Advantages of Two and Two
Jesus Sent Out Brother With Brother—Calling the twelve about
Him, Jesus bade them go out two and two through the towns and vil-
lages. None were sent forth alone, but brother was associated with
brother, friend with friend. Thus they could help and encourage each
other, counseling and praying together, each one’s strength supple-
menting the other’s weakness. In the same manner He afterward sent
forth the seventy. It was the Saviour’s purpose that the messengers of
the gospel should be associated in this way. In our own time evange-
listic work would be far more successful if this example were more
closely followed.—
The Desire of Ages, 350
(1898).
God’s Plan for the Work Today—When Jesus sent His disciples
forth to labor, ... they did not feel as some do now, that they would
rather work alone than have anyone with them who did not labor
just as they labored. Our Saviour understood what ones to associate
together. He did not connect with the mild, beloved John one of the
same temperament; but He connected with him the ardent, impulsive
Peter. These two men were not alike either in their disposition or in
[73]
their manner of labor. Peter was prompt and zealous in action, bold
and uncompromising, and would often wound; John was ever calm,
and considerate of others’ feelings, and would come after to bind up
and encourage. Thus the defects in one were partially covered by the
virtues in the other. [
See also pp. 103-107, “Allowing for More Than
One Man’s Method.”
]
God never designed that, as a rule, His servants should go out
singly to labor. To illustrate: Here are two brothers. They are not of
the same temperament; their minds do not run in the same channel.
One is in danger of doing too much; the other fails to carry the burdens
that he should. If associated together, these might have a molding
influence upon each other, so that the extremes in their characters
would not stand out so prominently in their labors. It might not be
necessary for them to be together in every meeting; but they could
labor in places ten, fifteen or even thirty miles apart,—near enough
66