World population is about 7 billion. A staggering 2.5 billion people have never heard the good news of the gospel and have never heard of Jesus Christ. Another 2 billion have had some exposure to the Christian faith but have no understanding of the gospel and little opportunity to even encounter an authentic follower of Jesus. How in the world will the church ever reach these billions of people with the gospel of Jesus Christ?
That is the question tackled by Dale Losch, President of Crossworld (formerly Unevangelized Field Missions) in his book, A Better Way: Make Disciples Wherever Life Happens. This very readable and practical work describes the methodology of disciple-making modeled and taught by Jesus.
Jesus commanded his disciples to, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:19-20). Jesus told his disciple to "Go make disciples...teaching them to observe all I have commanded you...." Obviously, one of the key elements of His command was to make disciple-makers. Jesus' disciples followed His lead, making disciples who made disciples, who made disciples, who made disciples, etc, etc, etc - and here we are today. But somewhere along the way this simple plan to make disciples of all nations has broken down - so much so that nearly two-thirds of the world's population do not even know who Jesus Christ is.
A question the Church as well as mission organizations must ask is, "Will world evangelization and the making of Christian converts fulfill Christ's command to 'make disciples of all nations'?" More precisely, what is the difference between a "convert" and a "disciple"? Losch does a wonderful job of teaching the difference between the two and then expanding on not only what a disciple is (follower & learner) but what a disciple does (makes disciples).
Jesus made disciples one at a time - one by one. How in the world will the church every reach over 4 billion people with the gospel following this model? By the "power of one" and the power of compounding. Losch outlines how the power of one-compounded can reach the entire global population. Imagine one believer spending one entire year to make one disciple-maker. The following year, they each make one disciple-maker - for a total of four. The following year, they each make one disciple-maker, for a total of eight. Etc., etc., etc. With-in 33 years they would make (strictly running the numbers) 8 billion disciples! Amazing! Each disciple-maker works with only one disciple per year. Could you do that - disciple one believer a year?
The numbers 7 billion, or 1 million, or 1 thousand, or even 1 hundred seems so far out-of-reach for most of us when thinking of sharing the gospel or making disciples. But, the number "1" - by itself - is not so daunting. Most Christians could invest themselves into just one other person for 12 months - to encourage them, pray with them, to learn the Bible with them and obey what it says.
I encourage you to buy Dale Losch's book, A Better Way and read what he has to say. I was so impressed by the book's message that I bought 15 copies to share with my pastors, Truth Connect's board of directors, and ministry friends. Most importantly, I am personally exercising the "power of one" by being a disciple-maker. Will you join me?
