The 1 and the 99 and the 1000
There’s a lot going on at NorthWood. It’s frankly really hard to keep up with it all--even as the Senior Pastor. That’s not true--it’s not hard to keep up with--it’s impossible. Our youth ministry continues to expand and is reformatting. Our children’s ministry has just done the same. Our global work has exploded and for the first time we now have boots on the ground which has sped up everything. We’ve just reformatted our church planting. Our members have really taken off with working in so many projects that they, not us, are driving. Our entire staff, not just me, is dealing with the issue of other churches calling and needing help in different areas, particularly in how we engage our community and the world. It’s exciting, and it’s also overwhelming. Needless to say, there’s been a lot of prayer, work, evaluation, restructure that has been going on to accomodate all God is doing.
Yesterday, I shared with our staff some of the unique things going on outside our church, but because of our church. I updated them, they updated me. We updated one another. Communication between staff, I’ve learned, is sometimes tough when your ministries are all growing at the same pace. We’ve never had competition among ministries at our church. I pray we never do. We’ve been one church on one mission serving one Savior in the context of teams, youth, children, recovery, worship, mission, etc.
Then we prayed . . . and it was rich. God was there. As we were praying and all of us realizing the scope of ministry we have before us we were praying for guidance and direction, wisdom and insight. We prayed for God to be alive within us, to keep us one, to be alert and effective in spiritual warfare. Then someone, or maybe two or three prayed - “Lord as we grow, to reach the thousands and organize to reach the thousands let us not forget the one.” That’s a good tension. Either extreme is dangerous. If you live for the one you never reach the thousands. If you focus on the thousands, church becomes a machine. It’s not an either or, but a both and. So how do you balance . . .
I kept reflecting on this all day yesterday. The story of the 100 sheep, they all belonged to the shepherd. One wanders off and He left the 99 to get the 1. Why? Because the one mattered. But, were the 99 alone? No, they were together, watching out for one another. When He got the one, did He run off just with the one and party with the one alone? No, He brought it back to the flock, the flock was important--those other 99 mattered.
My conclusion, all 100 represent 1 - all 100 are important. We’re not omnipresent. As individuals we can only reach one at a time. Therefore, the one is what I do in my personal evangelism and outreach. The 99 is what we do together as a body. So given our context, the one is our personal evangelism, the thousands are what we do as a church strategically. If I ever stop doing the one, I loose effectiveness in reaching the thousands because church merely becomes a holding pen or event. If I ignore the 300,000 around me who need Jesus for the sake of focusing exclusively on the one, there is no light on this hill for people to find their way home. What do you think?
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Aug 28, 2007 at 07:48 PM
Leaving the 99 for the 1 have some massive implication for prayer. Could prayer for the needs of the lost have a higher priority than the prayer for the needs of the saved? The needs for the saved are cosmetic needs because eternity has been settled. The prayer for the lost is that eternity hangs in the balance. To believers a crisis is just a temporary problem affecting their comfort level this side of heaven. The the lost it is heaven or hell. Some people have this idea that God looks at sinner through stained glass windows of our church building. Nothing could be furthur from the truth. I have this suspicion that God is really out there not inside our buildings. In Matthew 25 God makes it clear that he hangs out with the hungry,naked and strangers etc. He never once said "I was in your church buildings on Sunday and you never visited me" He did say "I was in Prison and you never visited me". My brother has a prison ministry in Central America and he always told me that he felt God presence in prison not in the church he attended. i wonder why?
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Sep 5, 2007 at 12:19 PM
That's a great thought! I believe it boils down to what you said about it being both/and, not either/or! God has been reminding me of the importance of genuine discipleship and the need to be obedient to the Great Commission. My understanding of Jesus' command is that "as we are going", make disciples. Whether we meet an individual who needs the love of Christ or we're speaking to the 'multitudes', we must show them Jesus and have a true heart and concern for them. Too many times, we tend to allow evangelism to become "something we do" and forget about the deep need of the person or persons we're reaching. It's both/and that are important and we must have a heart for the 1 AND the 99!
Sep 18, 2007 at 12:58 PM
You know the old saying "the more you know, the less you understand"? I think this applies here.
God gave us the mind and it is a wonderful tool and should be developed every day. However, the mind is carnal and always in opposition to God's will. So in this subject, I think simplicity wins. Simply put, just follow the gentle wooing of the Holy Spirit who leads you on your journey. Reign your mind in for it will want to get ahead of the Spirit and "figure" everything out. If you are in a place to reach a multitude and the Spirit is moving you to speak, then speak. If you are at the WalMart checkout and the spirit moves you to witness to the clerk, then witness.
It sounds like everyone is trying too hard to do the "most right" thing instead of the "most obvious".
And remembering the 1 could also mean to remember the Supreme One- Jesus.
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