Chuck Norris can multiply by zero and get 9,000—but how would he multiply disciples?
Before you just laugh it off, maybe it’s worth thinking through Chuck’s tough, relentless, no-excuses approach and how it might help you navigate the day-to-day chaos of ministry to teens.
Take this quote, for instance:
“Focus on what it is that you want…”
–Chuck Norris
Seems obvious, but it’s easy advice to forget among the many decisions you need to make each week. In our busyness, we often lose sight of what’s really important.
When Elijah was exhausted from his efforts to serve the Lord, God asked him a simple question:
“What are you doing here, Elijah?”
1 Kings 19:9
If God were to visit your church, would he ask you the same thing? What would you answer? Are you focused on Jesus’s final command: to make disciples?
A Bold Vision Focuses It
A key step to getting there is developing a bold vision to guide your ministry—one that will help your group reach the teens in your community with the Gospel.
Think of it like this: Say you’re on a plane to Maui. You’re crammed into a sliver of a seat, eating chintzy snacks and listening to a baby fuss. Your first thought is probably: Chuck Norris would never be in this situation. But your second thought is likely: But, hey, I’m on my way to Maui! We’re willing to put up with a lot when we have an amazing destination in front of us.
A bold vision is your “Maui.” It keeps you focused and inspired as you move toward the goal ahead.
A Disciple Multiplication Strategy Guides It
If your vision is truly bold, you’ll never be able to achieve it on your own. You’ll need to embrace disciple multiplication, which is what happens when you train disciples to make disciples who make disciples who—well, you get the picture.
Some things—hangers, pens, things on the to-do list, bunnies—seem to multiply with no effort at all, while other things—dollars in the bank, trips to the gym, disciples—seem to require a lot of effort and often a great strategy.
To start developing a disciple multiplication strategy, check out these 5 insights for discipleship multiplication, as well as the techniques from our friends at Sonlife, which they based on Jesus’s own approach to disciple multiplication.
With these techniques—and a lot of help from the Holy Spirit—at some point you may find yourself in Chuck-Norris-math territory…miraculously overflowing with new disciples!
