In the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles we read that the post-resurrection Jesus movement consisted of Mary and the brothers, the eleven apostles and about one hundred others. Three years of work by the greatest preacher and teacher of all time and all he had to show for it was 120 followers. The fascinating thing is that after their encounter with the Risen Lord the disciples were not discouraged. In fact, they chose Matthias to take the place of Judas to fill out the number of the “twelve.” (Actually they relied on God to choose Matthias — it was a crap shoot!) They were confident that God could use even this seemingly small cadre to bring Good News to the world. We shouldn’t be impressed by numbers either. God can take our “little bit” and change the world.
MAY142016
By Church Staff
