I don’t have to wrestle with that question because it’s exactly what Jesus did. Jesus didn’t hook His finger in people’s noses to make sure they were following Him. When you read through the gospels, Jesus always cast His net extremely wide. Everyone was invited to follow. But He didn’t chase people down if they weren’t committed (as in the case of the rich young ruler).
The call was to follow Him. Not be dragged kicking and screaming behind Him.
All He did was point the way. To Himself.
2) We clear the path.
This is where our greatest responsibility comes into play. If we’ve pointed the way clearly and people are responding, it’s our job to make sure the path is clear for them when they decide to walk on it. There’s no room to drop the ball when it comes to people’s spiritual development. If they’re taking a step towards Christ, we’ve got to make sure that step lands unobstructed.
In other words, we’ve got to make sure our systems and processes are running at full speed. And running efficiently. If someone wants to get in a small group, we’ve got to follow up with them quickly. If someone needs counseling, we need to get them into it right away and into the best counseling available.
Whatever approach your church uses to pull the maximum God-given potential out of people, it really doesn’t matter. Whether you take people through a five-year development plan or you just put them into small groups and let the growth happen more organically, your responsibility is ultimately the same either way:
1) Point the way to Jesus clearly.
2) Clear the path to Him effectively.
Let’s commit to doing both with excellence so we can see our people become all that God has dreamed for them.
