Raising Up Timothys

One of the greatest privileges in life is to be involved in raising up the emerging generations. What is the point of learning and growing, if we don’t pass it on? The greatest thrill for the many school teachers that I know is to find a teachable student who really wants to move ahead. The famous rabbi Saul/Paul of Tarsus was always looking for teachable students/disciples that he could pour his life into. His most significant student was Timothy, who lived in Lystra, Turkey.

As part of a book I am writing entitled “Battle for the Soul of Canada: Raising Up Timothys”, I am currently preaching my way through Paul’s letters to Timothy. Timothy was born of a Jewish believing mother, Eunice, and a Greek father. In order for Timothy to be acceptable to Saul/Paul’s Jewish friends, he had Timothy circumcised before taking him on extensive trips through Turkey and Greece.

Timothy was thrilled to have Paul as a mentor, being eager to learn everything that Paul had to teach. Paul developed such confidence in Timothy that he promoted him to a new level of responsibility and leadership. Specifically he left him in Ephesus, a Western Turkish seaport, so that Timothy could clean up a local leadership crisis involving false teachers promoting mother-goddess worship.

Timothy had many obstacles to overcome in his new leadership responsibility. So Paul wrote to him twice, giving him helpful tips on how to navigate through the ‘relational minefields’. For one thing, Timothy was not just the ‘new kid on the block’. He was an intruder from another part of Turkey, who was likely seen by the Ephesian leadership as a busybody who had no right to interfere in their local situation. Secondly, Timothy was a ‘young buck’ coming up against older, more experienced local leaders. Paul wrote to Timothy, saying: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for them in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.”

Another leadership obstacle that Timothy faced was that Timothy was somewhat insecure and shy. Like many young people, Timothy often lacked confidence in the God-given abilities that he had been given. Paul encouraged young Timothy by reminding him that he came from ‘good stock’, and that his grandmother Lois and mother Eunice had imparted to him a deep faith. Paul’s answer to Timothy’s insecurity was to remind Timothy to ‘fan into flame the gift of God which is in you’. Don’t give in to people who push you around and try to manipulate you, said Paul. “God has not given you a spirit of timidity but a Spirit of power, of love, and a sound mind.’

Timothy also struggled with frequent stomach ailments, perhaps from stress-induced ulcers or even from parasites picked up from impurities in the local water system. Paul, the older and wiser mentor, had to remind Timothy in one of his letters to stop relying so heavily on the impure Ephesian water. Our recently ordained youth pastor, the Rev. Ken Bell, has taken hundreds of North Shore youth to work on Medical Missions in the Mexican Baja Peninsula. Again and again Ken has had to remind the young people: don’t drink unboiled Mexican water.

With our Timothy (the Rev. Ken Bell) having moved on to St. Timothy’s http://www.st-timothy.com/, we have now committed ourselves to raising up more Timothys at St. Simon’s North Vancouver. We have intentionally replaced Ken Bell with four part-time pastors specializing in the areas of Children’s Ministry, Pre-teen Ministry, High School Ministry, and Newcomer Ministry.

I believe that the task of raising up Timothys is the key to restoring our beloved nation of Canada. I invite you to join with me in this promising mission.

The Rev. Ed Hird+
Rector, St. Simon’s Church, North Vancouver
Anglican Communion in Canada
www3.telus.net/st_simons