During this harvest season, we’ve been preaching the Gospel of Jesus and I’ve been writing reflections on how we share our faith and grow the church. I think it is a true desire of everyone to see the church grow, but we don’t always know how to get there. Sometimes we may assume that the preacher preaches, the people just magically come forward, and we baptize them by the dozens. But that’s not usually what happens … it’s not the norm. The church grows and the Lord adds to their number when all of the members are faithfully praying for and identifying people who they can bring to Christ. Some likeminded churches I know ask the question: “Who is your one?”
When it comes to calling people to follow Jesus, the strategy that the savior taught us was not one of mass marketing campaigns or social media blitzes. It was a strategy of going to towns, and houses, and people. It was one of making personal connections, relationship building and good news sharing. Jesus shared the plan with his disciples in Luke 10, as he sent out 72 of his followers in pairs to proclaim the news that God’s Kingdom is near. This is the work that would lay the groundwork for the establishment of the church and the growth of the kingdom following Jesus’ ascension.
But how were they to do it? They were to do it, as we read in Acts 10:5-7 by traveling from town to town and identifying “a son of peace.” The son of peace is a person who is open and receptive to the Gospel of Jesus. If you identified that person, you were to stay with them, to share the good news so that they would believe and use their home and resources as a way to share the good news with those who were receptive within their circle of influence.
I don’t know if you’ve had the experience of doing door to door evangelism or canvasing within a town or community. I have several times. One thing you will learn from the experience is that you will quickly identify those who are open to you and your message, and those who are not. Those who are open are willing to have a conversation. Those who are not will often end the conversation abruptly, slam the door in your face, or even not answer the door. And I’ve had that happen many times in my experience of going door to door.
Christians and churches don’t have to do door to door evangelism. They can, and it can have some effect. But EVERY Christian should be identifying and praying for a “Person of peace” in their life, the person near to them who might be open to hearing and responding to the good news of Jesus. That is what we refer to when we speak of “your one.” Is there a person in your circle of influence daily & weekly that would be open to hearing the story of Jesus and hearing your story about the hope you find in him, and what he has done in you?
If every Christian would identify, be praying for consistently, and be conversing with that one person, the growth of the church would be exponential, and we would be even more prepared for larger opportunities that would present themselves to us as a church.
Every one of us as a role to play in the growth of the Church and a Harvest for the Lord. It will begin because we prayed, we sought the son of peace, and God opened a door in life and conversation that we would readily share the good news of Jesus.