Developing Kingdom Leaders – Tom Yeakley

Bigger Does Not Mean Better!

It can be natural for some ministry leaders to think that the more people involved in our ministry the better.  We can assume that ‘more’ is better and a sign of God’s favor and blessing on the work.  Maybe or maybe not?

The disciples assumed that the rich man was favored because he had more money that others.  They assumed that his wealth was a sign of God’s blessing on his life.  But Jesus’ summary as he walked away from an invitation to join Him was that it is hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God.  Their resources make it easy to depend upon themselves and not on God. 

The disciples were amazed by this statement, for this was counter to a basic belief regarding God’s blessing on people.  Abundance is a sign of blessing and scarcity is a sign of His disfavor.  Don’t make the same mistake and assume that bigger is better! 

The vision of investing deeply in the lives of a few requires that we ignore the temptation to build some big ministry.  Building a  big ministry is not the goal.  Big ministries require great effort to manage.  Chasing after ‘bigness’ in ministry is not our focus. 

Having many people involved in your disciplemaking ministry is not necessarily bad.  We must avoid the other extreme of small numbers being an excuse for lack of effort or laziness.  We note that Jesus had thousands who He fed on at two occasions.  But caring for the hunger of the masses was not His primary focus.  It was an occasional endeavor. 

Don’t make the pursuit of many your aim.  Your aim is to equip a few people with vision and skills to make more disciples, thus changing the world one person at a time.  Go deep with a few for the sake of the many!