Have you ever organised a rally, event or festival? Maybe you know someone who has. The thing any promoter or coordinator worries about is people. Will a crowd show up? I watched a documentary on Billy Graham the other day and people certainly did showed to his crusades. Those rallies were astonishing. I think he still holds the record for the largest crowds at some venues. Seeing a massive crowd like that hear the gospel is inspiring. Something inside you says, ‘This is the way to take the gospel to the world’.
For the Christian there can be no greater reason to have a crowd than to spread the gospel. But those Billy Graham rallies didn’t just happen, as is true of any big event. I didn’t realise so much organization and promotion were involved – all the letterbox drops, press releases, interviews, posters and so on. To the church, the attracting a big crowd seems to be the pinnacle of our endeavours. Most churches have at least one event or outreach a year on which they focus much activity, time, money and effort. We believe in the big events, big crowds, big rallies. Billy Graham proved you can influence millions that way.
‘How do we attract a crowd?’ every committee asks itself. All plans are made on that premise. Free food, state of the art games, rides, bouncy castle, big screens, sound systems, well-known bands, celebrities, TV ads, radio, and the list goes on. I don’t think there is anything we haven’t tried or suggested. So what does the Bible say about big crowds? What did Jesus do? From reading Matthew you notice the line ‘and the multitude…’ appears a number of times. Jesus didn’t seem to have any trouble attracting a crowd. How did He do it?
The first thing I noticed about what Jesus did was that He didn’t do anything! The crowds literally just happened. He didn’t really have PR, He did no advertising – in fact sometimes He did the opposite. He didn’t plan anything and yet crowds appeared. What were the circumstances that caused ‘the multitude’ to appear? The first thing that stands out is the miracles. The miraculous will most always attract a crowd. At first glance this appears to be Jesus’ secret, but when you take a closer look a certain principle starts to become clear.
When you read through Matthew (or any of the Gospels) you could divide it into two sections: the things Jesus taught and the things Jesus did. Putting aside the teaching and parables, what are the things Jesus did that made ‘multitudes’ appear? What stories emerge?
Here is a brief list from the first ten chapters of Matthew: The disciples – Jesus individually picks them. The leper – Jesus says, ‘I’m willing; be cleansed’. The Centurion – ‘I will come and heal him’. Peter’s mother-in-law – ‘He touched her hand, and the fever left’. The demon-possessed Gadarenes -’Be gone!’ And the demons left. A paralytic – ‘Your sins are forgiven. Rise, take up your bed, and go home’. Matthew in the tax office – ‘Follow Me’. The woman with the haemorrhage – ‘Daughter, take courage your faith has made you well’. The official’s dead daughter – ‘He took her by the hand; and the girl arose’. The two blind men – ‘He touched their eyes… and their eyes were opened’.
From the list so far have you begun to notice something? They are all individual stories, they’re personal. You don’t find detail about the crowd, but there is detail about the people in the crowd. Jesus was concerned about and met the need of the individual. Jesus never went after a crowd. He went after the individual. He didn’t pursue the multitude. He pursued the person.
Jesus’ secret to attracting a multitude was the person in the multitude. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have PR, promotion, attractions or whatever is the latest, but Jesus’ first cause – His focus was, and still is, the individual. That’s why He got a crowd. He gave attention to what people are most responsive to – their personal need. The whole life and activity of Jesus are what we and our committees need to look at more closely. Sometimes we can’t see the people for the crowd. Our biggest weapon for long term effect is care for the individual. We have got to get personal and make disciples.
I never think in terms of a crowd, but of individual persons. If I thought in terms of crowds, I would never begin my work. I believe in the personal touch of one to one. — Mother Teresa, In My Own Words, p. 99
The more you read the Gospels the more personal it gets. The Beatitudes, Jesus’ first speech to a multitude, in Matthew 5 seems to point to those people who are most likely to be over-looked in a crowd: ‘the poor in spirit’, ‘those who mourn’, ‘the meek’… What about that other well-known passage in Matthew 22 when Jesus said, ‘Love the Lord your God…. love your neighbour as yourself. Can you see how personal it is? He is YOUR God, it’s YOUR neighbour. The Gospels are personal because Jesus is personal.
You must believe that Jesus knows about you as an individual. You are not just a member of your church to Him. It is easy to think with the pushing and shoving of the crowd and in the turmoil of this world that Jesus won’t notice you trying to touch the hem of His garment or climbing a tree to see Him (see Luke 8:43-48 and 19:1-10). You can rest assured you haven’t gone unnoticed.
Jesus hand-picked His disciples, He found each one individually. He went to where they were. He went to the sea and found Peter and Andrew. He went to the tax office and found Matthew. We are His disciples, but what is a disciple? A disciple is a hand-picked follower of Jesus. Disciples are personal people, they touch the things Jesus touches, they go where Jesus goes, they feel what Jesus feels. Jesus feels and cares for people. This is the command given to all of us – go, make disciples. In other words, make hand-picked followers of Jesus.
If you focus on the crowd you will never get disciples. You cannot always get a crowd but you can always get to the personal needs of individuals. You cannot be a true disciple of Jesus without being involved. At some point you will have to touch the individual, just like Jesus did. When we as individuals and corporately as the church take this philosophy to heart, don’t be surprised if a ‘multitude’ appears.