Why Disciples Must Multiply

I had coffee with a friend a few weeks ago. He's a good man. He loves Jesus, serves faithfully in his Pathway Group, and is trying his best to raise his kids to know the Lord.

But he was tired.

He leaned forward and said, "I hear this word, 'multiplication.' I hear it in our mission. But if I'm honest, it just sounds exhausting. I'm trying hard just to grow in my own faith. I'm trying to serve my family and my church. The idea of adding more... of being responsible for 'multiplying'..." He just shook his head. "I'm not sure I have it in me."

I understood exactly what he meant. Maybe you do, too.

We live in a culture of scarcity. We guard our time. We protect our energy. We feel like our own faith is often running on empty. Multiplication can sound like one more program, one more burden to add to a life that already feels too heavy.

But what if we have it all wrong? What if multiplication is not another task to do, but the natural result of a life truly lived?

When we hear "multiplication," we think of our effort. We think of complex strategies. But God's language for multiplication is much simpler. He talks about farming. He talks about families. He talks about fruit.

No apple tree strains to produce an apple. A healthy tree, connected to good soil and getting sun and water, simply bears fruit. It is the natural, inevitable outcome of its life.

Jesus uses this exact picture. He says, "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

The command is not "You must multiply!" The command is "You must abide."

The promise is that if we abide, if we stay deeply connected to Him, the fruit will come. Multiplication is not the burden. It is the blessing. It is the evidence of life.

This is not a new idea. It is God's first idea. His very first words to humanity were, "Be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28). This was not just about having babies. It was a command to fill the earth with the imago Dei, the image of God. It was a call to spread His goodness, His worship, and His shalom to every corner of creation.

That original mandate was broken by sin. But it was restored and restated in the Great Commission.

Jesus’ last words to us were not a suggestion. They were a command. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..." (Matthew 28:19).

Notice He did not say, "Go and make converts." He did not say, "Go and get decisions." He said, "Go and make disciples." A disciple is an apprentice, a learner. A disciple is someone who is, by definition, learning to do what the master does. And what does Jesus do? He makes disciples.

A disciple who is not making other disciples is a contradiction. It is like an apprentice who never wants to become a master. It is like a son who never wants to become a father.

This is why multiplication is one of our 7 Core Virtues at Pathway. It is the engine of our mission. Our mission is "to proclaim Christ and make disciples who multiply disciples, leaders, and churches."

Addition is too slow. Our world is too lost. The need is too great. If every believer just added one person to the faith, the church would grow. But if every believer made a disciple who could also make a disciple, the gospel would spread with the unstoppable power Jesus intended.

This is the entire goal of our 7B Discipleship Pathway. We want you to Believe in Christ and Belong to His family. We want you to Become like Him. We want you to Bless others with your gifts. We want you to Build up other believers. We want you to Bring the lost to Jesus.

But it all leads to this: Bear.

To bear fruit. To multiply. To take everything you have received and give it to someone else, who can then give it to someone else. This is not a special calling for pastors or missionaries. This is the normal Christian life.

This is the whole point of our 4S Strategy. We Start groups. We Shape disciples. We Strengthen leaders. Why? So we can Send them. We send them into their homes, their workplaces, and new communities to start the cycle all over again.

So what does this look like for you, right now? Especially if you feel like my friend. Tired. Drained. How do you move from "I'm not enough" to "He is enough"?

First, stop trying to multiply. Start focusing on abiding. You cannot give what you have not received. Is your life deeply plugged into the Vine? Are you in the Word, letting it shape you? Are you in prayer, finding your strength in Him? A fruitful life begins with a "yes" to Jesus, long before it becomes a "yes" to activity.

Second, multiplication starts with one. This is not about crowds. It is about a person. Jesus gave His life for the world, but He spent His time with twelve. Then He focused on three. Who is your one? Who is one person, maybe in your Pathway Group, that you can intentionally Build up? Who is one person in your life who does not know Jesus, that you can pray for and Bring the gospel to? Multiplication is just faithfulness in the small, relational things.

Third, embrace the mess. Fruit is messy. Relationships are messy. Discipleship is messy. It is not clean or convenient. It requires the virtue of Sacrifice. It costs you your time. It costs you your comfort. But this is the joy we are called to. It is the joy of a parent holding a newborn. The cost is high, but the life in your hands makes it all worth it.

The gospel is a seed (Mark 4). A seed's very nature is to multiply. A seed that is kept in a bag is safe, clean, and useless. A seed that is buried in the dirt is "lost," it gets messy, it "dies." But in that dying, it brings forth a harvest.

We are not called to be keepers of a safe gospel. We are called to be sowers of a life-changing gospel.

Our vision is bold. We want to see Christ known everywhere. This will not happen through addition. It will only happen when a movement of disciples, abiding deeply in the Vine, begin to bear fruit that lasts. It will happen when we all embrace our call, not as a burden, but as our greatest privilege: to make life that makes more life, until the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of His glory.