THE MULTIPLYING COMMUNITY
HOW ALL OF US JOIN TOGETHER TO FULFILL GOD’S PURPOSE
On a scorching November day, I was sitting in the middle of the vast African landscape, sipping hot tea with my friend Bullen. We were surrounded by damaged buildings in a land ravaged by twenty years of civil war. What used to be a thriving community in Sudan was now seared and saddened. Thousands upon thousands of Bullen’s brothers and sisters in Christ had died around him at the hands of a militant Muslim regime. And they were our brothers and sisters too.
Bullen had been separated from his family as a child and had grown up in Sudan on his own. But as I looked across at his dark, slender face on that day, I was struck by the contagious smile that shone whenever he spoke.
We were talking about how God had worked in Bullen’s life, bringing him to trust in Christ when he could trust in nothing else. We discussed what God was doing in each of our lives, and we talked about the plans God had for us in the future. In the middle of that conversation, Bullen lowered the cup of hot tea from his lips, looked me in the eyes, and said, “David, I am going to impact the world.”
An interesting statement. Here was a guy in the African bush with almost no resources. A guy who hadn’t seen much of the world beyond the villages that surrounded him. A guy who by all outward appearances did not have much hope of changing his lot in life.
“Bullen, how are you going to impact the world?” I asked.
“I’m going to make disciples of all nations,” he said.
“So you are going to impact the world by making disciples of all nations?”
That grin immediately spread across his face. “Why not?” he asked. Then he went back to sipping his tea.
I’ll never forget those two words.
Why not?
As I lay down that night beneath the thatched roof of a mud hut, I could not get Bullen’s question out of my mind. He had asked it with such innocent, idealistic passion. He was not only optimistic enough to think that he could actually affect the world around him, but he was also confident enough to know how he was going to do it. He really believed that in obeying Jesus’ command to make disciples, he was going to impact the world.
In this chapter I want to propose that the plan Bullen identified for his life is the same plan that Jesus identified for each of our lives. Regardless of what country we live in, what skills we possess, what kind of education we have, or what kind of salary we make, Jesus has commanded each of us to make disciples, and this is the means by which we will impact the world. Indeed, Jesus has invited us to join with him in the surprisingly simple journey of spreading the gospel to all nations by spending our lives for the good of others and the glory of God.