I’ll start where Paul ends, which Paul’s appeal to the church:
Phil 2:29 So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men.
In the second chapter of his letter to the Philippians, Paul draws a portrait of three ministry workers. These are the men Paul wished to send to the Philippian church. Paul himself hopes to come soon, but until he is able, or if he is not able, he wishes to send men like Timothy and Epaphrodites to them. He writes that the Philippian church might be willing and ready to receive such men, to wait for them, to welcome them, and to honour them and they serve the Phillipain church in the place of Paul. So here Paul is writing letters of commendation to the church, but also in a sense instructing the church as to what sort of shepherds, pastors, ministry leaders they should be receiving and honouring in their community.
When we consider the quality of ministry leaders we often jump to passages that describe the qualifications we are to look for in them such as Titus 1 or 1 Timothy 3. But as we’re looking for Christ’s servants to lead our churches, here Paul gives us a portrait of three such men, and it is clear that Paul’s hope is that men like these would be found shepherding all of the churches of God, including ours: we have a small portrait of the Apostle Paul, his coworker Timothy, and another man named Epaphroditus, who was sent by the Philippian church to care for Paul’s needs in prison, but now Paul was hoping to send back to the Philippian church. So what sort of men is Paul looking to send?