Band of brothers – the seven men who keep watch over my life and ministry

Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. – 1 Timothy 4:16

Three times a year (now for seven years) I spend 24 hours with seven other gospel ministers from around the UK.  We meet to pray, chat, laugh, share our fears, concerns and hopes. One of us also volunteers to lead a discussion on a book or topic that we agree at the previous meeting and for which we have read in advance.

A lot has happened in seven years. We have each changed, our families have changed, our ministries have changed. To date I’m the only one of us who has not changed job or moved city at least once. I realise that it is a great blessing in ministry to have such an opportunity to meet with a band of brothers who play a crucial part in watching over my life and doctrine. In ministry terms it is a life-saver.

 

What does it look like when we meet?

Day 1

11 am – Coffee

11.30-1.30pm – In turn we each share about life and ministry including our own walk with the Lord, marriages, spiritual development of our children, church ministry and anything else of importance.

1.30-2.30 – Over lunch we talk through issues of theology, seek pastoral advice or wisdom on situations we’re addressing, discuss the wider church scene.

2.30-4.30 – Off on a good walk in which we chat, often in pairs, asking questions and picking up comments shared in our morning session

4.30-5.30 – Tea and conversation

5.30-7.00 – Session 1 on the book or topic.

7.30-10.00 – Meal out. More relaxed time and conversation

 

Day 2

8.00-9.00 Breakfast (during which time we often skype the member of our group currently ministering in Australia)

9.30-11.00 – Session 2 on the book or topic

 

What is the value of meeting with the same small group of friends and fellow ministers on an on-going basis

As Tim Keller in his book, Reason for God, writes ‘It takes a community to know an individual.’

Keller takes up the observation that CS Lewis makes in his book the Four Loves;

‘No one human being can bring out all of another person, but it takes a whole circle of human beings to  extract the real you.’

CS Lewis met with the same group of men for many years during his time at Oxford. Writing of the impact of meeting as a group of friends he said;

‘By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now that Charles is dead, I shall never again see Ronald’s [Tolkien’s] reaction to a specifically Charles joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him “to myself” now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald…In this, Friendship exhibits a glorious “nearness by resemblance” to heaven itself where the very multitude of the blessed (which no man can number) increases the fruition which each of us has of God. For every soul, seeing Him in her own way, doubtless communicates that unique vision to all the rest. That, says an old author, is why the Seraphim in Isaiah’s vision are crying “Holy, Holy, Holy” to one another (Isaiah 6:3). The more we thus share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall have.”

So in our little fraternal when we meet together we bring out different aspects of our characters, spot different strengths and weaknesses in each other and each in our own way encourage the others.

Thank you my brothers.