Iron Rose Sister Ministries

In order to fulfill the vision of 2x2x2, the first “2” must do his or her part in order to pass on what has been learned. I am eternally grateful for the “2’s” in my past who have equipped me in my walk with God and service to others. Grateful for the way they have inspired me to equip and serve others, I am encouraged when I see the 2x2x2 pattern continued to the next 2’s down the line.

We each have a part to play. And some will never know the impact they made on my life and the ripple effect that has on others. Their pattern of equipping has been carried on, starting with the early church and the ways in which the apostles followed Jesus’ teaching in Matt. 28:18-20, and taught others everything He had commanded them, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Who has been a “2” in your past? Who has helped equip you to be the Christian you are today?

I want to ask you to do three things in their honor:
1. Thank them, maybe even through a comment on the blog or by tagging them in this post.
2. Make a donation in their honor for #Giving2x2TuesdayIRSM.
3. Continue the 2x2x2 equipping pattern with someone in your life. Need help or ideas? That is what we are here for!

Equipping women to connect to God and one another more deeply… across the Americas… in English, Spanish, and bilingual contexts… equipping to equip… 2x2x2.

Thanks to the 2’s in our lives! And thanks for accepting the challenge to be a “2” for the future, through your relationships and through IRSM.

Written by Wendy Neill, Advancement Coordinator for Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Arkansas 

A 1984 Fabergé shampoo commercial had Heather Locklear say, “I told two friends, and they told two friends, and so on, and so on.” This company understood the power of multiplying relationships. They sought to leverage those relationships to tap into the cheapest and most efficient type of advertising, word-of-mouth advertising, to spread their message.

At Iron Rose Sister Ministries we often refer to, and pray for, “partners in the gospel” (Phil. 1:5). When we find a partner in the gospel, we too leverage this power of multiplying relationships to spread our message: the good news of Jesus Christ.

The book of Acts tells the story of many partners in the gospel. Let’s follow and learn from a few of these relationships.

Barnabas and Paul –Your partner in the gospel can serve as “iron sharpening iron” (Prov. 27:17), helping you grow in your faith. After Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9), the disciples didn’t know whether to trust him. Barnabas was the one willing to take Paul as his partner in the gospel. He trusted him, helped him mature in his new faith, and presented him to the apostles (Acts 9:27). Later in Acts 11, Barnabas needed help with the growing number of believers in Antioch.

Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. (Acts 11:25-26 NIV)

In Acts 13, the Holy Spirit Himself called Barnabas and Paul to go on Paul’s first missionary journey. Untold numbers of people heard the good news of Christ because of this relationship.

Paul, Aquila, and Priscilla – Your partner in the gospel may start out as a friend with whom you have something in common. On Paul’s second missionary journey, he went to Corinth (Acts 18) and met a Jew named Aquila and his wife Priscilla. They quickly became friends because they were all tentmakers. He even stayed with them and worked on tents. Soon, this couple became Paul’s partners in the gospel and travelled with him to Ephesus.

Aquila, Priscilla, and Apollos – Partners in the gospel can also be mentoring relationships. While Paul continued his missionary journey, Aquila and Priscilla remained in Ephesus. A Jew named Apollos came to town. He had great enthusiasm as he taught about Jesus but didn’t quite have the whole story. “When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately” (Acts 18:26). Notice that Aquila and Priscilla were also partners in the gospel as a married couple and worked together to mentor Apollos. The next verse shows us the power of that multiplying relationship: “When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed” (Acts 18:27).

We have followed the multiplying impact of Barnabas to Paul to Aquila & Priscilla to Apollos. The Holy Spirit used these relationships and many others to spread the good news of Jesus Christ like wildfire. I encourage you to scan Acts 13-28 for other partners in the gospel that Paul found on his missionary journeys. It is a long list of people! Then look at Romans 16 to see how many partners he listed living in Rome, including Aquila and Priscilla, “my co-workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them” (Rom. 16:3-4). We don’t know the story of how they risked their lives, but those are loyal partners in the gospel!

Who are your partners in the gospel?Is there someone with a shared interest you could spend more time with? Is there someone who needs mentoring? Is there someone you could ask to mentor you in how to share your faith? It doesn’t matter if you are single like Paul or married like Aquila and Priscilla. You can ask God to send you more partners in the gospel, so the world may know the saving grace of Jesus.

5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
1 Corinthians 3:5-9

Iron Rose Sister Ministries, through the very image of our logo, and the application of the Common Threads, uses roses or plants to illustrate a point. Jesus Himself relied on many agricultural analogies, making His teaching personal and practical to His hearers. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul reminds the church members in Corinth that while one plants and another waters, it is always God who brings the growth.

I would like to borrow from another image in order to highlight and celebrate the parts that we, as a ministry, and each of you individually play in the big picture that the I AM has designed. We are participants as His handiwork (Eph. 2:10) as each one does its part (Eph. 4:16). We may never see the ripple effect of our impact (Heb. 11:39-40), but we can trust that God uses our piece in the puzzle to create a vivid tapestry, narrating and weaving a story of redemption and love.

As a ministry, and as Christian women, the I AM has invited us into other women’s lives to equip them to connect to Him and to one another more deeply. The equipping tools and encouragement that women receive through our resources empowers them in their own spiritual walks, but then, is later multiplied as they share those resources with others, who in turn share them with others... multiplying our efforts in ways that we will never fully know. And I love that!

When we lose track of the multiplied effect our piece of the puzzle has made, the I AM, who designed the big picture and brings about the growth, gets all the glory! It is no longer about what we have done, but rather about how He has taken our small part and done His thing, as only He can. And for that, I am grateful.

We are humbly grateful to be one piece of the puzzle. And when we cannot see the big picture, we trust the I AM to use and multiply our efforts for the larger impact in the kingdom.

In 2020, we will continue to explore what it means to obediently serve as one piece of the puzzle and to be part of the whole.

In the meantime, we invite you to be one piece of the puzzle through our end-of-year fundraising efforts, specifically through Giving 2x2 Tuesday, December 3, in which matching donations will multiply our financial efforts. Details on our Facebook page.