‘What if’ the apostles did ‘Go’.
What could have happened if the apostles had;
1. Left Jerusalem soon after Pentecost.
2. Used the Family-model instead of the synagogue.
Firstly, we start with one hundred and twenty disciples in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost. We can be sure that all were witnesses of Jesus Christ’s ministry, His death on the cross and His resurrection and ascension. Furthermore, as all had been filled with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:4), we can accept that all had received power to be Christ’s witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. In other words, they were all empowered by the Holy Spirit to be apostles, disciple-makers, and were expected to ‘Go’. (Note. As mentioned earlier in this series, an apostle is an emissary, a disciple-maker; a role, not a title.)
Then we have three thousand new believers (possibly men and women) after Peter preaches on the Day of Pentecost. By Acts 4:4 the number of believers has grown to five thousand men; since many of these men would have been married with children, we could easily double that number to ten thousand believers. And then, by Acts 5:14 they have lost count of how many men and women were being ‘added to the Lord’.
The Church was exploding!
Now most, if not all, of these new believers were devout Jews who had been hoping for, and expecting, the Messiah to restore the kingdom of Israel. And being devout Jews, they had a thorough knowledge of the scriptures. They required very little training to be equipped as disciple-makers; to take the Gospel to the nations from which they had come; that is ‘every nation under heaven’ (Acts 2:5).
What could have happened if only one thousand of these new believers had been equipped to obey the great commission and ‘Go’? Husbands and wives, apostolic teams travelling two by two, equipped and empowered to plant family-model churches in all the nations from which they had come. Imagine!
How fast could the Church of Jesus Christ have grown?
How fast could the Church have spread across the earth if one thousand apostles had equipped an average of SIX new disciples to be apostles; and then repeated that process every TEN years. That’s only six new apostles every ten years! Between Acts 2 and Acts 10, the Church seems to be growing at a much faster pace.
Let’s say that, by 40AD, the first one thousand apostles have made six thousand new disciples and equipped them to be apostles; that’s seven thousand apostles by 40AD. Here is what could have happened if they had repeated the process every ten years; only six new apostles every ten years.
The world population in 100AD was probably less than three hundred million people; and 98% of the world population was reachable via existing trade routes on the Day of Pentecost.
The apostles could easily have reached ‘the ends of the earth’ by 100AD, one generation, … if they had gone after Pentecost and allowed the Family-model church to flourish and grow; to be ‘be fruitful and multiply’ in the power of the Holy Spirit, without human organisation.
Imagine!
What if we could obey the Great Commission, Today?
What could happen if every committed disciple of Christ obeys the Great Commission and makes six new disciples each year. What could happen if those new disciples are equipped to be disciple-makers and they make six new disciples each year.
What if we trust the Holy Spirit to grow the Church without human organisation; just disciples being equipped ‘make disciples’ and then going as apostles, emissaries of Christ, to all corners of the earth.
Start with one.
Start here. Go there. Spread everywhere!
What if one hundred disciple-makers ‘Go’?
There are millions of committed disciples of Jesus Christ around the world; yet how many of these committed disciples have the knowledge and skill to share their faith? Why are so few actively making disciples? And why are so few discipling others?
What would happen if one hundred of these committed disciples became active disciple-makers, apostles? What if one hundred apostles equip six new apostles each year for ten years?
It wouldn’t need ten years!
The Stone grows into a mountain.
There has never been a better time to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
