Five Christ-Compelled Motivations for Multiplication

By Larry Walkemeyer

Should you care about multiplication? Is multiplication simply one model for doing ministry? Is it a “good option” or a “God-given mission”?

In our articulation of The Free Methodist Way, “Christ-compelled” is an intentionally strong modifier to the term “multiplication.” Compelled means “to drive or urge forcefully or irresistibly,” according to Merriam-Webster. “Christ-compelled” means that Christ Himself is the initiator and source of this drive. Here are five motivations for multiplication from the life and ministry of Jesus.

1. Following the Jesus Model

Have you ever put together a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle? It’s tough, right? But what if the box top is missing? Then it’s almost impossible. Why? Because the picture you are trying to build is absent. You have the pieces but not the model to follow.

Jesus’ ministry is the puzzle box top. His ministry shows what our ministry should major in. So when you study the Gospels, you find that about 75% of His recorded time was spent with 3 or 12 disciples.

Jesus could have done ministry primarily through gathering and teaching large crowds, but He didn’t. Why? Because Jesus knew that 12 disciples who multiplied were larger and longer-lasting than any size crowd of casual believers.

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“Christ’s model should compel us to work to match his picture.”

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Most pastors and leaders spend too much time planning and working to get the “crowd” and not nearly enough time investing in disciples who will multiply; 90% of pastors cannot give you the name of a person they are personally discipling. Christ’s model should compel us to work to match his picture. 

2. Obeying the Biblical Mandate

I heard an African pastor tell a group of 5,000 American pastors, “The American church leaves out a vital part of the Great Commission. You teach them what the Bible says, but you don’t teach them to obey what the Bible says. Discipleship must be obedience-based.”

Obeying the words of Jesus is the core essence of discipleship (John 14:23-25). Yet, we often relegate obedience to “not being of this world” and separate it from Christ’s grand command to “go and make disciples.” For lay people, this can mean, “If I volunteer at the church, I don’t have to disciple anyone.” For pastors, this can mean, “If we preach a good message or pray for people at the altar or visit the sick in the hospital, then I don’t have to personally disciple anyone.”

Christ’s first call to His disciples was essentially, “Follow me and I will send you out to do with others what I have been doing with you” (Matthew 4:19). His “Great Commission” command in Matthew 28:19 echoes that. Christ’s word should compel us.

3. Reaching the Most Lost People

Have you heard the quote “What you win them with, you win them to”? If you win people to Christ through a nice building, a talented band, a gifted or funny communicator, and a happy message, then these are what they will have an appetite for. They may invite their friends to church and the church may be “added” to, but they will feel little compulsion to make disciples who can “multiply.”

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“What He had left were disciples with deep spiritual conviction and a willingness to work on mission with Him.”

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In John 6, Jesus had a large crowd gathered, and He fed them a free “happy” meal. It looked like great addition. But then Jesus “blew it” by starting to teach about the true bread of life and “working for food that never spoils.” By the end of John 6, almost all the members of the crowd were no longer following Him. What He had left were disciples with deep spiritual conviction and a willingness to work on mission with Him. Those disciples would end up reaching hundreds who would reach thousands and eventually millions.

Do you think Jesus wanted to save as many lost people as possible? Absolutely! But His strategy was deeply committed disciples who would win others “through and to discipleship.”

Jesus’ primary method was not to draw a larger and larger crowd (addition) but to raise up and send out workers to go to where the lost people were (multiplication).

Did you know the average new church plant “will bring six to eight times more new people into the life of the body of Christ than an older congregation (10 years or older) of the same size”?

New churches, new ministries, new discipleship relationships — these are what reach the most lost people. Christ’s heart for lost people must compel us to multiply.

4. Investing Ordinary Lives for Extraordinary Impact

Q: How many of you think you could start a megachurch (2,000+ people)?

A: Probably fewer than three people reading this.

Q: How many of you think you could pick one person and disciple them for one year?

A: Probably almost all of you.

You are like me, an ordinary person, who never pastored a megachurch. But if you understood and invested in the power of multiplication, you could do astounding kingdom work.

Consider this amazing power of multiplication:

If you took only one person for a year, discipling them and teaching them to obey Jesus’ command to become a disciple-maker; then the next year you took one other person, and your disciple took one other person and repeated the process, there would be four disciples at the end of two years. But if this process repeated a third year, there would be eight of you. Then the next year 16, then 32, then 64, then 128, then 256, then 512, then 1,024 and then 2,048.

That’s more than a megachurch! It would be accomplished by majoring in multiplicative disciple-making. Even if the actual results were only 10% of that number, you would have 205, and that’s larger than 92% of churches in America. I tell people all the time, “You don’t see your spiritual potential because you have an addition mentality, instead of a multiplication mindset.”

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“Christ’s choice of common people should compel us to multiply.”

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Jesus chose ordinary people for His disciples. In fact, the top Jewish leaders called Peter and John “unschooled” and “ordinary men” (Acts 4:13). Yet, the multiplication of their ministry changed the world. Christ’s choice of common people should compel us to multiply.

5. Dying to Self to Empower Others

Churches need to grow by addition. We need more growing megachurches and more growing microchurches. But what we need most is more multiplying churches. What’s the difference? Churches that major in addition focus on how many attend. Churches that major in multiplication focus on how many they send. It’s not about their “castle.” It’s about God’s “kingdom.” Too often we are trying to win people to the church instead of to Christ.

Churches easily become Sunday-centric, meaning 80% of the effort is all about Sunday’s service. This can serve addition but usually is a hindrance to multiplication. Why? Because you start to focus on recruiting and keeping volunteers instead of equipping and sending everyday missionaries.

Jesus taught that greatness was not in how many served you, but in how many you served (Matthew 23:11, Luke 22:25-29). Jesus’ ministry was one of empowering and sending. Jesus taught us to take up our cross and follow His example.

Multiplication is about dying to self and giving ministry away. Jesus said a seed would remain only a single seed unless it dies; then it could produce many seeds (John 12:24).

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“You have to die to multiply.”

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The church I pastored for 31 years, Light & Life in Long Beach, sent many great leaders out to start many churches. The truth is, with each one, I had to ask Jesus to forgive me for my pride, which wanted to hold onto these leaders for the sake of my own ego. You have to die to multiply.

Christ’s call to “Take up our cross, deny ourselves and follow Him” should compel us to multiply His church.

Christ-compelled multiplication is Christ’s command, but, more importantly, it is His invitation to the life of love, impact and beauty that we were born and born again for.+