Marks of the Messengers 3: Faithfully Repetitive

On Saturday morning we had our church leadership conference, an annual morning where we get together and share the vision for Trinity in 2013. I spoke on 'Marks of the Messengers,' from Mark 6:7-14. You can view part one here and part two here.

But we have to remember, that hopefully at least, it’s not us they are rejecting, it’s our message. And it’s a message we repeat. We see in verses 12-13 that messengers are repetitive. Look at those with me. What did Jesus send the 12 out to do? Preach repentance and heal the sick. Call people into the Kingdom and exorcise demons. Jesus didn’t tell them to make it up by themselves, He told them to repeat. This is just Jesus’ version of 2 Timothy 2:2, ‘what you have heard from men the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men, who will able to teach others also.’ What’s our aim this year at Trinity? To discover some great new idea? To be novel? No! To be old and faithful and orthodox and repetitive. To remember that the Gospel is the only relevant message, and to repeat it. And repeat it. And repeat it!

This is particularly important in youth ministry. There’s always a new curriculum, always a new dvd series, always a new guy with trendy facial hair telling us how he went from five teens to five million in five easy steps. Do you know how your teens are taught? Verse by verse, through books of the Bible. Read and explain, read and explain. It’s deeply unpopular, and deeply fruitful. Last Wednesday we looked at Mark 7:1-30 together, this Wednesday will be Mark 7:31-8:21. And when we’re done with Mark, we’ll go to chapter one verse one of somewhere else. Because Christian ministry is a ministry of repetition.

Christian messengers are always ready, sometimes rejected, and faithfully repetitive. And from this faithfulness, this obedience, the Lord gives fruit. I always pray for growth in two different ways. I pray we’d grow wider and deeper. Deeper in our knowledge and love and obedience to Christ. Deeper in our response to the Gospel, deeper in our prayer life and Bible reading. And that growth is happening in many, many teens, and that’s exciting. And width growth, growth in numbers. More people in Sunday school, more people in teen church. And that’s happening, slower than I would prefer, but happening all the same.

Everything that this youth ministry does, whether it’s bowling or a mission trip is informed by this philosophy. This is why we do awana, this is why we have Sunday school and this is why we have Wednesday night classes. We never do something just to do something. The teens who come bowling tonight will be challenged from the Word, a message I’m ready to give, a message that may be rejected, but a message that’s repeated.

As we go out as messengers, and as we train people to go out, we must prepare to be ready, to be rejected, and above all, to be repetitive.