The Missional Roles (1Timothy 2:7) (& 2 Timothy 1:11)

[7] For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

In this verse (and later in 2 Timothy 1:11) we see what Thom Wolf highlights as the way Paul saw his own ministry. This is a good thing for anyone trying to help the church advance into new areas to understand.

Paul says that his mission, his task, is a threefold one. He is a preacher. He is an apostle. He is a teacher. The three areas of any Missional task are summed up in these roles.

A preacher proclaims. We are sent out to spread Jesus, to tell His story and our part in it.

An apostle, in the most basic definition of the role, advances the church. (We sometimes call this the role of church planter these days. This is problematic, but that is the topic of a different post.)

A teacher is one who makes disciples. We are called to make disciples by teaching them everything Jesus taught His initial followers. That would be where the more well known part of Universal Disciple comes into play.

So, if you see yourself as Missional, or want to be more Missional in your walk with Christ, make sure you are telling the story, spreading and establishing Jesus in communities and helping followers of Jesus become better disciples.