“What God is doing and has done in me is not meant to end with me.”
Primary Scriptures: 2 Timothy 2:1–2; Matthew 28:18–20
But what happens after God uses our testimony to strengthen someone? Does the ministry end there, or does God intend for what He has done in us to continue moving outward?
Scripture reveals a pattern:
Test → Testimony → Ministry → Multiplication
In the test, God meets me. Through my testimony, I tell what God has done. In ministry, I use what I have received to strengthen another person. Multiplication happens when that person begins strengthening someone else.
One Teacher and One Salesman
In 1855, Dwight L. Moody was an eighteen-year-old shoe salesman in Boston. He was not yet the famous evangelist whose preaching would reach crowds across America and Great Britain. He was simply a young man working in his uncle’s shoe store.
One of his uncle’s requirements was that Moody attend church. Moody began attending Mount Vernon Congregational Church, where he joined a Sunday school class taught by Edward Kimball.
Kimball became concerned about the spiritual lives of the young men in his class. He did not want merely to teach them a lesson each Sunday. He wanted them to know Jesus personally.
One day, Kimball decided to visit Moody at the shoe store and speak with him about Christ. He later remembered that he almost lost his nerve. He worried that approaching Moody during business hours might embarrass him or interfere with his work. He apparently walked past the store before gathering the courage to enter.
Kimball found Moody working in the back of the store. There, surrounded by shoes and boxes, an ordinary Sunday school teacher spoke personally to a young salesman about Christ and the love of God.
That quiet conversation became a turning point in Moody’s life. Moody placed his faith in Jesus Christ.
Edward Kimball could not have imagined everything God would eventually do through that one conversation. Moody later moved to Chicago, gathered children into a Sunday school, established ministries and schools, and became one of the most influential evangelists of the nineteenth century.
Before the crowds, campaigns, schools, and institutions, however, there was one Sunday school teacher who cared enough to enter a shoe store and speak to one young man.
Kimball did not personally preach to all the people Moody would eventually reach. Kimball reached Moody, and then God worked through Moody to reach others.
That is multiplication.
The lesson is not that every person we mentor will become a world-famous evangelist. The lesson is that we cannot see how far God may carry one faithful conversation, one word of encouragement, or one life invested in another.
D. L. Moody later said:
“If this world is going to be reached, I am convinced that it must be done by men and women of average talent.”
The question is not, “Will I become famous?” The question is, “Will I be faithful to the person God places before me?”
The Multiplication Pattern
Paul wrote these words to Timothy:
“You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”
—2 Timothy 2:1–2
This passage contains four generations of disciples.
First, there is Paul. Paul received the gospel and lived it before Timothy.
Second, there is Timothy. He learned from Paul and served alongside him.
Third, there are the faithful people to whom Timothy was to entrust the truth.
Fourth, there are the others whom those faithful people would eventually teach.
Paul did not tell Timothy simply to remember what he had learned. He told him to entrust it to people who would pass it along again.
That is the difference between addition and multiplication.
Addition asks, “How many people can I personally reach?” Multiplication asks, “Whom can I equip to reach others?”
Chuck Swindoll expressed the challenge plainly:
“Frequently, we’re good learners but terrible teachers.”
It is possible to attend church, listen to sermons, participate in Bible studies, and accumulate spiritual knowledge without ever passing that truth to another person. But discipleship is not complete when truth reaches us. It is meant to continue through us.
The Great Commission is not fulfilled merely by gathering a larger audience. Jesus calls us to make disciples who can make other disciples.
Grace Transforms Us
Before discipleship can multiply through us, the life of Christ must be growing within us.
Jesus said:
“If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
—John 15:5
Fruitfulness begins by remaining in Christ. Multiplication begins with abiding, not activity. We cannot reproduce in another person a spiritual life that we are neglecting ourselves.
God uses Scripture, prayer, worship, Christian fellowship, trials, correction, and the work of the Holy Spirit to form the character of Jesus within us.
This is central to our Wesleyan understanding of grace. God’s grace does not merely forgive our past; His grace transforms our present. The Holy Spirit forms holy love within us, teaching us to love God wholeheartedly and love our neighbors as ourselves.
John Wesley wrote:
“The gospel of Christ knows of no religion, but social; no holiness but social holiness.”
Wesley was not saying that holiness is primarily a political program. He was rejecting the idea that we can become holy in isolation. We need Christian relationships in which we pray, confess, encourage, serve, learn, and watch over one another in love.
God’s work in us becomes the foundation for God’s work through us.
God comforts us, and then we comfort others. God teaches us, and then we teach others. God forgives us, and then we demonstrate forgiveness. God strengthens us, and then we strengthen others.
The fruit God produces in one life contains the seed of spiritual growth for another life.
What has God been developing in you that He now wants to use in someone else?
When Caring Becomes Mentoring
Discipleship multiplication does not ordinarily happen by accident. Someone intentionally invests in someone else.
Jesus invested in the Twelve. Paul invested in Timothy. Timothy was instructed to invest in faithful people. Titus encouraged older believers to model godliness for younger believers.
This is where mentoring connects our testimony to multiplication.
A mentor does not need to possess all the answers. A Christian mentor is simply someone who can say:
“I am still following Jesus, but I will invite you to walk with me as we follow Him together.”
Mentoring might involve meeting regularly, listening carefully, reading Scripture together, praying for one another, asking honest questions, serving side by side, and discussing what it means to obey Jesus in everyday life.
There is a difference between caring and mentoring.
Caring says: “Let me help you through this difficulty.”
Mentoring says: “Let me walk with you as you learn to follow Jesus through this difficulty—and eventually help someone else.”
We do not need to care less. We need our care to become deeper, more intentional, and more spiritually fruitful.
Jesus told Peter:
“And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
—Luke 22:32
Peter would be tested. Peter would fail. Peter would be restored. Then Peter would strengthen others.
Jesus did not tell Peter to hide his failure. He told Peter to allow his restoration to become part of his responsibility.
Our testimony becomes ministry when we share it. Our ministry becomes multiplication when we prepare others to share what they have received.
Comfort Received Becomes Comfort Shared
Paul describes the same principle in his second letter to the Corinthians:
“The God of all comfort…comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
—2 Corinthians 1:3–4
God’s comfort is never intended to stop with us. Grace received becomes grace shared.
The experience through which God carried us can become part of the ministry He entrusts to us.
This does not mean we must have experienced exactly the same trial as the person we are helping. Our greatest resource is not an identical experience. Our greatest resource is the faithful comfort of God.
We do not have to know everything to help someone follow Jesus. We need to know Jesus, remain teachable, and be willing to walk beside another person.
Swindoll described encouragement as “putting courage into someone else.” That is a helpful description of mentoring. We walk beside people and help them develop the courage to trust Christ, obey His Word, and take their next faithful step.
Equipping God’s People
Ephesians 4 explains that Christ gives leaders to the church:
“To equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”
—Ephesians 4:12
As a pastor, I am not called to perform all the ministry while everyone else watches. I am called to equip God’s people to participate in the ministry of Jesus.
The ministry of the church multiplies when equipped people begin equipping others.
This means moving:
- From watching ministry to participating in ministry.
- From receiving care to providing care.
- From attending a class to helping someone grow.
- From depending upon the pastor to serving alongside the pastor.
- From being a disciple to becoming a disciple-maker.
This does not make pastoral care less important. It multiplies Christian care throughout the congregation.
Imagine mature couples mentoring younger couples. Imagine older believers encouraging younger believers. Imagine someone who has experienced grief walking beside someone who is newly grieving.
Imagine every new believer having someone who will read Scripture and pray with them. Imagine every ministry leader bringing another person alongside—not merely to complete a task, but to develop that person for ministry.
That is the kind of church Jesus is building.
The Great Commission Belongs to Every Disciple
Jesus said:
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
—Matthew 28:19–20
We help people encounter God’s grace. We invite them to trust Christ. We welcome them into the community of faith. We teach them not merely to know what Jesus commanded, but to obey what He commanded.
Then we help them discover their gifts, enter ministry, and begin helping someone else follow Jesus.
A mature disciple does not merely ask, “Who is helping me?” A mature disciple eventually begins asking, “Whom can I help?”
John Wesley challenged his early Methodist preachers:
“You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore spend and be spent in this work.”
Although Wesley addressed those words to preachers, the mission belongs to the entire church. Every believer has a part in helping others encounter the saving and transforming grace of Christ.
God Produces the Growth
Spiritual multiplication is not something we manufacture through human effort.
Paul wrote:
“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.”
—1 Corinthians 3:6
Paul planted. Apollos watered. God gave the growth.
That truth protects us from pride because we cannot take credit for another person’s transformation. It also protects us from discouragement because we are not responsible for forcing spiritual results.
Our responsibility is faithfulness. God is responsible for transformation.
We cannot change another person’s heart. We can plant truth, water it with love, and trust God to produce growth.
Edward Kimball did not know everything that would happen after he entered that shoe store. He simply took the faithful step God placed before him.
We may not see the full result of our prayers, encouragement, testimony, or mentoring. That does not make our faithfulness insignificant. God can take one seed planted in faith and produce fruit for generations.
What This Means for the Church
Fellowship is important because it brings us together. But fellowship should lead us toward discipleship, which helps us become like Jesus.
Caring helps someone through a difficult day. Mentoring helps someone develop a faithful life.
An event may gather people in one place. A relationship gives us the opportunity to listen, pray, encourage, and help someone take the next step toward Christ.
God is calling the church to move:
- From fellowship to discipleship.
- From caring to mentoring.
- From events to relationships.
- From management to empowerment.
- From pastor-led ministry to congregational ministry.
This does not require a complicated new program. It requires us to become intentional about the relationships God has already given us.
Discipleship happens around tables as much as it happens in classrooms. It can happen over coffee, during a meal, or while two people serve together. It can begin when someone asks, “Would you pray with me?” or “Could we read this passage together?”
Multiplication begins when one person cares enough to help one other person follow Jesus.
Who Is Your One?
The process can be remembered in four words:
Receive → Reproduce → Release → Repeat
Receive: I receive the grace, comfort, truth, and transforming work of Jesus.
Reproduce: I intentionally invest what God has given me in another person.
Release: I help that person discover their gifts and participate in ministry.
Repeat: That person begins investing in someone else.
Who is one person God may be asking you to encourage and help follow Jesus?
Begin by praying for that person. Build an intentional relationship. Share Scripture and the testimony of what God has done in your life. Invite that person to serve with you. As that person grows, encourage them to begin helping someone else.
You do not have to begin with a crowd. Edward Kimball began with one young salesman in the back of a shoe store.
The gospel reached us because someone passed it along. Someone prayed for us. Someone taught us. Someone encouraged us. Someone showed us what following Jesus looked like.
Now the gospel has been entrusted to us.
God has not comforted us merely to make us comfortable. He has comforted us so that we can comfort others. God has not formed us merely for our own maturity. He has formed us so that we can help form others.
Jesus has not called us merely to attend church. He has called us to become disciples who make disciples.
We cannot see how far God may carry one faithful conversation, one mentoring relationship, or one life surrendered to Christ.
What God is doing and has done in me is not meant to end with me.
Who is your one?
