Slow is Good

Have you ever watched the olympic sprint races? For the 100 meter dash, the whole race is over in about 10 seconds. But what about the work leading up to that race? How much time went into training for that event? 

In a fast paced world, we are tempted to want to see fast paced church growth as well. Especially when we’re trying to start a disciple making movement. Looking at a high view of disciple making movements globally it looks like they grow overnight! We have a friend heading one and we hear new reports every few months about another 100 or more house churches starting. It’s exciting, we want in, we want to see those numbers of people in our own movement out of Northern Uganda…. Yes! Let’s do it! Go! Go! Go! 

But wait…. Let’s zoom in on some of these movements…. 

Many of the people initially trying to start them spend 7-11 years plodding away trying to train, teach, disciple and encourage with little to no fruit. And then, when they do find someone who gets it those people invest in a few…. For a very long time. And then from the few they invest in some of them gather a group of their own to invest in. And on and on it goes. Everyone begins a new group pretty quickly in the movement and from a birds eye view it looks so sudden, so fast growing, so intense. Though the replication of groups happen quickly, the result is many people committing to disciple the people around them for the long haul. People are not just playing a game of telephone “Did you hear about Jesus? Pass it on.” No! People are committing to go deep into the word together. They are in community with people regularly, walking alongside them as everyone grows in their understanding of the word, and relationship with God. 

Slow growth, investment, commitment, regular, walking together…. Sign us up for that. We want to live amongst a group of people who are going to be in it with us, not for a flash in the pan, but for the long haul. This is community, this is church.