Every church has a Diotrephes … but every church also has a Gaius

One of the most discouraging aspects of leading a church is the opposition to missions by a few vocal members. Stand before a congregation and push missions, and you can expect immediate opposition. As I push missions before my congregation almost every Sunday, I regularly receive feedback like: “God is going to save the people that will be saved whether I participate or not;” “I’m not called to participate in missions;” “we have no business taking the gospel overseas when there are plenty of people to reach in our city;” “evangelism is for those who have the gift of evangelism;” “it makes people uncomfortable when you constantly push us to do missions;” and “you talk about missions too much.”

“In the end, let the call of Christ to go and the cry of the lost to come drown out the sound of your Diotrepheses.”

Nathan Lino, SBTC President

The temptation is to let opposition to missions by a few of our members cause the pastor to take his foot off the gas pedal. It’s easy to become discouraged if we lose perspective of what is actually happening. Here is a word of encouragement my fellow church leaders: every single church has members like this … every single church for the 2,000-year history of the local church. Don’t believe me? Check out the book of 3 John.

The book was written to encourage a church that was becoming discouraged and divided over missions because a member named Diotrephes vocally opposed missions in their church. Not only did Diotrephes refuse to do missions himself, he vocally criticized the leaders and his fellow members who engaged in the mission of Christ (vs. 10)! Here’s a word of encouragement: vocal opposition to missions is nothing new; it’s to be expected. Even if the Apostle John himself were pastoring your church, your members who oppose missions would say the exact same things to him that they now say to you! Here’s another word of encouragement: John calls such opposition to missions “wicked nonsense” (vs. 10b), and he did not take it lying down (vs. 10a); in other words, he refused to take his foot off the gas.

Here’s another word of encouragement: the local church in 3 John also had a Gaius (1) and a Demetrius (12a) and other encouragers in the mission like John himself (12b) as well as members whose enthusiastic support of missions is laid out in vs. 5-8. Unfortunately, every church has a Diotrephes, but praise God every church also has a Gaius.

My fellow shepherds, don’t abandon the mission because you are intimidated by someone speaking “wicked nonsense.” Wisely and lovingly push your congregation to engage the mission of reaching our cities and the nations. 1,000 people are moving to Texas every single day. There are still 3,000 Unengaged Unreached People Groups. There are still 5,000 Unreached People Groups. The fields are white unto harvest. In the end, let the call of Christ to go and the cry of the lost to come drown out the sound of your Diotrepheses.