Introduction
The church is very important to God. Acts 20:28 tells us that He bought the church with his own blood. God made a huge sacrifice to bring the church into being. He sacrificed His one and only son. Having sacrificed something very precious and costly to birth the church, having invested all the riches and wealth of heaven to bring the church into being (Colossians 2:3, Ephesians 3:8), God wants His church to stand (Matthew 16:18), God wants the church to enlarge; grow and increase both spiritually and physically (Ephesians 4:11-16, Acts 2:47, Jeremiah 30:19). Jesus’ last words to His disciples, what we commonly refer to as ‘The Great Commission’ is Jesus simply telling His disciples go and multiply, increase and enlarge the number of disciples all over the world.
If we want to understand what it means for a church to enlarge, we have a prototype we can use as a sample or model for church enlargement. The early church experienced enlargement, the early church is a good example of church enlargement. Let’s look at the track record of the early church:
• from 11-120 people (Acts 1:15)
• then 3000 added (Acts 2:41)
• then grew to 5000 (excluding women) - Acts 4:4
• then multitudes added( Acts 5:14)
• then churches multiplied (Acts 9:31)
• they experienced spiritual and physical growth (Acts 16:5)
What is the case today? Very few churches are experiencing this kind of growth, this kind of enlargement. What is responsible for this? We can all come up with different answers for this. Some may say it’s because evangelism isn’t given an important place in most churches today, some will say it’s because the church of today is all talk and no power, some others may even go as far to argue that it is because 80% of churches today have no business existing in the first place, that it isn’t God that sent them to plant those churches. We can all come up with different reasons why the early church experienced rapid growth and enlargement.
One fundamental thing that contributed to the enlargement of the early church both spiritually and physically which cannot be downplayed is that they were TOGETHER. They prayed together (Acts 1:14), waited in expectation together (Acts 2:1), shared together (Acts 4:32), fellowshipped together (Acts 2:42), served God together, ate together (Acts 2:46), in other words they were together as a strong team. There was cooperation, there was collaboration, they were in one accord (Acts 2:44).
TEAMWORK QUOTE
“Collaboration is multiplication”. – John Maxwell
JESUS’ SELECTION PROCESS
The early church started with a team made up of Jesus’ core disciples. Jesus showed that selecting, training, mentoring and developing a team is the first step to effective evangelism, to church enlargement.
Bob Gordon and David Fardouly say that there are 2 approaches to selecting a team:
1. Discover a NEED and then find a person to fill it
2. Discover a PERSON and then create a job for them within the team
Which of these approaches did Jesus adopt? Did He see a need and then select people that would fill the need or did He see a person and start creating a job or an assignment for the person?
Jesus already knew who all the disciples were (John 1:47-48). Before He chose them, He knew each person’s strengths and weaknesses, He knew each person’s capabilities. So the 3 years He spent with them was not to discover who they were, He already knew that being God. The three years He spent with them was to equip them to meet a need. So Jesus saw a need and selected people that would meet a need.
What was the need? Matthew 9:37 – there is a big harvest of souls out there, there are so many people who are ripe for salvation and so there is a serious need for people to bring in this harvest.
JESUS PICKED A DIVERSE TEAM
We don’t all have to come from the same tribe, same background, be of the same age group, have the same interests, be of the same profession or have similar skills and abilities before we can work together as team, before we can succeed as a team. Some of Jesus’ disciples were close relatives like Peter and Andrew, James and John who were brothers, while some were not in any way related. Jesus didn’t pick people from the same background. Tax collectors, fishermen, one who was politically active known as Simon the zealot was on Jesus’ team. Jesus didn’t pick people of the same profession. Some were outspoken, some were quiet. Andrew was the one that led Peter to Christ but we don’t hear as much about him as we do of Peter. The nicknames Jesus gave James and John – ‘sons of thunder’ tells you something about their kind of personality. Jesus didn’t pick people with the same personality. Jesus picked a diverse team made up of men of different background, personalities and abilities. But in those three years of intensive discipleship training with Jesus, He was passing across this message to His disciples – despite their differences in personality, profession and background, they need to get along well, they need to be together in mind and spirit because they had an important work for the kingdom to do together. Diversity actually makes the team very interesting, brings spiritual variety to the message God wants to pass across. God is very rich and through people with different abilities, skills and background He is able to make the message of the cross very rich (1 Corinthians 12:4-6, 17-20). Five servants of God can preach the same message in five different ways. One may sing the message, another dramatise the message, another say the message through a dance, another preach it with a very quiet, sober voice, while another can shout and run all over the place bring down fire and brimstone as he preaches that same message.
The practical implications of belonging to a diverse team is that we can’t all do ministry in the same way. We can’t all be burdened, concerned, or notice the same things. We won’t all respond to situations in the same way. Our differences therefore calls for appreciation of where each person is coming from, appreciation of each person’s personality, each person’s uniqueness and not condemning one another or trying to get the other person to be more like you. It calls for flexibility on our own part. Being able to stretch, being flexible brings enlargement (Isaiah 54:2). This means one big hindrance to enlargement is when the people on the team are not flexible. Scripture tells us that we are like clay in God’s hand (Isaiah 45:9). We should be as flexible as clay so God can easily work through us. When we are like clay – we are flexible and not rigid, we can easily accommodate others who are different from us, who see things differently from us. We can relate and work well with people of different background, personalities and gifting.
Jesus, the master of the team, demonstrated and modelled this flexibility. Jesus was flexible that was why He could work with a team of people with different background, personalities, ideas and skills. He was flexible but did not in any way compromise godly standards. Let’s not just think of Jesus as the son of the carpenter. He and His disciples were of completely different background, He was of and from heaven, they were of this world, He was uncountable times richer than they were, yet He could get along well with them (Philippians 2:5-8). This is the attitude we are to have when dealing with members of our team. By being flexible, others on our team can help us and we can learn from them even though we are totally different. But many times people who aren’t flexible block their minds to receiving from others. They have the attitude of what does he have to offer, what can I learn from him - if it’s age I’m older than him, if it’s experience I’ve been a minister even before he thought of giving his life to Christ, if it’s social status I’m the director of an established organisation, he’s just an errand boy.
Naaman had to learn flexibility for the reproach in his life to be removed. He had to listen to and accommodate the suggestion of a girl much younger than him, of a different social status than he. He had to learn that God heals in different in ways and be flexible enough to receive His healing in a way different from what he was used to or how he expected (2 Kings 5:1-14). The word that can enlarge you business, ministry, finances, etc may come from the person you least expect, may come in a way you least expect it, if you are not flexible you could miss it. Be flexible so you can be enlarged.
JESUS PICKED AN IMPERFECT TEAM
The pioneers or pillars of the early church or New Testament church were men with weaknesses and shortcomings. In actual fact, Jesus picked those that most people would never consider for the important role of founding or starting the early church. The fact that we are imperfect, have some character flaws and weaknesses doesn’t mean we are doomed for failure. We can do great things for God, we can get to where God is taking us as long as we are striving and working towards perfection. How did Jesus handle the weaknesses or imperfections of His team members? Firstly, He didn’t wait until they were perfect before He chose them or starting using them. He didn’t cast Thomas away for doubting, He didn’t cast Peter away for denying Him (John 20:24-29, Luke 22:31-32, John 21:15-19). He loved, supported, encouraged, rebuked and corrected members of His team when the need arose. We should do likewise (Galatians 6:1, Matthew 18:15-17, Romans 14:1-4, Romans 15:1-2).
JESUS PICKED A TEAM WITH GREAT POTENTIALS FOR ENLARGEMENT
Underneath their weaknesses and shortcomings was a team with great capacity for enlargement. Peter had the potential to preach a message and in one day 3000 people would be won to the Lord. Peter, Matthew and John had the potential to put down in writing the messages of Jesus in what would later be put together to form the Bible; the greatest tool ever for Church/kingdom enlargement. Jesus had seen their potential for enlargement before choosing them. Each of us has a seed in us, a potential, skill, gift, experience that can enlarge our church and the kingdom of God. But when you draw back, hide your gift, or bury your gift you limit the enlargement the church can experience.
Growth comes when each of us plays our role, gives our very best, gives our full support. Talents were increased, were enlarged when they were put to use (Matthew 25:14-28). The church can’t really grow and enlarge to its fullest capacity if each of us is holding back, not utilising what God has put in us.
You could have the right team, you could have selected the people with great potentials for enlargement but if they are not AVAILABLE, DILIGENT, DETERMINED, you won’t see and experience enlargement. What would have happened to the early church if the disciples were not AVAILABLE, DILIGENT, DETERMINED? Take Peter for example, His faith wavered at the he walked with Jesus on water, yet he still kept on in his Christian journey. He even went as far as denying Jesus three times but he still kept on in the faith. This shows that Peter was DETERMINED. Jesus on His ascension gave a very important instruction that they should wait in Jerusalem until they are empowered from on High (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4). Peter was AVAILABLE. It’s vessels that are available that can be filled to full capacity with the Holy Spirit. Peter didn’t just open his mouth and 3000 people were brought to the Lord. He took time to pray, took time to wait to be filled with power on high, took time to know and understand the message of salvation in Christ Jesus so he could properly communicate it to be people. It was a message that he took the people through what God prophesised in Joel about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Went down to the Psalms to refer to what David had said about the Lord. In other words he was diligent (Acts 2:41). Availability, diligence and determination were what made Peter and the apostles experience enlargement in their ministry and the early church they started.
Yes we are different, yes we have great potentials underneath all our imperfections, notwithstanding, we can succeed as a team, we can experience enlargement, if we are together as a team, if we are flexible, available, diligent and determined.
