(part 3 of a week long series on “Focusing on the Right People” and multiplication)
“One must decide where he wants his ministry to count — in the momentary applause of popular recognition or in the reproduction of his life in a few chosen men who will carry on his work after he has gone.”
Robert Coleman
This week we’re discussing “Focusing on the Right People”. It’s what many refer to as Selection. Anytime you talk about this (especially with students — as a student I argued with the staff for hours with staff against the idea!), you get the same pushback: Selection is unloving; didn’t Jesus love everyone equally regardless of who they were?
By no means do I hope to comprehensively cover this. But just wanted to share a few thoughts (today and tomorrow) that have been helpful for our team as we think thru this.
My friend Chris Newport directs the Cru movement at the finest university in the world — Texas Tech.
Here are Newp’s thoughts on thinking thru who we invest in (and even more importantly, helping our staff, students spend time with the right people) :
1) II Timothy 2:2 — We are exhorted Biblically to invest in those who are “able to teach others”. As an organization, this is central to our calling and mission.
- What qualifications do you think someone needs to have to be “able to teach” others?
What are disqualifiers? - At the very least this tells me that some are not “able”, which means I have to make difficult decisions
2) It’s loving to think about the whole
- Loving everyone means selection
- What does it mean to love every student?
- Loving lost people means spending time with multipliers
- A helpful analogy from Newp’s Summer Project in Yugoslavia:
- Their goal was to change a country, to reach millions of people.
- So they only spent significant time with students who met two qualifications — 1) Spoke English 2) from Belgrade (this is where we had a team who could follow-up)
- They had no one to hand them to for development and discipleship (no established church) except in Belgrade
- What the country needed was multiplying disciples not isolated Believers
- It’s loving toward Igor to spend time with him despite his lack of English, but what about the other millions? The loving thing to do is to focus on those who can help reach the multitudes.
- From Masterplan of Evangelism:
“…though [Jesus] did what He did to help the multitudes, He had to devote Himself primarily to a few men, rather than the masses, in order that the masses could at last be saved. . . “Everything that is done with the few is for the salvation of the multitudes.”
3) Key Question: How do I discern if I should continue to spend time with a student who probably will not become a multiplier?
- Here is my guideline: Does my spending time with this individual cause me to compromise my calling to make multiplying disciples?
- If my time with Johnny keeps me from reaching the campus, I am not being faithful with my time
- Recognize I have limited time — I can’t just spend time with Johnny just b/c he shows up
One adjustment: Ultimately the goal is not to reach the campus, it’s to reach the world. Some people may not multiply their lives in the context of our campus ministry, but have the potential to be very influential once they graduate. I’m mostly thinking about the guy/girl who figures it out late in their college career.
This is a difficult and challenging  issue. We can’t just write people off b/c they’re not leaders, but filling our schedules with people who are not “able to teach others” is also not an option. I have to trust that by reaching multipliers, I will eventually reach more people, which means all types of people.
photo courtesy of SigmaEye via Flickr