one at a time...
Monday, July 31, 2006
I loved 'this' extract from Mike Yaconelli posted by a good friend, Paul, on his blog. It's part of a discussion between a youth worker (Yaconelli himself?) and God, and has much to say to conversations I've been having recently with a mate who's chaplain at a successful sports club. He is asking how we resist the pressure (often from the 'church', sometimes from ourselves) to see missional 'success' in terms of numbers belonging to a gathered community (i.e. old church-planting type mission) and begin to see it in terms of making disciples who make disciples...Jesus: "I don't like crowds. Go back and read my story. Yes, I had crowds from time to time, but most of the people in them just wanted more wine, food, and power. Then, when I didn't give them what they wanted, they killed me. Nope. I don't like crowds. Besides, my best work was done one on one. You know...the woman at the well, the crazy guy, the blind man, the prostitute. That's when I did my best stuff."
Me: "But...um...that isn't very efficient."
Jesus: "I know. I don't believe in efficiency."
Me: "What?!?"
Jesus: "Let me put it this way. I believe in making disciples one at a time. Very slow stuff."
Me: "But Jesus, I thought you were into 'fast'."
Jesus: "Nope. I'm about slow. And small."
Me: "Oh, man. If I keep listening to you, I'm going to be fired!"
Jesus: "Good for you."
Me: "Good for me?!? Uh, Jesus, it's not that easy!"
Jesus: "I didn't say it would be easy. I said it would be hard."
Me: "But hard is...well...hard."
Jesus: "Tell me about it.
Go read the full quote 'here' - thanks Paul!
Labels: mission
I'm Malcolm Chamberlain
from Liverpool, United Kingdom
. I'm married with two young children and, in addition to Liverpool, have lived in Leicester (for the first 18 years of my life), York, Peshawar (Pakistan), Oxford and Walsall. I've been actively involved in the emerging church since 2001, as a founding member of Dream in Liverpool City, and coordinator of the Dream network. I'm currently engaged in research into emerging missional communities, and work as a parish priest and pioneer minister.
