Large Crowds and Small Groups - Ps Steve's Blog

Ps Steve Murrell, one of our apostolic leaders in the Every Nation Ministries International movement has started a series of blogs on Discipleship. One such article caught my attention on the importance of being a good steward of every soul and of focusing in ministry for growth to take place. Sharing it with all of you here... Greatly encourage everyone to go to his blog as well and read the other articles on Discipleship.. it's awesome!

the original article can be found here

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Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.

Matthew 4:25

¹Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, ²and he began to teach them

Matthew 5:1,2

Some
believe that discipleship must be one-on-one to be effective. Others
insist small group is best. Still others consider all preaching or
teaching ministry, no matter how large the crowd, to be discipleship.
So which is it: individual, small group, or multitude ministry? What is
the best way to reach the lost? To make disciples? To grow a church or
ministry? While Jesus ministered to individuals, to small groups and to
multitudes, it seems that the small group was His priority.

These verses teach us three basic principles of effective discipleship:

1. The more Jesus concentrated on small group discipleship, the larger the crowds grew.
As soon as Jesus began to mentor his first few disciples and minister with them (Matt 4:18-24) the small group began to reach large crowds
(verse 25). This seems to be a pattern repeated throughout the Gospels:
a small discipleship group reaching multitudes. If this strategy worked
in the New Testament, there is no reason it will not work today. Small
group discipleship done right will not stay small for long. As we focus
on the small group, we will ultimately grow into a large multitude.

2. The larger the crowds grew, the more Jesus deliberately focused His time on the twelve.
Jesus
did not allow the growing crowds to distract Him from His primary
purpose of making disciples or His primary strategy of small group
discipleship. As soon as the small group started to become a large crowd,
Jesus went to the mountain with His twelve for some private
discipleship time (Matt 5:1). We must follow the example of Jesus, and
continue to make discipleship top priority, especially when the crowds
begin to grow. Unfortunately, many pastors today no longer make
disciples as they did in the early days when their church was small.
When their church grew, they made the common mistake of switching their
focus from making disciples in small groups to making sermons for a
crowd. Don’t get me wrong, sermons are important. Jesus preached
sermons. But He did so as part of the discipleship process, not as a
substitute for making disciples.

3. The larger the crowds grew, the more Jesus concentrated His discipleship time on character development.
When
He called his disciples away from the crowds for some private
discipleship time, He focused on internal character and spiritual
values (the Beatitudes) not on communication skills, crowd management,
or marketing principles. The larger the crowds grow, the more character
is needed to lead. Many ministers have been destroyed as their
ministries grew large because they simply did not have the character to
handle the fame, the criticism, the pressure, the stress, the money,
the problems, and other aspects of great growth. Because proper
discipleship will produce growth, we must focus on character
development as we make disciples.