but that is not the only type of gospel worker. We do need pastors – and if you are a Christian man that is something you should seriously consider – but we also need deacons leading ministry teams, we need women’s workers and children’s workers and seniors workers, we need theologically trained music ministers, we need biblical counsellors and those skilled in conflict resolution, organisation and administration, we need theological educators, ministry trainers, evangelists, writers and cross-cultural missionaries.
- And even within each of these ministries there is a wide range of forms and styles of ministry. Gospel work must always involve Word and prayer and have the aim of increasing joy in Christ (Phil. 1:25) but it will look very different in different times and places and with different personalities. Often it will be full-time and paid but not always (Acts 18:3) – bi-vocational roles are currently increasing. Sometimes it will be a solo ministry but far more often (certainly biblically) gospel workers are part of ministry/mission teams. Undoubtedly the members of these teams will have quite different temperaments and ideas about the best way ahead (which sometimes clash - Phil. 4:2; Acts 15:36-40).
So it is important that we do not get fixed on one narrow idea of the gospel worker or, perhaps even more likely, get fixed on the picture of a gospel worker that we have constructed from our personal experience of particular ministers. We can easily imagine a particular vicar or women’s worker and think, ‘I could never be him/her.’
We need to widen our gaze to see the full range of gospel worker roles and the full range of ways in which those can be fulfilled. It can be very helpful to look around the range of gospel work going on in our churches and to meet and talk to people from a range of backgrounds doing a range of roles. I remember seeing pastors and mission workers come in and address the ministry training course I was on and being very struck by how very different they were in personality and approach. All godly and skilled but so very different!
But, more than looking around us, we need to look particularly at God’s Word and the range of gospel workers described there. Look at Ephesians 4 and 1 Timothy 3, look at the greetings at the end of Paul’s letters, read through Acts. Let’s try to get out of our heads and hearts any unbiblical ideas and deep seated assumptions that gospel workers are of a particular social class or ethnicity or education or personality type. And let’s fill our vision with the wide range of biblically qualified, passionate, competent, courageous, wonderfully varied gospel workers.
God has gifted and wired us all differently and put us in different situations. As you look at the full range of gospel work roles you might find yourself thinking, ‘I can’t see myself doing that one, but I could see myself doing that one.’
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