11. The Crisis of Strategy
Alliance Witness, 1980.06.11, P. 24-25.

THERE is a vast difference between a walk and a race. In Chinese we say a walk is “hsin pu er hsing, ” which means a walk led by the feet — no destination, no goal.

Many people follow their feet rather than their heads. They do not really know where they are going. Consequently they never get anywhere, but just keep circling and circling.

In a race the athletes set their minds and eyes on the goal and their feet follow their minds. They also do their best to find the quickest and the best way to reach their goal — which is exactly what strategy is.

You must have a goal before you can have a strategy. You must have a right goal before you can have a right strategy.

What was the goal of the apostolic church? Unquestionably it was the Great Commission: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19). But was the aim of the early church baptism only? If so, this could have been accomplished by swords and spears.

No, the aim was worldwide evangelization through baptism and discipleship — both. The early church had a clear vision of this twofold goal, and its members applied the right strategy to reach it — and did a wonderful job!

What was the apostolic strategy for carrying out the Great Commission? The early church leaders applied church-growth and evangelization principles that the Lord Himself had taught them.

In Matthew’s Gospel the Lord told fifteen parables about the kingdom of God. Since the expansion of the kingdom of God is parallel in essence to the expansion of the Christian church, we can legitimately apply the principles from these parables to church growth and evangelization, just as the early church did.

1. The principle of quantity. In the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:3-9) the seed that falls into good ground and bears fruit is only one of four groups of seed. How can we increase the good results? There is only one way: sow more seed. Quantity provides opportunities for quality.

Quantity is the basis for quality. Quantity is good if you have a means to convert quantity into quality.

In the early church all who con- fessed faith in Christ on the day of Pentecost were soon baptized — three thousand of them! Was it not dangerous to baptize people so soon? Yes, if baptism had been the end of it. No, if they had a good program to train new converts. The early church did, and so it grew bigger as well as stronger.

The apostolic church implemented this principle by planting many churches both in Jerusalem and in the surrounding regions (see Acts 9:31- 32). If all pastors and lay leaders today would aim at starting at least one branch church every five years, that in itself would begin a great movement of church growth.

2. The principle of quality. In the parable of the tares (Matthew 13:24- 30) it is the wheat, not the tares, that the “householder” wants. Only quality will be accepted in the kingdom of God. Quality produces quantity — the good seed yields fruit, 30, 60- or 100-fold.

The early church practiced this principle by properly training their new converts (Acts 2:42-47). The good result was shown in the fact that when the Christians were scattered by persecution, they were able to serve as evangelists-preaching wherever they went (Acts 8:4). They drew large crowds to the Lord, resulting in the expansion of the church.

3. The principle of faith. The parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-32) shows that the kingdom of God grows and expands through the exercise of faith. It begins small like the mustard seed but ends up extraordinarily big.

There must be faith before any church can launch out into a program for expansion. Faith always says, “It is possible-not possible with me, but possible with God.” The early church had an outstanding record in the ap- plication of this principle.

Today there is always a battle going on in every church between the “possible” members and the “impossible” members. Things get done when the former are in power. Let us pray for the rise of a new generation of believing church leaders through whom God will do great things for the expansion of the kingdom of Christ.

4. The principle of the power of the Holy Spirit. The parable of the leaven (Matthew 13:33) has different interpretations. There is good ground for taking the leaven to refer to the expanding power of the church through the work of the Holy Spirit.

The early church set an excellent example in this respect. Today we need a renewed interest and zeal in seeking after the power of the Holy Spirit in our personal lives as well as in our church life. The fastest- growing churches are those that seek after the power of the Holy Spirit.

5. The principle of sacrifice. In the parable of the hidden treasure (Matthew 13:44) the man who found the treasure was willing to pay the highest price for it-he gave up everything. He may have been laughed at and ridiculed by his friends and even by his family, but he did not mind it because he knew what he was doing and that it was worth the price.

The apostolic church showed a great spirit of sacrifice for Christ. Its members plunged into evangelism without any reservation.

Christians gave everything, including their lives, in order to make the gospel of Christ known. They counted it a privilege to suffer for the name of Christ. This factor made possible the great thrust of the apostolic church in evangelism.

The time has come again for Chris- tians to show a real spirit of sacrifice in giving and serving if we expect our churches to grow rapidly.

6. The principle of total mobilization. In the parable of the vineyard (Matthew 20:l-15) the vineyard signifies the kingdom of God — and we are all invited to work in it! Likewise the church is the vineyard of God, where all members are expected to share in its service. In modern terminology this is total mobilization of the church.

The early church was a marvelous model for total mobilization. There was a strong lay ministry that started many churches, including the renowned church a t Antioch. Today many churches are still in the theoretical stage of mobilization. They have the concept of total mobilization but have not yet implemented it.

7. The principle of the development of spiritual gifts. The parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) emphasizes the great importance of the development of spiritual gifts. The exercise of these gifts has much to do with the growth of the church. Today there is a great need for special ministries based on this principle in such areas as Sunday school promotion, youth work, literature, leadership training, the use of mass media, management, church music, theological education, student evangelism.

8. The principle of binding the strong man. The parable of binding the strong man (Matthew 12:22-29) shows us that overcoming satanic power is a key to the expansion of the kingdom of God.

Victory over Satan indicates the presence of the kingdom of God (12: 28). How do we obtain power to bind the “strong man,” or Satan? Through prayer in the name of Jesus.

Prayer moves the mighty arm of God. It is foolish of us to try to pluck things from the house of the “strong man” before we bind him. Spiritual warfare without prayer is doomed to failure.

9. The principle of service. In the account of the Lord’s division of the nations (Matthew 25:31-46) we find the Lord’s emphasis on the service of love.

Love service has always been a part of the total ministry of the church, and it also has been a strong force in the furtherance of the gospel. Many hearts have been opened by it.

Service to people’s physical and temporal needs has its own value and does not derive its merits solely from its contribution to evangelism. It is in itself a manifestation of the glory of God, but it renders a double service when it is wisely used as a channel of evangelism.

There are two outstanding in- stances of love service in the apostolic church: caring for widows in the Jerusalem congregation (Acts 6: l-6), which later became a general practice in all churches (1 Timothy 5:16), and a special collection of funds by Chris- tians in different areas to help people who were suffering from a great famine (Acts 11:29-30).

Social service as a part of the Christian witness should not be overlooked.

10. The principle of wise persuasion. In the parable of the wedding feast (Matthew 22:2-14) there is a thought that has puzzled many readers and Bible commentators. Matthew does not use the actual word but Luke does in his version of the same parable (Luke 14:23). The king orders his servants to “compel” people to come to his feast.

Does this concept have any significance for evangelism? There is place for a special kind of compulsion in evangelism. It is not persuasion by physical force, but it is the building up of a spiritual pressure that leads people to make a voluntary decision for Christ. Or it can be placing them in or exposing them to a Christian atmosphere where they cannot but be influenced for Christ.

In some evangelistic meetings the speaker builds up an emotional pressure on the audience at the close of his message that inspires or compels people to make a decision for Christ. This could be dismissed as emotionalism.

But man is an emotional being. His emotions were created by God and God is entitled to make use of them for his own salvation. More people are controlled and motivated by emotion than by reason and will. As long as the purpose is good and the appeal honest, there is nothing wrong with applying emotion to evangelism. All great things are emotional-great literature, great heroism, great music. When the heart is opened by emotion, the gospel will have a better opportunity to touch the intellect and the will.

When you send a boy to a good Christian school, you are in one sense pressuring him to become a Christian without forcing him. This is exactly the kind of compulsion television programs apply to shape the thinking of our children.

Is there a place for compulsion in evangelism? Yes, not only a place but a great need for it. In fact, that is where we have failed. Let us compel people to come in and fill the hall of the gospel feast!