F07 Multiplication
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F07 Multiplication
There is a circle of arrows in the middle of our picture. This is multiplication, or repeated reproduction of leaders and initiators. Jesus had the generational expansion of the Kingdom as a great object of His teaching and direct training of His disciples; likewise the apostle Paul. Wherever he went, he looked around for disciples committed to Jesus, willing to learn and serve others. Acts 12:25: „Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John surnamed Mark.“ And in the next chapter it says (Acts 13:5), „When they arrived at Salamis… they had John with them as a helper.“ Barnabas and Paul invited John Mark to join their team!
Paul did the same with young Timothy (Acts 16:1-3), „Paul came to Derbe and to Lystra. There was a disciple named Timothy… The brethren in Lystra and Iconium bore good testimony of him. Paul wanted him to go on a journey with him…“ And in the next paragraph there are the activities of this new team and the fruit they were bearing: (Acts 16:5), „And so the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in number.“ And this is exactly what Paul teaches the disciples, „What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust it to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.“ (2 Timothy 2:2)
The apostle Paul developed a spiritual movement through multiplication of servant leaders.
Some might be angry that he picked the most capable young people from various places. Paul himself was pulled out of a great local ministry in Antioch in exactly the same way; by the Holy Spirit himself! (Acts 13:2-3) Similarly, earlier Philip is removed by an angel from his blessed work in Samaria to be an Ethiopian butler. (Acts 8:26n) And it does not appear that he ever returned to Samaria after this travel interview! He is teleported by the Spirit to Ashdod and with the Gospel walks around the cities along the sea. (Acts 8:40)
Notice that the arrow circle – representing multiplication of leaders – is associated with each of our four fields. As we consider where and how to enter new fields, we need to ask Pauline question: Which co-workers should we invite, train, and send out? Looking at the second field, we ask, how do we multiply the sowing? Only abundant sowing will allow abundant harvest! Sowing was a skill that Jesus taught his boys very early on? He tells them at the very first invitation that he will make them fishers of men. And how to encourage healthy development of new disciples who believed? Lord Jesus spent personal time with them. The Apostle Paul went back to them, wrote them letters, sent co-workers. And he took some of them with him to help him – and soon to take responsibility! How do you start new communities of different types? The question should rather be, „How to remove barriers of natural formation of new communities?“ When there are new people, new communities become a natural need; whether as small groups or other forms.
The arrows in the center circle set the individual fields in motion. These are the initiators and leaders who will move things forward by their own example and by equipping others. Who is the Lord Jesus showing you as your Timothy? Look around for them, pray for them, invite them to join you, and purposefully teach them all that you already do.
We asked Ying Kai – the initiator of a massive movement in China – „Where did you get so many leaders? – There are no such people around us!“ Ying’s answer? „I train everyone who lets me; while doing so, I look who is leading others to Jesus and building disciples. Then I show them how to do it better, and how to teach others immediately.“
The Apostle Paul and his teams used the same way, when they came to new places and shared Jesus there. They observed reactions of the local people, and after a few months, the book of Acts says, „In every church they appointed elders, and in prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed…“(Acts 14:23)
Lord Jesus says, „The harvest is great, but the laborers are few. Ask therefore the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into His harvest.“ (Luke 10:2b)
Lord Jesus, I look forward to seeing your essentially simple principles find their application again in the Czech lands and Slovakia…