Multiplying Disciples and Churches                          

FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS
volume 23, number 10, March 7, 2024

. . . you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them, as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, Exodus 18:21.

It seems to me that most of what we see in the present day Reformed or evangelical church falls short of the Biblical model of ministry. We typically have an “attraction model” of, ”Build it and they will come.” In other words we tend to place our emphasis on church buildings, multiple pastors and workers on the church staff, and attractive, well run programs which “scratch where people itch,” while paying lip service to the concept of discipleship.  

As always, we should look to the Scriptures for our model of ministry. After the remarkable deliverance of the people of Israel from Egyptian bondage, Jethro, the Midianite priest and father-in-law of Moses, brings Zipporah, Moses’ wife, and his two sons, Gershom and Eliezer, back to Moses. There seems to have been a “dust up” between Zipporah and Moses over the issue of circumcision (Ex.4:24-26) which resulted in a marital separation. Now, however, the family is reunited and Moses tells Jethro of all the mighty deeds of Yahweh concerning the Egyptians. After hearing of these wonderful works, this Midianite priest seems to have been converted because he exalts Yahweh and makes sacrifices to Him. 

And now Jethro takes a few days with Moses, Zipporah, and his grandsons and notices that Moses is wearing himself out in acting as the judge for the nation of Israel, overseeing perhaps as many as one million people. Jethro says, “The thing that you are doing is not good. You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone,” (Ex.18:17,18). He then suggests to Moses that he find able and well qualified men to share the load with him. He is to place leaders over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. 

The church has one purpose – to make disciples of all the nations by going out to meet people who do not know Jesus, to evangelize them, resulting in their baptism, and to teach them to obey all that Jesus and His apostles and prophets say (Mt.28:18-20). We all know that, but how shall we get this work done? Paul instructs Timothy, “And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also,” (2 Tim.2:2). The model of ministry in Scripture is multiplication, but we almost always try to do ministry by addition. This approach is pedantic, too costly, too slow, and fraught with heavy-handed leadership or good men who often succumb to the temptation of celebrity pastor. 

As I look back on my ministry of over forty years I have to say now that I did not adequately follow Paul’s instruction to Timothy. Sure, I was always discipling a few men at a time, meeting one on one or in small groups to model the Christian life and teach them the basics of Christian living. I also think I tried to preach to our people in such a way that they could grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. And I think I was also diligent in training men on our church staffs. However at best I was only conscious of discipleship to one generation, the men I was working with at the time. I was not willfully and intentionally laboring to disciple men who would disciple men, who would disciple men, who would disciple men. Second Timothy 2:2 makes clear that Paul’s model of leadership development was four generations. Paul taught Timothy who taught faithful men who would be able to teach others also.  

As I work with men in our denomination, Vanguard Presbyterian Church, and as I work with men in several developing countries, I am noticing their tendency to do what I have done, focus on only one generation of disciples. Yes, it is a good thing to develop leaders but we need to go further. The attraction model and one generation discipleship is not working. It is not sustainable and for good reason – it is not Biblical. 

How did the church of Jesus Christ grow from 120 in the Upper Room just prior to Pentecost to 100,000 at the end of the first century to as many as five million people a few hundred years later? Of course there were many excellent preachers but the church grew exponentially because ordinary people were reaching ordinary people who were reaching other ordinary people. Paul told the Colossians that the gospel was constantly bearing fruit and increasing (Col.1:6). He told the Romans that their faith was known throughout the world (Rom.1:8), and he told the Thessalonians the word of God had sounded not only in Macedonia and Achaia but in every place their faith had gone forth (1 Thess.1:8). 

Maybe you have seen illustrations of two ways to do ministry. My favorite is of one church planter who seeks to build a mega-church of 10,000 people each year for thirty years. Wow! In this hypothetical scenario the pastor would have 300,000 members. On the other hand is the pastor who disciples one person for one year. He then tells the one he has discipled that he must do the same the next year. As the years go by, each man who is a disciple commits to one disciple each year. In this scenario at the end of thirty years there would be almost 1.1 billion people, two to the thirtieth power. 

Now of course we live in a fallen world and neither of these scenarios will be played out fully. However I hope you can see the benefits of multiplying rather than adding disciples. Most of the young men I know who are planting churches are incredibly hard workers. They have their families and often serve as tentmakers. They are doing their best to squeeze in time for sermon preparation, counseling, visitation, discipleship, and other pastoral duties. They cannot possibly find more time to do all they are doing. The remedy is not to work harder but rather to work smarter. 

This is true of anyone in the church, men or women, elders or lay people. What would happen if every pastor, lay person, or church planter would commit to disciple one person each year for the rest of his life, challenging those whom he disciples to do the same? Everyone in the church could do this.

Here’s my challenge to you. Would you prayerfully consider finding one person you can disciple for the next year and will you commit to this for the rest of your life? I will have more to say next week on how you can produce real disciples who seek to multiply disciples, and I will have more to say also on the content you can use. We are all very busy. You probably do not need more things to do. You don’t need to work harder, just smarter.