What causes that sinking feeling when a parent watches his freshly-licensed teenager drive off alone for the first time? Why do field trips require chaperones? What tempts a supervisor to micromanage? Why do I gasp every time my 17-month-old hurls herself down a sliding board?
I’ve already covered one possible answer. When I wrote about the “I do, You help” stage of training a Bible study apprentice, I explained why it’s hard to delegate responsibility, and I challenged leaders to find the courage to let them try. The chief obstacle I focused on was fear of failure.
But now that we’ve hit the “You do, I watch” stage of training, we ought to consider another possible answer: We believe it will go better if we’re with them. And we’re right, after a fashion. It will go better. For now.
Don’t Launch the Apprentice
Finn Frode (2014), Creative Commons
Here are 3 reasons why you should not launch an apprentice to start a new group without you.
1. Group members will receive better teaching.
We’re here for the people, right? We can give them $10 Bible studies, or we can give them 50-cent Bible studies. Let’s give them the best. Why send people to start a new group, when the teaching will be weaker, the main points will be less clear, and the application won’t be as specific or transformative?
2. The apprentice will have less pain.
There is a lot of pressure involved in leading a small group. You’re used to that pressure by now, but your apprentice is not. It might really serve this person not to have to take that burden when you carry it so competently.
3. You will have greater peace of mind.
When you keep your apprentice close, you’ll have a better perspective on how you can help. You’ll know what’s going on and how you can support the work. You can provide quality control, mature discernment, and immediate responsiveness. You won’t have to worry about mission drift or incremental cynicism.
Launch the Apprentice
However, consider your situation. If you want it to go better now, it will never change then. You can bury that shiny talent right in the ground. Don’t worry; you’ll still have it when your master returns. Then you can give it back to him and be done with it (Matt 25:24-25).
Or you can take some risks. You can trade with your talent to produce more. Send that apprentice out. Start a new Bible study, inferior to the old one. Over time, that inferior apprentice-led Bible study might actually surpass the quality of your own. It might grow faster than you could have grown it. It might reach some people you never could have reached.
And someday, without your help, your “apprentice” will launch another new apprentice. What will your Master have to say to you then? Are you ready to enter his joy (Matt 25:20-23)?
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