We discussed in brief that the mission is to make disciples. All else is secondary, and should only be considered inasmuch as it does not detract from the true mission. You may have also recognized a few foundational elements concerning this mission that are paramount to achieving success in this generation. I have proposed this is not only possible, but probable. One: the front line force is HUGE! All saints. Two: the mission is self-propagating regardless of cultural context, available resources, or giftedness. Let’s unwrap these factors and more.
One of the greatest bottlenecks of achieving the mission is the availability of laborers. We always complain that the problem with the harvest is that the soil is too hard. However, Jesus said: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Luke 10:2, NASB). You see, our bottleneck is not the harvest, but the workers. And it is my contention that we have the laborers; they just are not being mobilized. They may be working, but not on the right mission. They might be serving all sorts of programs and attending numerous meetings, but not engaged in the core mission which is simply making disciples. Likewise, many leaders are often so focused on administrative duties, they are not on the mission either. Many leaders don’t even think the command to personally make disciples even applies to them. They presume they are just here to preach to others to do so, or organize classes. Yet, the mission of making disciples was central to all that Jesus and Paul did. The religious system that diverts our efforts today was totally avoided by the early church. And as I said earlier, the vision and mission are caught, not taught. It must be modeled to be carried o to the next generation of soldiers.
The other challenge is just that: reproduction. One of God’s core intentions was that we would be fruitful and multiply. In the Old Testament, men were repeatedly commanded to “be fruitful and multiply” quite literally. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were told of their numerous descendents. Today, we are told to bear fruit to maturity, reaping a harvest of 30, 60 or 100-fold. In fact, we see implications in the scriptures to bear multi-generational fruit both in the OT and NT. (Deut 6:1-9 Moses, children of Israel, sons, grandsons; 2 Tim 2:2 Paul, Timothy, faithful men, others). However, the reigning ministry models and methods are based on addition, not multiplication.
The western church system centralizes ministry around programs, events, structures, and a few gifted individuals. Therefore, as our numbers increase, we are simply adding because of these inherent limitations. You don’t believe me? What if I said you would add 1,000 people this year. Could you handle it? What about 10,000? OK. What about 1,000,000? If you’re model can’t handle 1,000,000 people in a year, you are thinking too small!
Addition models are limiting because each of the folks being added is not expected to add more in and of themselves. The systems and gifted individuals are expected to “grow” them. And once they are matured (if ever), they in turn may add more folks to the system. This results in a very linear Kingdom growth curve (again the limitation is not the harvest, but rather the labor). There are some other challenges of addition models such as using worldly drivers for attracting folks to church. Since they are often joining for the benefits and not the vision/mission, it results in more reserves, not soldiers.
Let’s contrast that to a discipleship multiplication model. An individual disciples a new believer from his sphere of influence (oikos). He gets buy in on the vision, commitment to the mission, authentic repentance and followed by baptism. The mentor leads him to obedience. Within weeks, the disciple is challenged to seek a disciple of his own. He does the same thing over again while being supported behind the scenes by the original mentor. This continues ad infinitum. The focus is not how/where they assemble corporately (I hate that term), but rather is centrally focused on their accountability and obedience to Christ.
Now I know many of you are now experiencing heartburn. Where is the accountability?—you are thinking. I tell you the truth, there is FAR more accountability is a discipleship paradigm than in a big-church paradigm. Most folks in the pews are mere infants—maybe not in knowledge, but certainly in obedience—that is if they are saved at all. Leaders, for you to be obedient to the mission at hand, and have the greatest impact for the Kingdom you possibly can, you have to start thinking Kingdom, rather than church (ouch!).
Another benefit to a discipleship model is a total removal of resources as a limitation. Disciples don’t need buildings, seminary training (just like Jesus and the Apostles), or funding. The western perception of what the mission entails has set us back hundreds of years. The presumptions that these resources are necessary (with no NT basis), has prevented us from reaping the harvest that Jesus says is plentiful. We must now look back at our NT practices and recognize the enormous reserves we have ready to be mobilized for the mission.
Consider the possibilities by comparing an addition versus multiplication model:
Assume an evangelist wins 1 soul per day as compared to a saint making one disciple per year. At the end of year 1, the score is 365 to 2; year 2, 730 to 4; year 3, 1095 to 8; year 5, 1,825 to 32; year 10, 3,650 to 1024; year 20, 7,300 to 1,048,576. The entire world population would be reached in just 33 years, presuming just one disciple per year. This is the power of exponential growth. A better figure would be 6 disciples per year; the Great Commission would be fulfilled in just 13 years starting from scratch. If we mobilized just a fraction of the reserves we have now, 5 years flat! You with me on this?
It all starts with you. Are you willing to engage on the mission yourself? Are you ready to unleash the flood of laborers? Are you willing to let go, and trust the Holy Spirit to lead His people to fruitfulness? You can be the impetus or the bottleneck, it’s entirely up to you.
Lord, I pray that you stir something up—bold and powerful in the spirit of each man and woman reading these posts. I pray against any strongholds limiting their perspective—religious or otherwise. Mobilize your saints to the harvest. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Next post: establishing the right DNA to launch a disciple-making movement.
Marc Carrier
www.valuesdrivenfamily.com