Partnerships

I think we see the importance of “partnership” with the apostle Paul to the church at Philippi. No blog post on partnerships would be complete without these verses:

3I thank my God every time I remember you. 4In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

7It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. 8God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. Phil 1:3 – 8


Some quick bullet points on these verses that always impress me.

• Paul is thankful to the Lord for that church.
• Paul is thankful because they have continually “partnered” with him in the good times and bad.
• Paul knows that their partnership is also growing them as a church and God’s grace is being shared.
• Paul has a deep affection for this church.

Some questions that jump out at me?

Was the church at Phillipi his “sending” church? What is the difference between a “sending” church and a “partnering” church?

In what ways did they partner with him?

In what ways did he partner with them?

Did they have a formal written agreement?

Did they pray for him?

Did they give of their resources to him?

Did they send out people from their church to help him?

How could they know his prayer request without “twitter” or “facebook” in those days? Grin.


More soon.
lmc