Disciples Are Made Not Born: Helping Others Grow to Maturity in Christ

by Walter A. Henrichsen

Grow into Business—Don’t Go into Business This principle teaches us that we should start small and build in depth rather than concentrate on becoming large and, as a result, end up being top-heavy. When you try to go into business rather than grow into business, you spread your resources thin and dissipate your efforts (see Prov. 24:27). Let’s say that you and I decided that we wanted to go deer hunting together, and our objective was to bag as many deer as we could. Early one morning, we find ourselves at the edge of a large clearing where thirty to forty deer are grazing. We have two guns with us, a 30.06 with a telescopic sight and a 20-gauge shotgun. Excitedly I whisper to you, “Use the shotgun—that way we might hit almost every deer in the clearing.” “But we won’t kill any of them that way,” you whisper back. “Let’s use the 30.06, for then we can at least get one, maybe even two.” “Yes, but if you use the 30.06, all the rest of them will get away.” Here, then, is our dilemma. Do we want the satisfaction of knowing that we hit every deer in the clearing even though it means that all of them will get away? Or do we want the satisfaction of bringing home one or possibly two deer, knowing that in so doing, we left the rest untouched? I am sure that we would be unanimous in our decision to use the 30.06 rather than the shotgun. Our ministry should have a pulsating rhythm to it of thrust and conserve. First, recruit a small band of individuals and then throttle back and bui...