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Passing on leadership is a central theme in the writings of Roland Allen. An early twentieth-century missionary, Allen carried on a sustained polemic against the missionary methods of his day and contrasted them with Paul’s. His discussion sufficiently reflects the New Testament for Schnabel to commend him (Schnabel, 2008, p. 13).

Unlike missionaries who remained for several generations, Allen maintained, Paul never stayed in one place for more than a few months, or at the most two years. Once a congregation had been established, he selected leaders from its midst and left the fledgling church in their hands. For example in Acts 14.21–3, having been driven out by their opponents, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra and Iconium. Opposition seems to have waned sufficiently for them to stay for a while ‘strengthening’ and ‘encouraging’ the disciples. But they did not remain for long. They appointed elders, even though the believers had been Christians for only a few months, and left.

The direction to Timothy – to entrust what he had learnt to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others (2 Tim. 2.2) – clearly reflects a Pauline principle of growing leaders who would instruct other people. The heart of Allen’s understanding is that the church lives by faith in Christ, whose gifts – including ‘the gift-bearing missionary Spirit’ – are sufficient for its life (Paton, 1968, p. 26, 29).

Paul trusted the Spirit to supply whatever an infant church required, and put in place only the bare essentials before moving on: a ‘tradition or elementary Creed, the Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Communion, Orders [that is leadership], and the Holy Scriptures’ (Allen, 2006, p. 107). Paul made sure that new leaders had support after he left. ‘Between the Apostle and the elders in every Church were the young men whose names crop up towards the end of the epistles – Timothy, Titus, Epaphras, Luke, Onesimus, Silvanas, and all the rest of them.’ They made available to the local church resources it did not have (Paton, 1968, p. 37).

Pressing forward into new territory, Paul kept a watchful eye on what happened in his new churches and exercised authority through his co-workers. Writing of 1 Corinthians 9.1–2, Dunn notes that the authority of the ‘apostle’ was very much tied in to the apostle’s role in establishing a church: Paul was not an apostle to others because he had not founded their churches, but he was to the Corinthians because through the Spirit he had brought their church to birth (Dunn, 2009, p. 539).

According to Allen, the early church grew spontaneously by organizing little groups as individuals were converted, handing on to them a simple organization that connected them to the wider church, equipping them with all the spiritual power and authority necessary for their corporate existence and authorizing them to repeat the process (Allen, 1997, p. 143). Speedy delegation was accompanied by continuing support.

This picture needs qualifying, however. There were times when Paul was forced to leave his new churches more quickly than he wanted. In 1 Thessalonians 2.17–9 he wrote of ‘making every effort’ to see the Thessalonians, having been ‘torn away from’ them. He was anxious enough to send Timothy to them (3.1–3), and was relieved when Timothy brought back good news (v. 6). When he had the chance, Paul stayed longer in Corinth (for 18 months – Acts 18.11) and in Ephesus (for at least two years – Acts 18.10). Yet even these ‘long’ periods are remarkably short compared to the five years or more that many founders stay with their gatherings today.

Handing over leadership quickly must have been helped by the composition of Paul’s churches. Dunn notes that Paul’s letters were addressed largely to Gentile audiences, yet are peppered with quotations and allusions to the Hebrew Bible. Paul must have assumed that these references would have resonated ‘in the echo-chamber of a much wider knowledge of Israel’s Scriptures’ (Dunn, 2009, p. 563). Presumably, the gospel could take root quickly partly because Jews and God-fearing Gentiles knew their Hebrew Bible.