When Paul described the Macedonian believers’ radical generosity, he revealed that obedience to Christ often comes with a cost. The gospel advances not through comfort but through churches willing to risk, release, and recommission for the sake of others.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church about an offering for struggling believers in Jerusalem (2 Corinthians 8:1-15). The Macedonian churches (poor, persecuted, and overlooked) had already participated with astonishing generosity. Though they lacked resources, they overflowed with grace. Paul described how they “gave according to their means, and beyond their means, of their own accord” (2 Cor. 8:3). Their example wasn’t about an amount; it was about an attitude.
These believers didn’t let hardship be an excuse for inactivity. They didn’t say, “When things get better, we’ll get involved.” They saw the need of another church and realized that gospel partnership was more important than personal comfort. The Macedonians gave themselves first to the Lord and then to His people (v.5). Once they surrendered to Christ, serving others became the natural overflow.
Paul reminded the Corinthians that genuine love must be proven through action (v.8). It’s easy to talk about cooperation; it’s harder to live it out. We often claim to love other churches, but our willingness to share our resources, our people, and even our influence reveals whether that love is real. God designed the body of Christ so that the strengths of one church could meet the weaknesses of another. When one part of the body hurts, the others are called to help.
Healthy churches should strengthen hurting ones. That’s how the Kingdom grows. We can’t be content to guard our own territory while others struggle to survive. Territorial thinking robs us of the joy of seeing God’s work in the larger Church. Protecting our little kingdoms will never advance His Kingdom.
So what do struggling churches need? They need support; they need encouragement, prayer, and presence that remind them they’re not alone. They need servants willing to go and help in practical ways. They need resources that meet tangible needs. And they need suggestions as wise counsel from those who’ve walked the same road.
Partnership can take many forms. Some churches can offer consultation and advice from experience. Others can provide coordination, aligning resources and relationships for greater impact. The most powerful work comes through collaboration, where we lock arms and advance the gospel together.
We live in a time when more churches are closing than opening. Every Sunday, dozens of congregations hold their final service. Sending new churches or supporting existing ones will never be easy; it always costs something. But if others hadn’t gone, we wouldn’t be here.
The Macedonians remind us that sending may be hard, but staying still is harder on the mission. We’ve been blessed, so we can be a blessing. God’s grace didn’t stop with us; it’s meant to flow through us.
Somebody sent a willing witness so we could be where we are; now we can’t stay while others still are where they are. It’s time to recommission our churches back to the Great Commission.
