It's actually pretty simple.
Tell one person about Jesus.
Walk with them until they can do the same.
Then both of you do it again.
Generation 0
1
person following Jesus
Drag to turn the world
Each light on the globe stands for about 1.2 million people. The first light is roughly where you are.
Picture a preacher who leads 1,000 people to Jesus every single day.
Now imagine that you reach one person a year, but each of the people you reach does the same.
Addition versus multiplication over 33 years
People reached
- One a year, multiplied
- Adding 1,000 a day
Year 10. Evangelistic addition has reached 3,650,000 people. Evangelistic multiplication has reached 1,024 people.
Year 24. For 23 years, addition seems like the right approach. It gets better results. It just makes sense. But in the 24th year, everything starts to change.
Year 33. Evangelistic addition has reached 12,045,000 people. Evangelistic multiplication has reached 8,589,934,592 people.
View as table
| Year | Preacher (1,000/day) | Multipliers (one a year) |
|---|
Over ten rounds, addition grows from one person to 101, adding ten each round. Multiplication grows from one person to 1,024, as everyone reached goes on to reach one more each round.
The difference isn't how many people you reach.
It's whether the people you reach go on to reach others.
But let's be real
Not every seed takes root.
Jesus told a story about a sower. Some seed fell on the path, and the birds took it. Some sprang up on rocky ground and withered. Some was choked by thorns. But some fell on good soil and bore fruit, “thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold” (Mark 4:20).
Real life is like that. Some will say no. Some will start and fall away. But even when only part of the seed takes root, multiplication still outruns addition.
Everyone alive is reached in
57
generations (years, at one a year)
Adding 1,000 a day takes
22,740
years
Looking at these numbers should encourage and inspire us. And hopefully, they help us conform our perspective of the world to Christ's perspective. But the numbers shouldn't be the primary focus, and neither should we.
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”
1 Corinthians 3:6
God is the one who produces the fruit. Our job is simply to remain faithful.
Scripture makes it clear.
Multiplication was always the plan.
“And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”
2 Timothy 2:2 · Paul, writing to Timothy
- Paul
- Timothy
- Faithful men
- Others
Paul wasn't just making converts. He was making disciples who make disciples.
Ephesus · about AD 53
It's happened before.
Paul taught daily in one lecture hall in Ephesus.
Within two years, “all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord” (Acts 19:10).
Map: cities of the Roman province of Asia where the New Testament mentions believers.
The Great Theatre, Ephesus
It's happening now.
Around the world, disciple-making movements report chains of new believers and new churches that go many generations deep. They are carried by ordinary people meeting in living rooms, under trees, and around kitchen tables.
You don't have to be Peter.
Andrew found his brother and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (John 1:41).
His brother was Peter. When Peter preached at Pentecost, about 3,000 people were baptized in a single day (Acts 2:41).
0baptized in a single day
You just have to be Andrew.
Duccio di Buoninsegna, The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew, 1308–1311. Andrew in red, Peter in blue.
Somebody told you.
A parent.
A friend.
A pastor.
A stranger.
It might have been a parent, a friend, a pastor, or a stranger. You know Jesus because someone didn't stay quiet.
You
Follow the chain back far enough and you reach an empty tomb, and a woman running to tell the others, “I have seen the Lord” (John 20:18).
The chain reached you.
Don't let it stop with you.
Rembrandt van Rijn, Christ and St Mary Magdalen at the Tomb, 1638.
Revelation 5:9
This is where it's all going.
“…by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”
Every tribe and language and people and nation. Hover a name to see the language.
Somewhere in that crowd is someone who's there because of a conversation you haven't had yet.
Jan van Eyck, Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (Ghent Altarpiece), 1432.
You'll probably never meet generation 33.
But generation 33 is waiting on generation 1.
And generation 1 starts with you.
Who is your one?
Think of one person who doesn't know Jesus. It could be a neighbor, a coworker, a sibling, or a friend.
Before you do anything else
Pray.
Jesus told his disciples to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers (Matthew 9:38). In the very next scene, He sent the same people who had prayed.
Pray this slowly. Out loud, if you can.
Jesus,
thank you that someone told me about you.
Thank you for the cross, for the empty tomb, and for the life you've given me.
Forgive me for the times I've stayed silent.
Right now I lift up the person you've put on my heart.
Open their heart. Prepare the moment.
Give me the courage to speak and the words to say.
Lord of the harvest, send out laborers into your harvest, and start with me.
Let one conversation become a chain that reaches every tribe, language, people, and nation.
In your name,
amen.
Tap when you've prayed.
Not sure you know Jesus yourself? That's where your chain begins. Talk to Him honestly right now: turn from your sin, trust Him, then tell someone who follows Him.
Now go.
“Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.”
Mark 5:19
Nervous? So was he.
In 1855, a Sunday school teacher named Edward Kimball walked right past a Boston shoe store, second-guessing himself. Then he turned around, went in, and told a young clerk about Jesus.
That clerk was D.L. Moody, who went on to preach the gospel to millions.
Not sure what to say? Tell them three things.
- 1
What your life was like before Jesus.
- 2
How you met Him.
- 3
How your life has changed.
Or say it simply
“God loves you. Our sin separates us from Him, but Jesus died in our place and rose again. Anyone who believes in Him (that means putting your full trust in Jesus) is forgiven and made new.”
Start with one question
“Can I tell you why Jesus matters so much to me?”
Don't wait until you feel ready.
Text them. Call them. Knock on their door. Today.
Generation 1 starts now.
Close this page. Go find your one.