Kota Kemuning Church of Christ

Of Ripples and Butterflies

A much-respected brother coined the simplest of profound phrases, “When you do nothing, nothing happens, but when you do something, something happens.” Where there is a desire to serve, one small step very often leads to another. We reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7). If we sow God’s word (Luke 8:11), there will be a harvest of souls (Matthew 9:37). 

A sister has a chance meeting with a mother waiting to pick up her children after school. The mother takes up our sister’s invitation to attend Sunday assembly, bringing a daughter for company. Mother and daughter have Bible studies with another Christian lady and both obey the gospel. Drawn to the congregation’s youth activities, a son and a second daughter soon follow the footsteps of their mother and sibling to salvation. Such fruitful results from modest beginnings are more frequent than you would think. 

A fortuitous run-in, a matter-of-fact invitation and God gives the increase.  

(1 Corinthians 3:6-8). No community is too large to serve. The world is the church’s oyster and the Lord helps us pick up pearls (Matthew 28:19-20). 

Look up the meaning of “the Butterfly Effect” to be convinced that what appears to be one insignificant act of service can snowball into great things. A flutter of tiny wings can lead to a catastrophic storm. 

There is no magic nor miracle needed to bring about the Butterfly Effect in evangelism. 

All that’s necessary is the application of what Albert Einstein called the greatest power in the universe,- the power of compounding. 

Begin with one Christian taking a whole year (say, 2022) to study the scriptures with only one other individual to his or her gospel obedience and conversion. January 2023 would then begin with two Christians. If those two brethren succeed in persuading only one individual each to convert during 2023, the next year will begin with four brethren.  

If this annual “doubling” continues without any falling away from the faith, at the end of the tenth year (i.e. in 2031) we would have a congregation of 1,024 Christians. Doing the simple math of each Christian teaching scripture to convert ONLY ONE INDIVIDUAL PER YEAR continuously, that same congregation would end her twentieth year ( i.e. 2041) with 1,048,576 members. The service of planting and watering will certainly be rewarded with God-given increase to His glory.

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