One: The Most Important Number?
In my previous blog post, I discussed the great importance Scripture places on numbers, especially the numbers of people who place their faith in Christ. In recent years, I have heard many objections to putting value on numbers in ministry. One of the most common objections is the idea that God really cares about the one – the individual.
The concept of the value of the individual comes from the parables of lost things in Luke 15. As Jesus says in Luke 15:7, “I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.” It certainly sounds like God cares more about the one than the many.
Here we need to take care, though. It is actually difficult to determine what Jesus means by “righteous people.” Is he talking about those truly declared righteous before God, or is he speaking about the hypocritical, self-righteous like the Pharisees (Luke 15:2) and the elder son (Luke 15:28-30)? Either way, it is clear that God cares very much about the salvation of an individual.
However, we need to avoid the most common logical fallacy in American Christianity: the false dichotomy. People often make something an either/or when it could be a both/and. In other words, it is possible for God to care about both the individual and the multitudes.
“People often make something an either/or when it could be a both/and. In other words, it is possible for God to care about both the individual and the multitudes.”
Jesus certainly cared about both. In the Gospels, we see him going out of his way to rescue a single individual like Zacchaeus or the Samaritan woman. We also see him preaching to multitudes and healing many. On the one hand, Jesus focused on developing a small group of twelve leaders, and especially focused on three of these twelve: Peter, James, and John. On the other hand, after his resurrection, Jesus appeared to over five hundred disciples (1 Corinthians 15:6).
The problem with the false dichotomy is that it misunderstands how ministry numbers work. If a church makes one hundred disciples, those disciples are not fused into a giant lump. That larger number is made up of individuals – of ones, one hundred of them.
“If a church makes one hundred disciples, those disciples are not fused into a giant lump. That larger number is made up of individuals – of ones, one hundred of them.”
Yes, we should rejoice with the angels over each individual who repents and believes. If your church makes a single disciple, praise God! That is reason to celebrate! Share that story with the rest of us so we can celebrate too. If another church makes one hundred disciples, that is not a reason to be jealous. It is a reason to celebrate the same way. We should equally celebrate each individual disciple – one hundred times over!
Often, the math of Luke 15:7 is misapplied. We look at our churches as the ninety-nine righteous, and we see ourselves as nobly heading out into the world in search of the one lost soul. In a sense, that understanding is generally accurate. However, there is another way of looking at it.
Take my church and community. We are one of two Gospel-preaching churches in the town. If we combine the attendance of the two churches, we make up only 2-5% of the population of the town. In other words, we are not the ninety-nine. We are just a few sheep. The ninety-nine are all out in the community.
Therefore, of course we need to be concerned for the one. We should be sharing the Gospel with individual people. However, we should also be concerned for the many – the ninety-nine lost sheep in our communities.
Randall Curtis serves as the Rhode Island regional coordinator for the Baptist Churches of New England.
