Multiplication Wins Every Time

If you read the previous post entitled "Small is Big. Slow is Fast," you understand that quality beats quantity. We discussed that the goal of Jesus' mission was to produce "fourth-soil" disciples. We talked about the slow, intentional, deeply relational approach that Jesus took to making disciples. (Check out that post here.) Because of the depth and quality of those relationships, Jesus' method and ministry was reproduced through the disciples. Jesus didn't just make "converts" to Christianity, He produced reproducers - disciples who make disciples - who would go forth and reproduce still other reproducers. In this way the movement multiplies.

Multiplication is the natural fruit of disciple making (small, slow investment overtime that we define as truth and life in the context of relationship) and is the primary reason we say that "small is big and slow is fast." In fact, we don't just leave it at that. Borrowing a phrase from missiologist Caesar Kalinowski, we say that "small is big, slow is fast, and multiplication wins every time."*

Addition vs. Multiplication

In the western church we have become enamored with addition growth. The church growth movement of the 80's and 90's resulted in the prevailing model of the mega-church. (Much of this trend was positive, a reaction to the stale liturgy of the past and a recognized need to reach new people in new ways.) This model built churches around "attractional" methods and Sundays became the big attraction! Sunday Service was retooled as the primary vehicle for outreach and with that elevated expectation to attract and retain attendees it became the main focus of church leaders. Equipping the church to do the work of the ministry was replaced to some degree with entertainment for fickle consumers who churches hoped would continue to favor their presentation over the church down the street's.

However, the strategy that Jesus modeled is one of multiplication growth. It starts small and moves slowly, but over time it builds quality disciples who multiply the ministry. Healthy things grow and these healthy disciples make disciples who make disciples and things start to get really good! Instead of placing 90% of our time, efforts, and budget into Sundays, we get a great Sunday gathering as a byproduct of real discipleship and community. "Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you as well." (Matthew 6:33)

But the real kicker - as if Jesus' example wasn't enough - is in seeing the exponential power of multiplication played out. What would happen if we decided to carry out Jesus' mission His way? What if we actually broke the huddle and ran the play that Jesus has called? We believe nothing less than a world impacting, disciple making, missionary sending, church planting movement would be the result!

Do the Math

Suppose a church is able to reach 1,000 people every year. That's impressive growth by anyone's standards! But suppose that most of those new believers are marginally committed to following Jesus and His mission never having been properly discipled to maturity. They believe, but they don't reproduce. They're characterized by the thorny soil. In 34 years that church will have grown to an impressive size of 34,000! Not too shabby.

Now, imagine one disciple maker who prays for and identifies one person to disciple over the course of a year. With laser focus the disciple maker is pouring truth and life into that new disciple and praying for them daily to become a reproducer and eventually replicate the same process for another person. At the end of 1 year the disciple maker and his disciple are both ready to go and find another person each to disciple. This process takes time and looks to make very little impact at first, but by the 15 year mark there's a major tipping point and the pace of multiplication growth begins to outstrips that of addition growth.

From that point forward, there is no comparison between the two methods! In just 34 years the entire population of the world would be reached through this small, slow, multiplying movement of disciples making disciples who make disciples. (For more on the power of multiplication, check out this blog post entitled, "Paper Folding to the Moon.")

The Big Question

Robert Coleman, in his classic book The Master Plan of Evangelism (Outside of the Bible, this is the book that has influenced me most.), describes the process this way.

"Here is where we must begin like Jesus. It will be slow, tedious, painful, and probably unnoticed by people at first, but the end result will be glorious, even if we don't live to see it. Seen this way, though, it becomes a big decision in the ministry. We must decide where we want our ministry to count---in the momentary applause of popular recognition or in the reproduction of our lives in a few chosen people who will carry on our work after we have gone. Really it is a question of which generation we are living for."

This is why we believe that small is big, slow is fast, and multiplication wins every time. Making disciples is a different church growth strategy than what we're accustomed to in America, but it's Biblical, it's fruitful, and it's Jesus' plan to saturate every nook and cranny of the earth with His presence. It's more than a plan, it's a promise. "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." (Habakkuk 2:14)

We pray you'll join us in this multiplying mission!

(Want one more great visual illustrating the power of multiplication? Check out this little video where a grain of rice is doubled in each square of a checker board.)

*I owe this statement to Caesar Kalinowski whose book of the same title, Small is Big, Slow is Fast, helped shape and clarify my thoughts on discipleship and mission.