32 Years!
32 years. That’s all it’d take.
Huh? Let me explain.
On Sunday, we had the gift of hearing from Amy (one of our missionary partners, serving in Central Asia for Campus Crusade International), about how her mission work is going, and how she is leading and seeing young women come to faith in Jesus. If you missed it, make sure to watch her part here. It was inspirational, and for me, a real challenge for us as a church. (If you want to get updates from Amy, sign up right here!)
It made me ask myself, “how are we doing at leading people to faith in Jesus right here on the Bayshore?”
That’s our role, as we heard on Sunday: to be Jesus’ witnesses to the ends of the earth. In our Step Groups this week, we’re discussing the idea of being Jesus’s witnesses. Are we doing it? How are we doing at it? How long would it take to bring 10 people on the Bayshore to faith in Christ? 100 people? The entire Bayshore region? The ends of the earth…the entire world? That’s where the 32 years thing comes in.
Last night, I was reading a book (Called & Committed, by David Watson) about discipleship and evangelism and came across an illustration that almost made me drop the book:
If a gifted evangelist with an international reputation could win 1,000 persons for Christ every night of the year, it would take him over 10,000 years to win the whole world for Christ (ignoring the population explosion). But if one true disciple of Christ were able under God to win just one person each year and train that person to win one other person each year, it would take only 32 years to win the whole world for Christ!
32 Years!
Now, obviously, it’s a lot more complicated than that, and I’m not even sure of the exponential plot curves with current population, and all of that – but I think you see the point.
If each Christian knew it was their role to lead another person to Christ, who would then lead another person to Christ, and so on, it wouldn’t take that long! Without getting bogged down in the details, can you see the point?
32 years. That’s all it’d take.
Well, kind of. It’ll take more than that.
It’ll take you.
What it will take is you – and people like you, keeping your antennae up for others who God has put in your life to lead them to himself. It’ll take you having courageous conversations. It’ll take you living a life that is a faithful witness. It’ll take patience to build relationships. It’ll take prayer. It’ll take the Spirit of God living in you, working on you, and working through you. It’ll take a heart that is moved by compassion. It’ll take the church to be a new community for these folks, and better, a new family. It’ll take sensitivity to the door opening of the Spirit. It’ll take you seeing yourself in this role, with this job…or rather, with this calling and under this command:
You will be my witnesses…. (Acts 1:8)
Do you see yourself like this? Do you feel equipped for this? Do you imagine yourself being able to lead someone else to Christ like the illustration says?
If not, join the club! Actually, if not, let’s work towards being equipped to do just that.
32 years, after all. That’s all it’d take.
There’s a thousand steps you can take to become equipped to be a witness like this, but here’s the one I encourage you to take today:
ask God to equip you and use you to reach one person for Christ this year.
Just one. I bet you know how exponential growth works.
32 years. That’s all it’d take.
Grace & peace,
Matt
PS: I’ve done some math…with current population numbers (the referenced book is 40+ years old!), it’d actually be more like 33 years…and by then, it may be 34 years. Math! But still…you get the point!