03/09/2024
LET'S BALANCE THIS CROWD ISSUE.
A lot of young pastors have asked me questions about the role of crowds in ministry. I believe it's important to provide a balanced perspective on defining our ministerial success by the number of people we have.
Firstly, any minister, pastor, or evangelist who says they don’t need a crowd or have never asked God for a multitude in their church is a hypocrite, and the truth is not in them. The Bible clearly shows the importance of the crowd in the ministry of Jesus.
Matthew 21: 46 “But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude…"
Again and again, we see the Bible providing statistics on the number of people present at different meetings that Jesus held. This would not have been necessary if it weren't important to mention.
We all pray to have large crowds in our churches, crusades, and even conferences. However, it is also very important to understand that the crowd is not the sole yardstick for measuring spiritual success. The number of people attending your church does not determine your spiritual strength or closeness to God, nor is it proof that you are a more successful minister.
We should never tie our ministry solely to the crowd; it is more than just the crowd.
1 Corinthians 3:5-7 states, "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase."
The Bible also says in Matthew 13:36, "Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house…" As much as the multitude is wonderful and necessary in ministry, we cannot deny the fact that we all want to see crowds in our ministries.
It’s a lie and hypocritical to say that the multitude does not matter; it does matter. The Bible says that the people could not do anything because of the multitude that followed Jesus.
© Yinka Yusuf
