Numbers Do Count

Does the term, “trickle-down disciplemaking” suggest anything to you? Here’s why it does for me.

“I’m too busy to make disciples, personally. I delegate that to staff.”

Those words should be engraved in granite somewhere. Why? Because so many evangelical pastors repeat them.

Of course, that means they’ve relegated the great commission to just another program. Problem is, it is THE program if you believe in the gospels and the lordship of Jesus. Either this all centers on disciplemaking, or it doesn’t. You must decide.

Coming of age in the era of the Jesus Revolution, we often heard that numbers don’t mean anything. The obvious counter is the question, “Why, then, does the New Testament record so many of them?”

But aside from numbers portraying the growth of the church, I want to look at numbers that are more foundational to our return to disciplemaking. Those numbers loom large in the ministry and example of Jesus.

We’re not talking about 5,000 plus a few chunks of bread and some small fish.

The numbers that really count are 3, 12 and 120.

Peter, James and John at the transfiguration supply the innermost three. Add in the other nine, and you get the dozen. Finally, the 120 remaining on the day of Pentecost represent a congregation of believers remaining after the most sensational event in human history—the resurrection.

So, pastor, do you have three people who are more important to you than your Sunday meetings?

If you have three, do they each have three? Is there a larger circle closely related to you? Would you be satisfied with a congregation of 120 well-discipled people as the fruit of your life?

If your congregation numbers fewer than 120, that might be a better prayer goal than 1,200 or 5,000. If you lead 1,200 or 5,000, are your members well discipled or just well served? Whoever you are, do your members make disciples?

A recent conversation with a dedicated Christian leader elicited the old “I’m too busy” rag.

Digging deeper revealed unhappy staff members, people improperly aligned to their jobs and even a dash of rebellion.

Those problems reflect his busyness with the wrong tasks—whatever they are.

Disciplemaking must start at the top and trickle down through the ranks. Trickle-down disciplemaking explains why campus ministries are often so fruitful.

Most campus ministries exist as disciplemaking units. It also explains why so many turned-on college students drop out of church after graduation—they came to Christ via a disciplemaking network only to discover that such a thing doesn’t exist in churches they explore when school days are over.

Then there is the fellowship aspect of disciplemaking. Gathering in small groups without intimacy is no substitute for sharing life up close and personal. But that’s a subject for another blog.

Numbers do count. And they count at the heart of any leadership team that significantly impacts a local congregation, the surrounding community, and the ends of the earth.

Your thoughts? Please share them in the comments box below.