Making disciples of all nations through spiritual multiplication: Part 2 of 2

We don’t know about spiritual multiplication.

When I was in college I wanted to reach the whole campus for Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. So together with some friends I worked on a Catholic campus newspaper. A newspaper seemed like an obvious way to reach a lot of people quickly with the Good News.

Not knowing about spiritual multiplication, I was trying, in effect, to be the Super Evangelist I mentioned in Monday’s post. My friends and I were reaching a lot of people, but only at a superficial level. Had we known about spiritual multiplication we could no doubt have reached more people for the Lord by sharing our lives profoundly with a few others in such a way that they would then do the same.

Another reason I liked working on the newspaper was because people on campus knew who I was. I wanted to stand out from the crowd, to be noticed. The Super Evangelist mentioned in Monday’s post attracts attention. Everyone sees the numbers of people he affects.

We have to ask ourselves: do we want to be popular, or do we want to win all souls for Jesus Christ? The Super Evangelist’s method of evangelizing fails to win the world for Christ. Sure, in 33 years the Super Evangelist brings 33 million souls to Christ, but that tremendous achievement dies with those 33 million, for they don’t know how to do for others what the Super Evangelist did for them. By contrast the humble methods of spiritual multiplication are transferable, and they continue to bear fruit to the ends of the earth even after we are gone. We may not receive the praise of others like the Super Evangelist does, but when our work is done we can hope to hear the Lord say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Mt 25:23).

For spiritual multiplication to work we must invest ourselves profoundly in at least two others, just as Jesus did with his apostles. Only a profound investment in others will, by the grace of God, bring about in them the total conversion of life that will truly enable them to be instruments of similar conversion in the lives of others.

Investing our lives profoundly in others is hard. First, it requires humility. We have to give up aspirations of being a Super Evangelist. Also, we have to be vulnerable with those others, sharing with them “not only the gospel of God but also our own selves” (1 Thes. 2:8).

The whole world is reached by spiritual multiplication in just 33 years if, by God’s grace, we lead two others to Him in such a way that they go on to do the same. Some of us, in trying to reach many more than two, fail ever actually to practice spiritual multiplication, because we fail to invest profoundly in at least two. Others of us err in the opposite direction. We aim for only two others (or fewer!). But that leaves no room for error. To actually reach two others in a profound way, we probably need to try to reach three to five in a profound way.