What is Shared Ministry?
Introduction
In Acts 18:18-19:5, Paul leaves Corinth and goes to Ephesus (Acts 18:19). The Ephesians ask him to stay (Acts 18:20). They want more of his preaching. They want him. He’s the Apostle Paul. He delivers life-changing teaching. They can’t get any better. But Paul says no. He won’t stay any longer.
Why not? Here is a man whose whole life is the proclamation of Christ (1 Cor. 2:2), ministering in a city, to a people, that is wanting to hear him. And Paul declines. The Ephesian church still needs a minister. They want Paul above all the rest. But God has other things for Paul, who sails for Antioch, leaving in charge a tent making couple who were refugees from Claudius’s exile of the Jews from Rome (Acts 18:1-2). Paul sails for Antioch, promising only, “I will return to you if God wills” (Acts 18:21).
On the surface, Paul’s decision seemed like an easy one. The Lord gave him an open door to minister the Word and disciple the city of Ephesus. Surely this is God’s will. But Paul judged otherwise, demonstrating that the ongoing work of the Ephesian ministry did not depend on him staying in Ephesus.
Paul believed in God’s interwoven providence of provision. Priscilla and Aquila stay in Ephesus (Acts 18:19) and correct a gifted but flawed minster named Apollos (Acts 18:24-28). Apollos then sails to Corinth (Acts 18-27-19:1) and waters what Paul planted (1 Cor. 3:5-9).
Paul returns to Ephesus (Acts 19:1) and finds twelve men shaped by Apollos’ ministry (Acts 19:2-7). These twelve had received Apollos’ instruction before he had been corrected by Priscilla and Aquila. So, Paul completes what Apollos had begun (Acts 19:3-7).
So, the situation is this: Paul disciples Apollos’s disciples in Ephesus while Apollos disciples Paul’s disciples in Corinth. Priscilla and Aquila fill in the gap between them.
Did you follow that? It is hard to track, we can admit. The interwoven threads of God’s providence do not follow the plans and schemes of modern ministry models that elevate the ministry of one man. Rather, readying yourself for the thesis statement, we see in Acts 18:18-19:5 that the Kingdom advances through ministry that is shared.
What is Shared Ministry? And What is it Not?
Shared ministry is not mere delegation, where one person has ownership and divvies out the labor. In that scenario, the work still belongs solely to one man who builds his ministry through the fealty of his helpers.
Shared ministry is not mere staffing, where a large team of capable cogs become instruments in one man’s vision. In that scenario, the church has many workers in the flow chart, but not shared ministry.
Shared ministry, rather, is the recognition that the ministry was never one mans to distribute in the first place. Paul makes this clear in 1 Corinthians 3:5-6, saying, “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” Then Paul says, “For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:9). You will notice the word “fellow.” Fellow workers are workers who are equal.
Think of Paul’s humility. He is an apostle who has seen the risen Lord. He’s been specially set apart by Christ for a special mission that includes writing much of the New Testament. Yet, he regards himself as a “fellow” to Apollos, a talented minister with exquisite susceptibilities. How can Paul think he and Apollos share, like partners, equally in the ministry at Ephesus and Corinth?* The answer is that Paul understands the “field” doesn’t belong to him. It is not Paul’s field. The “building” is not Apollos’s “building” (1 Cor. 3:9). Paul sees that he and Apollos are co-laborers because neither of them individually owns the ministry. It is not Paul’s ministry. It is not Apollos’s ministry. It is God’s ministry, “God’s field,” and “God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:9).
The Reformed conviction is that Christ, the “good shepherd” (Jn. 10:11), the “chief shepherd” (1 Pt. 5:4), governs his church through a plurality of elders, or under-shepherds (1 Pt. 5:1-5). It’s one thing to gather a group of men in the church, call them elders, and check the “plurality” box. But it’s another thing to bring the diversity of elders together—think of the differences between Paul, Aquila, and Apollos—as “fellows.” It’s one thing to assemble a plurality as a matter of administrative preference. But it’s another thing to allow each elder’s gifts—think of Paul’s gift of planting and Apollos’s gift of watering—to work for the benefit of the church.
Ephesians 4:11-13 says Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers “to equip the saints for the work of ministry.” So, the “fellow” laborers are “fellow” equippers and each part is expected to be “working properly” for the church to grow (Eph. 4:16).
Perhaps Paul’s humility of co-ministering with Apollos is inspired by Moses. Jethro told Moses, “You are not able to do it alone” (Ex. 18:18). Perhaps Paul reasoned that if Moses couldn’t do it alone, neither could he. The Lord takes “some of the Spirit that” was on Moses and “put it on” the seventy elders so that Moses “may not bear it … alone” (Num. 11:17). Joshua proceeds to not understand Moses’ model of shared leadership, especially in the work of prophecy. When Eldad and Medad prophesied in the camp, Joshua wants them stopped. Moses answers humbly, saying, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets” (Num. 11:29).
Consider three further characteristics of shared ministry.
First, Shared Ministry Requires Trusting Others
Acts 18:18-20, “After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow. 19 And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined.”
Why was Paul able to leave Ephesus? Because he spent eighteen months equipping leaders for the church. How did he equip Priscilla and Aquila? They had the common trade of tent making. Paul stayed with them, and they worked leather and fabric side by side for a year and a half. That was their seminary. That was where the equipping happened. Elsewhere, Paul rents out the hall of Tyrannus for daily teaching of the disciples (Acts 19:9), demonstrating that ministers can be raised during the daily trade of tent making or in the lecture hall.
So, when Paul needs to leave Ephesus, he has the confidence to do so. He has confidence to leave the church with Aquila. Was Aquila as gifted, or knowledgeable, or authoritative as Paul? Certainly not. Would the Ephesians rather have had Paul over Aquila? Certainly so. They are filled with sorrow and weeping as Paul departs for good (Acts 20:36-38). But Paul can’t be put on the copy machine. No pastor, or elder, or session can be. So, the Ephesians trust the Lord. Paul says, “I will return to you if God wills” (Acts 18:21).
So, Paul trusts Aquila because he trusts the Lord. Paul can hand over the work because Paul is not the one holding it together. As hard as it is for an apostle—or an elder—to realize, the growth of God’s kingdom is not the work of one man. Moses laid hands on Joshua and died outside the land (Dt. 34:1-9). Elijah passes his position to Elisha and goes up in the whirlwind (2 Kings 2). Christ himself even departs so that the Spirit may come. This is to the advantage of the church (Jn. 16:7).
It’s not Paul’s ministry. It’s meant to be shared. It wasn’t Moses’s ministry or Elijah’s ministry. It was meant to be shared. This is God’s way of Kingdom building. It’s not just that seeds are planted and the tree grows. It’s that when seeds are planted, they multiply like fishes and loaves. The next year you dig in the soil and find more seeds than what you started with. So, Paul tells Timothy, “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2).
Yet it is common in evangelicalism to have one man sitting atop his ministry. It is this vision of solo glory that draws some people into the ministry. There may be sincerity and giftedness. But somewhere in the “call” to ministry, the possessive pronoun is present. The draw to serve is the chance to develop my ministry and preside over my church. My vision. My people. My platform. My hands and my hands alone on the steering wheel.
So, the minister builds a structure where the church would collapse without him. This becomes the reinforcing evidence of his calling. This is especially common in American evangelical circles. Why? Historically it traces back to the First Great Awakening, which is one of the seminal founding events of this unique thing called American evangelicalism. The First Great Awakening gave the American church an emphasis on enthusiasm (as it was called then), lay ministers, and innovations in the doctrine of conversion. It also undermined the authority of the local church in favor of itinerant preachers. It became legitimate for individual ministers—full of good intentions in many cases—to transcend the operations of the local church and local ministers.
Scripture has a name for the man who wishes to circumvent the authority of the local church. That name is Diotrephes. John writes of “Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first.” He “does not acknowledge our authority,” John says (3 John 9). And Diotrephes excommunicates those that challenge his authority (3 Jn. 10). He is not a heretic. He is a man who treats the church as his personal castle.
So, while shared ministry entrusts, the Diotrephes’ of the church have proven themselves untrustworthy. How so? They’ve signed the inerrancy statement. They’ve got the right answers on the ordination exam. But they are not fit for shared ministry because they can’t imagine being a “fellow” minister.
What are some signs that a minister is a Diotrephes? He reframes disagreement as disloyalty. He has no one in the church that can take him aside. He views other ministers and elders as serving at his pleasure. He is accountable to no one.
These are the small steps that lead to the public moral failing that collapse his ministry and the church. Diotrephes’ pride builds the conditions for a pastoral fall. When correction is structurally impossible, when ego can hide in a room where the light never gets turned on, then whatever “accountability” is present is decoration.
Second, Shared Ministry Requires Receiving Correction
Acts 18:25-26, “He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.”
Consider this impressive man named Apollos. He is from Alexandria (Acts 18:24), the intellectual capital of the Mediterranean world. He is “eloquent” (Acts 18:24). He is “competent in the Scriptures” (Acts 18:24). He has been “instructed in the way of the Lord” (Acts 18:25). He is “fervent in spirit” (Acts 18:25). He teaches “accurately” the things concerning Jesus (Acts 18:25). He speaks “boldly in the synagogue” (Acts 18:26). He is, apparently, formed by the preaching of John the Baptist (Acts. 19:1-4).
Yet Aquila, and his wife, Priscilla, take Apollos aside and corrected him, which means at least five things.
First, it means eloquence does not equal accuracy. Eloquence tends to work on the affections faster than the mind can audit it.
Second, it means biblical competence does not equal accuracy. Apollos was mighty in the Scriptures (Acts 18:24) yet still needed correcting.
Third, it means fervency does not equal accuracy. Apollos was on fire for Jesus. But that fire needed an accuracy detector.
Fourth, it means boldness does not equal accuracy. The man who is bold and accurate does more good than the man who is bold and imprecise.
Fifth, it means accuracy does not equal accuracy. Luke says Apollos taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, and then says he had to be taught more accurately. So, you can have facts in hand and still misread what the facts amount to. You can be right in general and badly wrong in particular.
Acts 19:1-6 reveals what was wrong with Apollos teaching. He knew only the baptism of John. It’s not that John’s baptism was wrong. Indeed, it was from God and not from man (Mk. 11:27-33). But John’s baptism was that of preparation and repentance pointing forward to the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Once Pentecost came (Acts 2), John’s baptism was dated.
It’s a small and enormous error to preach Advent in Eastertide. It was like Apollos was preaching the greatest Christmas sermon ever on Easter Sunday. He needed Priscilla and Aquila to catch it. And notice how they corrected Apollos. They didn’t interrupt Apollos while he taught publicly. They took him aside privately. And to Apollos’ credit he willingly received the correction. Here is the most impressive and learned preacher in town, Apollos, faithfully receiving correction. The man with an Alexandrian PhD let two leather workers teach him.
And also consider the humility of Aquila, the man personally trained by Paul and presumably left in charge in Ephesus. Aquila might have reason to put on airs, yet he resists envy over Apollos’ superior gifts, helping Apollos for the benefit of the church (Acts 18:27) and for the defeat of the enemy (Acts 18:28). This is the humility that mutual submission requires (Eph. 5:21).
Shared ministry is about helping fellow laborers bear even greater fruit in their ministry. Rather than the rivalrous tendency of envy, tearing down, scoring points, and establishing rank, co-laborers within the church at Ephesus hone each other’s gifts.
Third, Shared Ministry Requires a Kingdom-Minded Congregation
Acts 18:19-21, “And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there…20 When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. 21 But on taking leave of them he said, ‘I will return to you if God wills,’” and he set sail from Ephesus.”
The congregation in Ephesus wanted Paul. Who can blame them? He was the Apostle Paul, the most gifted and the most educated. He was the finest preacher, the finest minister, the finest pastor they had ever met. They asked him to stay but they got a tentmaker instead. And to the enormous credit of the Ephesian congregation, they received Aquila. They didn’t leave the church because Paul left. They trusted that if the Kingdom is going to grow, then the best strategic place for Paul was elsewhere. And the church in Ephesus continued on, meeting in Priscilla and Aquila’s house (1 Cor. 16:19).
Then Ephesus lost Apollos, who sailed for Achaia. The Ephesian congregation encouraged Apollos and wrote a letter of commendation (Acts 18:27). The Ephesian church became a church of senders.
In contrast, stands Corinth. They had their turn with a trio of gifted pastors: Paul, Apollos, and Peter. And they turned that grace into a contest: “I follow Paul. I follow Apollos. I follow Cephas” (1 Cor. 1:12). Paul’s response? He criticizes them for being “merely human” (1 Cor. 3:4) and says, “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each” (1 Cor. 3:4).
So, the church with conference and book deal pastors produced factions. The church that willingly accepted the tentmaker pastor produced missionaries. This is how God blesses the congregation that receives Paul’s rejection with faith (Acts 18:20) and accepts God’s plan for their church.
There are only so many apostles to go around. There are only so many superstar pastors to go around. Yet many churches remain pastor-less for years as they decline a solid, humble, equipped, yet ordinary pastor. They wait for someone extraordinary to arrive like a meteor out of the empty space, thinking their pulpit is only fit for an apostle. But when the noble goal of building God’s kingdom surpasses personal preference, the congregation can learn how God uses tentmakers to build his Kingdom.**
Conclusion
Paul eventually circles backs to Ephesus for a visit (Acts 19:1). He finds himself finishing what Apollos began. John the Baptist, dead for decades, is still preaching in Alexandria and Ephesus through a man he may never have met. And Priscilla and Aquila kept the light on in between. These are fellow ministers of Christ. Every one of them was necessary. None of them was indispensable. That is shared ministry. It’s not one pastor’s work assisted by others, but one Lord’s work distributed among servants who trust each other because they trust Christ.
Jason Cherry is an elder at Trinity Reformed Church in Huntsville, Alabama, as well as a teacher and lecturer of literature, history, and economics at Providence Classical School in Huntsville. He graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary with an MA in Religion and is the author of The Culture of Conversionism and the History of the Altar Call and The Making of Evangelical Spirituality.
* Peter also refers to himself as a “fellow elder” with other elders who are not apostles, demonstrating that the principle of shared ministry was not unique to Paul, but must have been an intentionally developed program of leadership among the apostles (1 Pt. 5:1-5).
** D. A. Carson, Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008.
In Acts 18:18-19:5, Paul leaves Corinth and goes to Ephesus (Acts 18:19). The Ephesians ask him to stay (Acts 18:20). They want more of his preaching. They want him. He’s the Apostle Paul. He delivers life-changing teaching. They can’t get any better. But Paul says no. He won’t stay any longer.
Why not? Here is a man whose whole life is the proclamation of Christ (1 Cor. 2:2), ministering in a city, to a people, that is wanting to hear him. And Paul declines. The Ephesian church still needs a minister. They want Paul above all the rest. But God has other things for Paul, who sails for Antioch, leaving in charge a tent making couple who were refugees from Claudius’s exile of the Jews from Rome (Acts 18:1-2). Paul sails for Antioch, promising only, “I will return to you if God wills” (Acts 18:21).
On the surface, Paul’s decision seemed like an easy one. The Lord gave him an open door to minister the Word and disciple the city of Ephesus. Surely this is God’s will. But Paul judged otherwise, demonstrating that the ongoing work of the Ephesian ministry did not depend on him staying in Ephesus.
Paul believed in God’s interwoven providence of provision. Priscilla and Aquila stay in Ephesus (Acts 18:19) and correct a gifted but flawed minster named Apollos (Acts 18:24-28). Apollos then sails to Corinth (Acts 18-27-19:1) and waters what Paul planted (1 Cor. 3:5-9).
Paul returns to Ephesus (Acts 19:1) and finds twelve men shaped by Apollos’ ministry (Acts 19:2-7). These twelve had received Apollos’ instruction before he had been corrected by Priscilla and Aquila. So, Paul completes what Apollos had begun (Acts 19:3-7).
So, the situation is this: Paul disciples Apollos’s disciples in Ephesus while Apollos disciples Paul’s disciples in Corinth. Priscilla and Aquila fill in the gap between them.
Did you follow that? It is hard to track, we can admit. The interwoven threads of God’s providence do not follow the plans and schemes of modern ministry models that elevate the ministry of one man. Rather, readying yourself for the thesis statement, we see in Acts 18:18-19:5 that the Kingdom advances through ministry that is shared.
What is Shared Ministry? And What is it Not?
Shared ministry is not mere delegation, where one person has ownership and divvies out the labor. In that scenario, the work still belongs solely to one man who builds his ministry through the fealty of his helpers.
Shared ministry is not mere staffing, where a large team of capable cogs become instruments in one man’s vision. In that scenario, the church has many workers in the flow chart, but not shared ministry.
Shared ministry, rather, is the recognition that the ministry was never one mans to distribute in the first place. Paul makes this clear in 1 Corinthians 3:5-6, saying, “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” Then Paul says, “For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:9). You will notice the word “fellow.” Fellow workers are workers who are equal.
Think of Paul’s humility. He is an apostle who has seen the risen Lord. He’s been specially set apart by Christ for a special mission that includes writing much of the New Testament. Yet, he regards himself as a “fellow” to Apollos, a talented minister with exquisite susceptibilities. How can Paul think he and Apollos share, like partners, equally in the ministry at Ephesus and Corinth?* The answer is that Paul understands the “field” doesn’t belong to him. It is not Paul’s field. The “building” is not Apollos’s “building” (1 Cor. 3:9). Paul sees that he and Apollos are co-laborers because neither of them individually owns the ministry. It is not Paul’s ministry. It is not Apollos’s ministry. It is God’s ministry, “God’s field,” and “God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:9).
The Reformed conviction is that Christ, the “good shepherd” (Jn. 10:11), the “chief shepherd” (1 Pt. 5:4), governs his church through a plurality of elders, or under-shepherds (1 Pt. 5:1-5). It’s one thing to gather a group of men in the church, call them elders, and check the “plurality” box. But it’s another thing to bring the diversity of elders together—think of the differences between Paul, Aquila, and Apollos—as “fellows.” It’s one thing to assemble a plurality as a matter of administrative preference. But it’s another thing to allow each elder’s gifts—think of Paul’s gift of planting and Apollos’s gift of watering—to work for the benefit of the church.
Ephesians 4:11-13 says Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers “to equip the saints for the work of ministry.” So, the “fellow” laborers are “fellow” equippers and each part is expected to be “working properly” for the church to grow (Eph. 4:16).
Perhaps Paul’s humility of co-ministering with Apollos is inspired by Moses. Jethro told Moses, “You are not able to do it alone” (Ex. 18:18). Perhaps Paul reasoned that if Moses couldn’t do it alone, neither could he. The Lord takes “some of the Spirit that” was on Moses and “put it on” the seventy elders so that Moses “may not bear it … alone” (Num. 11:17). Joshua proceeds to not understand Moses’ model of shared leadership, especially in the work of prophecy. When Eldad and Medad prophesied in the camp, Joshua wants them stopped. Moses answers humbly, saying, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets” (Num. 11:29).
Consider three further characteristics of shared ministry.
First, Shared Ministry Requires Trusting Others
Acts 18:18-20, “After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow. 19 And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined.”
Why was Paul able to leave Ephesus? Because he spent eighteen months equipping leaders for the church. How did he equip Priscilla and Aquila? They had the common trade of tent making. Paul stayed with them, and they worked leather and fabric side by side for a year and a half. That was their seminary. That was where the equipping happened. Elsewhere, Paul rents out the hall of Tyrannus for daily teaching of the disciples (Acts 19:9), demonstrating that ministers can be raised during the daily trade of tent making or in the lecture hall.
So, when Paul needs to leave Ephesus, he has the confidence to do so. He has confidence to leave the church with Aquila. Was Aquila as gifted, or knowledgeable, or authoritative as Paul? Certainly not. Would the Ephesians rather have had Paul over Aquila? Certainly so. They are filled with sorrow and weeping as Paul departs for good (Acts 20:36-38). But Paul can’t be put on the copy machine. No pastor, or elder, or session can be. So, the Ephesians trust the Lord. Paul says, “I will return to you if God wills” (Acts 18:21).
So, Paul trusts Aquila because he trusts the Lord. Paul can hand over the work because Paul is not the one holding it together. As hard as it is for an apostle—or an elder—to realize, the growth of God’s kingdom is not the work of one man. Moses laid hands on Joshua and died outside the land (Dt. 34:1-9). Elijah passes his position to Elisha and goes up in the whirlwind (2 Kings 2). Christ himself even departs so that the Spirit may come. This is to the advantage of the church (Jn. 16:7).
It’s not Paul’s ministry. It’s meant to be shared. It wasn’t Moses’s ministry or Elijah’s ministry. It was meant to be shared. This is God’s way of Kingdom building. It’s not just that seeds are planted and the tree grows. It’s that when seeds are planted, they multiply like fishes and loaves. The next year you dig in the soil and find more seeds than what you started with. So, Paul tells Timothy, “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2).
Yet it is common in evangelicalism to have one man sitting atop his ministry. It is this vision of solo glory that draws some people into the ministry. There may be sincerity and giftedness. But somewhere in the “call” to ministry, the possessive pronoun is present. The draw to serve is the chance to develop my ministry and preside over my church. My vision. My people. My platform. My hands and my hands alone on the steering wheel.
So, the minister builds a structure where the church would collapse without him. This becomes the reinforcing evidence of his calling. This is especially common in American evangelical circles. Why? Historically it traces back to the First Great Awakening, which is one of the seminal founding events of this unique thing called American evangelicalism. The First Great Awakening gave the American church an emphasis on enthusiasm (as it was called then), lay ministers, and innovations in the doctrine of conversion. It also undermined the authority of the local church in favor of itinerant preachers. It became legitimate for individual ministers—full of good intentions in many cases—to transcend the operations of the local church and local ministers.
Scripture has a name for the man who wishes to circumvent the authority of the local church. That name is Diotrephes. John writes of “Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first.” He “does not acknowledge our authority,” John says (3 John 9). And Diotrephes excommunicates those that challenge his authority (3 Jn. 10). He is not a heretic. He is a man who treats the church as his personal castle.
So, while shared ministry entrusts, the Diotrephes’ of the church have proven themselves untrustworthy. How so? They’ve signed the inerrancy statement. They’ve got the right answers on the ordination exam. But they are not fit for shared ministry because they can’t imagine being a “fellow” minister.
What are some signs that a minister is a Diotrephes? He reframes disagreement as disloyalty. He has no one in the church that can take him aside. He views other ministers and elders as serving at his pleasure. He is accountable to no one.
These are the small steps that lead to the public moral failing that collapse his ministry and the church. Diotrephes’ pride builds the conditions for a pastoral fall. When correction is structurally impossible, when ego can hide in a room where the light never gets turned on, then whatever “accountability” is present is decoration.
Second, Shared Ministry Requires Receiving Correction
Acts 18:25-26, “He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.”
Consider this impressive man named Apollos. He is from Alexandria (Acts 18:24), the intellectual capital of the Mediterranean world. He is “eloquent” (Acts 18:24). He is “competent in the Scriptures” (Acts 18:24). He has been “instructed in the way of the Lord” (Acts 18:25). He is “fervent in spirit” (Acts 18:25). He teaches “accurately” the things concerning Jesus (Acts 18:25). He speaks “boldly in the synagogue” (Acts 18:26). He is, apparently, formed by the preaching of John the Baptist (Acts. 19:1-4).
Yet Aquila, and his wife, Priscilla, take Apollos aside and corrected him, which means at least five things.
First, it means eloquence does not equal accuracy. Eloquence tends to work on the affections faster than the mind can audit it.
Second, it means biblical competence does not equal accuracy. Apollos was mighty in the Scriptures (Acts 18:24) yet still needed correcting.
Third, it means fervency does not equal accuracy. Apollos was on fire for Jesus. But that fire needed an accuracy detector.
Fourth, it means boldness does not equal accuracy. The man who is bold and accurate does more good than the man who is bold and imprecise.
Fifth, it means accuracy does not equal accuracy. Luke says Apollos taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, and then says he had to be taught more accurately. So, you can have facts in hand and still misread what the facts amount to. You can be right in general and badly wrong in particular.
Acts 19:1-6 reveals what was wrong with Apollos teaching. He knew only the baptism of John. It’s not that John’s baptism was wrong. Indeed, it was from God and not from man (Mk. 11:27-33). But John’s baptism was that of preparation and repentance pointing forward to the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Once Pentecost came (Acts 2), John’s baptism was dated.
It’s a small and enormous error to preach Advent in Eastertide. It was like Apollos was preaching the greatest Christmas sermon ever on Easter Sunday. He needed Priscilla and Aquila to catch it. And notice how they corrected Apollos. They didn’t interrupt Apollos while he taught publicly. They took him aside privately. And to Apollos’ credit he willingly received the correction. Here is the most impressive and learned preacher in town, Apollos, faithfully receiving correction. The man with an Alexandrian PhD let two leather workers teach him.
And also consider the humility of Aquila, the man personally trained by Paul and presumably left in charge in Ephesus. Aquila might have reason to put on airs, yet he resists envy over Apollos’ superior gifts, helping Apollos for the benefit of the church (Acts 18:27) and for the defeat of the enemy (Acts 18:28). This is the humility that mutual submission requires (Eph. 5:21).
Shared ministry is about helping fellow laborers bear even greater fruit in their ministry. Rather than the rivalrous tendency of envy, tearing down, scoring points, and establishing rank, co-laborers within the church at Ephesus hone each other’s gifts.
Third, Shared Ministry Requires a Kingdom-Minded Congregation
Acts 18:19-21, “And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there…20 When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. 21 But on taking leave of them he said, ‘I will return to you if God wills,’” and he set sail from Ephesus.”
The congregation in Ephesus wanted Paul. Who can blame them? He was the Apostle Paul, the most gifted and the most educated. He was the finest preacher, the finest minister, the finest pastor they had ever met. They asked him to stay but they got a tentmaker instead. And to the enormous credit of the Ephesian congregation, they received Aquila. They didn’t leave the church because Paul left. They trusted that if the Kingdom is going to grow, then the best strategic place for Paul was elsewhere. And the church in Ephesus continued on, meeting in Priscilla and Aquila’s house (1 Cor. 16:19).
Then Ephesus lost Apollos, who sailed for Achaia. The Ephesian congregation encouraged Apollos and wrote a letter of commendation (Acts 18:27). The Ephesian church became a church of senders.
In contrast, stands Corinth. They had their turn with a trio of gifted pastors: Paul, Apollos, and Peter. And they turned that grace into a contest: “I follow Paul. I follow Apollos. I follow Cephas” (1 Cor. 1:12). Paul’s response? He criticizes them for being “merely human” (1 Cor. 3:4) and says, “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each” (1 Cor. 3:4).
So, the church with conference and book deal pastors produced factions. The church that willingly accepted the tentmaker pastor produced missionaries. This is how God blesses the congregation that receives Paul’s rejection with faith (Acts 18:20) and accepts God’s plan for their church.
There are only so many apostles to go around. There are only so many superstar pastors to go around. Yet many churches remain pastor-less for years as they decline a solid, humble, equipped, yet ordinary pastor. They wait for someone extraordinary to arrive like a meteor out of the empty space, thinking their pulpit is only fit for an apostle. But when the noble goal of building God’s kingdom surpasses personal preference, the congregation can learn how God uses tentmakers to build his Kingdom.**
Conclusion
Paul eventually circles backs to Ephesus for a visit (Acts 19:1). He finds himself finishing what Apollos began. John the Baptist, dead for decades, is still preaching in Alexandria and Ephesus through a man he may never have met. And Priscilla and Aquila kept the light on in between. These are fellow ministers of Christ. Every one of them was necessary. None of them was indispensable. That is shared ministry. It’s not one pastor’s work assisted by others, but one Lord’s work distributed among servants who trust each other because they trust Christ.
Jason Cherry is an elder at Trinity Reformed Church in Huntsville, Alabama, as well as a teacher and lecturer of literature, history, and economics at Providence Classical School in Huntsville. He graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary with an MA in Religion and is the author of The Culture of Conversionism and the History of the Altar Call and The Making of Evangelical Spirituality.
* Peter also refers to himself as a “fellow elder” with other elders who are not apostles, demonstrating that the principle of shared ministry was not unique to Paul, but must have been an intentionally developed program of leadership among the apostles (1 Pt. 5:1-5).
** D. A. Carson, Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008.
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