The great thing about missions is that we are not left on our own to figure how to do it. God himself is the Lord of the harvest, and he not only sends out labourers, but he personally directs the harvesting operation.
The way in which we reach entire cities is described in Matthew 13:33. The kingdom of heaven is like a lump of dough in which a woman kneads some yeast, and the yeast fills the whole dough. In our case, the dough would be the city, and the yeast would be the message about who Jesus really is (the Gospel). The message spreads by means of the circle of people who know you, and the know of the grace of God that is now in your life. This “witness” validates the story of the God’s salvation plan, and evokes a response.
33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds[a] of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
In other words, it is the effectiveness of your witness (a direct result of discipleship) which results in the spreading of the yeast or teaching about Jesus.
Persons of peace have other persons of peace in their circle of influence, and so the circles move outwards, connecting with other circles initiated by “labourers” sent into different parts of the city to initiate “yeast” operations.
The viability of this way of reaching cities through the marketplace is far superior to a media only approach, because people are provided with a personal revelation of who Jesus really is, either directly or as a secondary contact following a media message.
A BIBLICAL EXAMPLE
Paul described multiplying discipleship in his letter to Timothy, when he said that “the things I have taught you, teach to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also”.
His own experience of implementing this in Asia was so powerful that Luke wrote in Acts 19 that all of Asia (estimated 7 million people) had heard the Gospel after 2 years as a result of the multiplication of Paul’s preaching and teaching, and the multiplication of discipleship that was orchestrated by the Holy Spirit.
REACHING EVERY AGE GROUP
When we talk about reaching everyone in the marketplace and the public space, we are referring to every institution, including schools, becoming a context in which young people are discipled by other young people.
GRM’s pillars are Prayer, Proclamation and Partnership and the activities of Proclamation of the Gospel through multiplication discipleship, are supported by Upper Rooms, which target the principalities and powers that are hindering the progress of the word, and we also proceed by partnership with local churches and other mission groups in the work of multiplication discipleship.
DIFFERENT LAYERS OF DISCIPLESHIP
It is extremely important to understand that discipleship has several layers to it, and the local church is primarily the place where discipleship should take place. What is being referred to here as multiplication discipleship is those foundational commands of Jesus that establish someone as a disciple of Jesus Christ, and enable them to disciple others – notwithstanding the fact that they themselves are yet still novices, and need several layers of discipleship to be added by the local church.
