<p>2:7 <em>But we were gentle in the midst of you, as when a nurse cherishes her own children</em>- Paul taught from the podium of the synagogue for three Sabbath days in Thessalonica. But he was somehow &quot;in the midst of you&quot;, treating them as his babies. This is a challenge for all platform speakers. He was amongst them as a nurse with her <em>own</em> children. This is a touching figure- a wet nurse giving that extra special attention to her <em>own</em> child (as 2:11 RV a father with his <em>own</em> children); and like children, they mimicked him (1 Thess. 1:6 Gk.). This was quite different to Paul&rsquo;s background culture, where &ldquo;boldness and abusive scolding were considered essential by many of the wandering philosophers if their teaching was to have any impact&rdquo;.&nbsp; Many a Pentecostal pastor likewise scolds his flock for their lack of faith; but the leaders of our groups shouldn&rsquo;t be like this. There should be gentleness, an appeal for love&rsquo;s sake, rather than shouting and criticism. Paul dealt with his converts &ldquo;as a father with his own children&rdquo;, encouraging, comforting, &lsquo;dealing with each one individually&rsquo; and urging them to live a life worthy of God&rsquo;s grace (1 Thess. 2:11,12 RV). Note in this context how Paul says that he cares for them as for his own babies, as both the father and mother, and yet reminds them that &ldquo;We were babes among you&rdquo; (1 Thess. 2:7 RVmg.). His appeal to them was on the basis of the fact that although their parent, he was also essentially like them. Only as their spiritual father could he ask the Corinthians whether they wanted him to come to them with a whip or with a loving appeal. He <em>could</em> exercise the discipline of a father, out of his affectionate concern for them; but he chose, wherever possible, a better way. He normally uses the father: child image to show his closeness to them, rather than to impose his authority upon them. And so it should be with the true spiritual father or mother in our groups today. He asks them to copy him; his method of shaping the community was to present himself as the pattern. This was especially necessary amongst largely illiterate converts- one could not direct them merely to independent study of the text of Scripture. Paul even likens himself to a woman breast feeding a child (1 Cor. 3:1-3; 1 Thess. 2:7). And yet such wet nursing was considered to be an occupation for the very lowest&nbsp;of women in the Roman world; it was common for even a respectable slave woman to pass her baby over to such a woman to breast feed. But no, Paul himself, as their leader and converter, as it were breast fed them himself. This very nicely shows the link between unashamed, self-abasing&nbsp;humility and true leadership. And again, the Spirit chose &lsquo;shepherd&rsquo; as an image of ecclesial leadership, when the surrounding Rabbis despised shepherds as&nbsp;dishonest. It&rsquo;s just the same as the Lord Jesus describing Himself as the humble King- a very contradiction in the terms of the contemporary culture. There is an intended juxtaposition in Zech. 9:9: &ldquo;thy King cometh... lowly, and riding upon an ass&rdquo;.</p>