The 2,000 Percent Nation--Chapter 2

Chapter 2

What Governments Should

and Should Not Do

For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of His government and peace

There will be no end,

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

From that time forward, even forever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

— Isaiah 9:6-7 (NKJV)

So Samuel told all the words of the LORD

to the people who asked him for a king.

And he said, “This will be the behavior of the king

who will reign over you:

He will take your sons and appoint them

for his own chariots and to be his horsemen,

and some will run before his chariots.

He will appoint captains over his thousands

and captains over his fifties,

will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest,

and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.

He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers.

And he will take the best of your fields,

your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants.

He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage,

and give it to his officers and servants.

And he will take your male servants, your female servants,

your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work.

He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants.

And you will cry out in that day because of your king

whom you have chosen for yourselves,

and the LORD will not hear you in that day.”

Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel;

and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us,

that we also may be like all the nations,

and that our king may judge us

and go out before us and fight our battles.”

 And Samuel heard all the words of the people,

and he repeated them in the hearing of the LORD.

So the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed their voice, and make them a king.”

— 1 Samuel 8:10-22 (NKJV)

Therefore submit yourselves

to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake,

whether to the king as supreme, or to governors,

as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers

and for the praise of those who do good.

— 1 Peter 2:13-14 (NKJV)

As 1 Peter 2:13-14 tells us, Christians are to submit to man-made laws as well as to those who enforce them. God has placed government leaders above us for His purposes, and our job is to obey them. In some cases, these leaders are Christians. In other cases, the leaders aren’t Christians but the Lord intends for them to serve His purposes anyway. As an example, consider that providing or receiving a government service (or being affected positively or negatively by government) can help guide an unsaved person onto a path to gain Salvation and then to become more fruitful for the Lord.

Before describing what governments should and should not do for fostering more fruitfulness for the Lord, let’s consider some worldly influences on governments. Such influences represent potential sources of stalls (bad thinking habits) as well as breakthrough solutions for Godly purposes and actions that help increase fruitfulness.

Although most people are inclined to emphasize the accomplishments of the leaders they approve of, the reality is that few government leaders have much time and expertise to apply to anything other than acquiring and exercising power. If you don’t believe that observation, consider how much money an American politician has to attract simply to run for national or statewide offices. Once elected, many leaders report spending most of their days on fund-raising to pay for the next campaign.

In addition, few elected positions have term limits, and incumbents for positions where seniority provides advantages for constituents are almost always reelected. As a result of being secure in office just as long as they spend a fortune on each campaign, elected officials don’t feel much pressure to create better results of any sort. That’s how it works for a republican or a democratic form of government. In countries with unelected governments, gaining and holding power can easily become all-consuming activities. The 2011 revolts in the Middle East and North Africa have undoubtedly made such leaders even more insecure and focused on retaining their power.

Elected government leaders in most countries are more likely to be trained as lawyers than to come from any other educational and work background. While such a background can be useful for drafting laws, the legal perspective alone often doesn’t provide much insight into how to make a nation more fruitful for God. I feel entitled to make that observation as someone who was trained as a lawyer and who knows many lawyers well who have held and now hold elected positions.

Let’s look at motivation as well. Why would a governmental leader have any interest in making a nation more fruitful? The most common answer is simple: when such fruitfulness helps the government leaders to acquire and to exercise more power for accomplishing whatever led them to seek office.

Of course, some governmental leaders are guided by a heartfelt desire as followers of Jesus to serve God and His people. Those leaders may well be attracted to creating lots of increased fruitfulness, knowing that many unsaved people would be helped as well. I pray that there will be more such leaders.

What can elected governmental leaders hope to accomplish while in office? People who want to be governmental leaders and those who are relatively new in office usually make promises that they will deliver more for the electorate. In reality, whether citizens’ circumstances improve is mostly affected in the near term by the overall economic environment and the general long-term trend to slightly higher productivity. As a result, there is a likelihood of economic and social improvements occurring regardless of who the political leaders are. But over periods of two to six years, the long-term improvement trend can be reversed so that citizens’ circumstances worsen or stay stagnant.

After such a stagnant or retrograde period, the rate of economic improvement is going to be strong and most political leaders know that. Therefore, they will often take a wait-and-see attitude toward change at such times. However, there are two circumstances under which it may be easier to interest governmental leaders in focusing more on encouraging fruitfulness:

• at the end of a long period of economic improvements (because the expectation is that a decline in circumstances will follow)

• after a stagnant or retrograde period in economic growth if the expected rebound doesn’t occur on schedule

This perspective summarizes the outlook for gaining broad political attention for supporting growth in fruitfulness in most economically advanced countries.

In lesser developed countries, government leaders sometimes realize that by focusing citizens on the right tasks, a lot of the economic and social gaps between their country and the most economically advanced nations can be reduced or, in some cases, eliminated. With such a focus, the potential benefits from working on greater fruitfulness can be extraordinary for citizens and their leaders.

In addition, some lesser developed countries have been wracked for many decades by wars, disease, famine, low prices for their exports, weak currencies that raise the cost of imports, corruption, excess debt, scarce capital, high interest rates compared to inflation, poor education, few public services, limited infrastructures, and other severe problems. Everyone knows that these nations are performing economically and socially at artificially low levels compared to what most other countries accomplish with comparable resources and knowledge.

Some government leaders in such unusually depressed circumstances see the opportunity to gain a revered place in their society and in history. And some of those leaders are Christians. I believe that it is with these government leaders that the most substantial opportunities can be found for encouraging national fruitfulness. In this chapter, I focus many of my comments on what can be done with such leaders in mind.

In focusing on this group of leaders, I don’t mean to suggest that other governmental leaders won’t be interested in encouraging fruitfulness. In addition, I don’t believe that the largest possibilities for improvements are in the depressed, lesser-developed countries with the most legacy- and reputation-oriented leaders. The biggest untapped potential to accomplish more fruitfulness will be found elsewhere simply because improving from a base of more resources and capabilities expands total benefits much faster than building on low performance.

Let me be clear about my purpose. I’m looking for this book to help most where leaders are interested in encouraging fruitfulness and opportunities are substantial.

In more developed countries, governments will be among the least flexible and interested institutions when it comes to identifying, creating, and expanding greater fruitfulness. In lesser-developed countries, government leaders will often be anxious to do whatever it takes to accomplish more because it’s easier to believe that opportunities exist, and the wide evidence of suffering can move leaders to feel more desire to act.

One exception to there being less interest in encouraging fruitfulness in economically developed countries can occur where the career bureaucracies are filled with highly capable staffs that have power to issue rules that can strongly affect citizens’ behaviors. Another exception may come in economically advanced Christian countries where the lessons of becoming more fruitful in serving God are well understood, but there is a long tradition of not taking government actions that might appear to favor one type of faith over others.

What should governments help accomplish? Let me start by listing some activities where governments can potentially change what they do in ways that will encourage more fruitfulness:

• Eliminate any legal and regulatory limitations on what Christians and their churches and organizations can do in serving God to carry out what the Bible calls believers to do.

• Measure how government actions and inactions are influencing the fruitfulness of churches, Christian ministries, Christian and secular nonprofit organizations, schools, universities, voluntary associations of children, foundations, social enterprises, local and state governments, for-profit enterprises, problem-solving professionals, the employed, the unemployed, those who wish to go into business for themselves, residents who aren’t citizens, and visitors.

• If no credible organization or individual takes on the task of measuring the nation’s fruitfulness for God, some part of the government should sponsor or conduct the surveys that were described in Chapter 1 and publish the results to encourage more and more effective action by citizens, residents, and visitors.

• Based on what the measurements of government influence on fruitfulness reveal, propose changes in rules, resources, and encouragement that will make government less of a barrier and more of a help in allowing citizens, foreigners, and their organizations to accomplish more for God.

• Review the effectiveness of any governmental changes in encouraging more Godly fruitfulness so that helpful adjustments can be made to such governmental changes.

What should governments not do?

• Establish or attempt to establish Christian theocracies.

• Put legal or regulatory limits on sharing or peacefully practicing any faith.

• Turn Christianity or any other faith into the “official” religion of a country.

• Encourage or permit discrimination based on a person’s faith.

Think of what I am describing as establishing a more spiritually neutral form of government. In doing so, I don’t mean to suggest that government should exclude or ignore spiritual questions and considerations. In fact, government should seek greater consideration of the spiritual implications for all of its decisions and actions. Let me provide an example. While governments look at many economic factors, costs, and potential benefits in licensing new gambling outlets, seldom is the effect on spiritual fruitfulness considered. With more knowledge of how God’s purposes might be affected from looking at the evidence of fruitfulness effects in similar situations, governments would undoubtedly choose to make some licensing decisions differently. Governments in too many cases have become spiritually negative forces by denying any purpose to considering effects other than man-made economic ones. A spiritual decline is bound to follow such an approach. Economic considerations have been turned in many cases into something like idols that are served, regardless of any other considerations. Even from a financial point of view, that’s a major mistake because God’s blessings will greatly exceed any man-made benefits.

Being more spiritually neutral also doesn’t mean letting fruitfulness sink into obscurity because people don’t investigate it. If a nation finds that its people are spiritually ignorant, governments may well have roles in encouraging greater spiritual understanding while not favoring any particular faith. Saved people, in such a circumstance, have nothing to fear from any neutral encouragement to such knowledge seeking because the Holy Spirit will help lead people to Salvation and to greater fruitfulness.

Many people want a bigger role for government. Other people seek a smaller role. Both points of view are a little off target. The goal is for God to have a bigger role in directing government to serve His purposes. When God’s role is large enough, governments will always be just the right size. In many cases, that size will be a lot smaller because receiving His blessings and having fewer problems will reduce a lot of needs that governments serve now.

While I could certainly write a lot of details here about how governments should operate to make such shifts in their roles, I can think of many good reasons not to do so. Let me simply observe that more beneficial adjustments by governments to favor Godly fruitfulness will occur simply by electing and selecting government leaders who are champions of being fruitful in their personal lives and work than by anything else I can describe. Currently, many candidates for elected offices are not even asked about whether they have obtained Salvation and their Godly fruitfulness. Such information should be a required part of any candidate’s public filings. Could it be that candidates don’t disclose such information in some cases because they aren’t saved and aren’t fruitful for God? I fear that some of such candidates then may be motivated in running for office more by personal desire for power and recognition than by serving God. How sad for them and for us when that occurs. I’m sure God isn’t smiling, either.

If you are wondering why there isn’t a bigger role for governments defined here for increasing fruitfulness, it’s because God hasn’t called for governments to do very much in this regard except in cases where He wants some nations to deliver His messages to other nations. Such callings come only occasionally, on a case-by-case basis. Governments should be aware that such callings could be placed on them from time to time and be prepared to act on them.

Governments are not alone in affecting a nation’s fruitfulness. In the following chapters, we shift our focus to those institutions, organizations, and individuals that can increase or decrease fruitfulness. We begin this examination by considering what churches should concentrate on in Chapter 3.

Copyright © 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012 by Donald W. Mitchell.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in

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electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the

publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews

and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Scripture quotations marked (NKJV)

are taken from the New King James Version.

Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The 2,000 Percent Nation--Chapter 3

Chapter 3

What Churches Should

Concentrate On

“But you shall receive power

when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;

and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem,

and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

— Acts 1:8 (NKJV)

And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying,

“Be saved from this perverse generation.”

Then those who gladly received his word were baptized;

and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine

and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Then fear came upon every soul, and

many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

— Acts 2:40-43 (NKJV)

But the end of all things is at hand;

therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.

And above all things have fervent love for one another,

for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”

Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.

As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another,

as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.

If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies,

that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ,

to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

— 1 Peter 4:7-11 (NKJV)

Many churches will need to increase the breadth of what they do and improve performance in some of what they do now for a 2,000 percent nation to be established. Before describing what churches should concentrate on and explaining what I mean by the prior sentence, we should always remember that Christ leads the church. Let me also note that human leadership is unusually important for a church to be able concentrate in the most fruitful ways.

In setting their agendas, churches are led in a variety of ways beyond what the Bible and the Holy Spirit direct: some by higher human authorities, some by pastors and ministers, and some by the congregation or parts of it. While I am sure that the Bible and the Holy Spirit are perfect sources of Godly wisdom, in dealing with humans there are bound to be misunderstandings and errors. God knows that and forgives. His grace in this regard should not draw us away from seeking His wisdom so that we can do better.

In sharing my observations in this chapter, I pray that I have been faithful and accurate in expressing God’s will. In addition, I am in no way judging what any churches or their leaders are doing now. Leaders should simply pray about this chapter’s information to receive guidance from the Bible and the Holy Spirit, should study what the Bible has to say on the subject, and should take action according to that Divine guidance.

Many Christians would agree that a church should provide for at least the following needs:

• Treat all with love. It’s commanded by Jesus in the Bible. Some may not receive love from other people.

• Teach the young and adults who lack knowledge about the Bible’s contents, especially concerning what His Word says about receiving the free gift of Salvation.

• Encourage of-age congregants and visitors to repent their sins, believe in the risen Savior, and follow Jesus as Lord so they will obtain the free gift of Salvation.

• Remind congregants to invite and to bring family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers to church services and activities.

• Tend to the spiritual needs of the congregation and visitors.

• Approve of living in ways commanded by the Bible.

• Rebuke saved people who are stuck in some repeated sins.

• Provide opportunities for fellowship with saved people.

• Serve the physical needs of the congregation and its poorest and most vulnerable neighbors.

• Support foreign missions through prayer, working visits, and gifts of needed items and funds.

If a church limits its official activities to this list, there’s a problem: Most people in the congregation won’t be as fruitful for the Lord as they could be. Let me begin explaining why I say that by quoting Jesus as He commented on what the parable of the sower means:

“The sower sows the word. And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble. Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” (Mark 4:14-20, NKJV)

While Jesus clearly told us that many people who learn about the Bible and Salvation aren’t going to make good use of that knowledge, He also told us that some Christians can be exponentially fruitful for Him in sharing the Good News. Building on His observation, it seems that churches have substantial opportunities to help people learn the Gospel, become saved, fulfill their Godly callings, and produce by their efforts exponential increases in His influence.

Such potential for extraordinary fruitfulness lies within us all. Churches have marvelous opportunities to focus on increasing fruitfulness. I address this subject in detail for individuals in 2,000 Percent Living. (You can read a detailed summary of the book’s lessons in the Introduction to 2,000 Percent Living, as well as specific instructions for implementation in the individual lessons. We also look at these points in Chapter 15 of The 2,000 Percent Nation.)

Let me briefly summarize that book’s prescriptions for individual Christians:

Lesson One: Accept Salvation by repenting of your sins, believing Jesus is God’s Son and in His resurrection from the dead, and giving your life to Jesus Christ to do His will, not yours (or rededicate your life to Him if you have accepted Salvation but have not been walking with Him). Start every day by praising and thanking the Lord; repenting any sins you have committed; praying for what is righteous that you want done in the name of Jesus; and studying the Bible. Attend church whenever possible; make a weekly written commitment of added ways to follow His direction; and continually witness to others about your faith, seeking to help lead at least twenty people to whom you have been speaking to choose to accept Salvation.

Lesson Two: Cleanse your mind of distractions, accusations, worries, fears, and annoyances through twice-daily meditation.

Lesson Three: Pick better life objectives through prayer and consultation with your family and friends.

Lesson Four: Increase by at least a factor of twenty the time you spend on your most important goals for serving the Lord.

Lesson Five: Expand your ability to read, comprehend, and remember by at least twenty times.

Lesson Six: Select reading materials that will help you identify and understand the future best practices (the best ways anyone in the world will do that or any similar activity using natural means in the next five years) and the ideal best practices (the best ways anyone can ever hope to do that or any similar activity by using technology that will be available in the next five years) in those areas where you want to gain Godly breakthrough results.

Lesson Seven: Learn how to identify stalls (bad thinking habits), to eliminate and to replace stalls with good thinking habits, and to design and to implement 2,000 percent solutions to serve others on God’s behalf by producing your first one.

Lesson Eight: Teach someone else how to identify and to eliminate stalls and to design and to implement 2,000 percent solutions that are attuned to the Holy Spirit.

Lesson Nine: Apply the 2,000 percent solution process each year to one additional important activity that the Holy Spirit leads you to improve.

Lesson Ten: Repeat the 2,000 percent solution process annually to enhance benefits from the solutions you developed by at least an additional twenty times.

Lesson Eleven: Link together at least seven complementary 2,000 percent solutions to create multiplied, exponential Godly results.

Lesson Twelve: Increase the benefits of what you do by twenty times to assist some of those who cannot help you.

Lesson Thirteen: Approach others with fresh interest, warm gratitude, and a deep desire to draw twenty times closer to them.

Lesson Fourteen: Examine your conduct before acting to see if it will be pleasing to God.

Let me now connect these fourteen lessons to what churches can do to increase these fruitfulness-enhancing actions by congregants. I focus first on helping to lead unsaved people to gain Salvation. This is a subject that, with my wonderful coauthors, is described in Witnessing Made Easy and Ways You Can Witness, the books that record the best ways to improve witnessing based on the global contest that the Holy Spirit directed me to sponsor. I also elaborate on how best to teach churches how to be more effective in nurturing these witnessing-related activities in Chapter One of Help Wanted. Let me share some of that information beginning with the important role of in-congregation evangelists in teaching and encouraging witnessing.

Concentrate on Teaching and Encouraging Witnessing

with In-Congregation Evangelists

For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard.

— Acts 22:15 (NKJV)

Before sponsoring the global contest to find great ways to help save more souls in 2006, I had never heard of or met an in-congregation evangelist. I wondered what such evangelists did. Just in case you don’t know much about this role, I’ll share what I learned.

While many evangelists are itinerant as Jesus was, some churches have paid staff or volunteer congregation members who focus on encouraging and teaching witnessing to everyone in their church. Some in-congregation evangelists also spend a little of their time helping other churches to identify and prepare their own in-congregation evangelists.

Why do some Christians benefit from being encouraged and taught to witness by in-congregation evangelists? Without such help, few American Christians do much Gospel sharing. Surveys report that about 3 percent of church-attending, born-again Christians in the United States regularly share their faith with unsaved people. In addition, about 90 percent of saved Americans never witness to people outside their families except by trying to be an example of righteous living.

During the Salvation-encouraging contest, I was pleased to learn that Jubilee Worship Center (JWC), located in Hobart, Indiana, had overcome much of its congregation’s witnessing inactivity. This feat was accomplished by devoting five minutes during each church service and activity to in-congregation evangelists, Jim and Carla Barbarossa, and their team of fire starters (witnessing encouragers and teachers who assist the evangelists) sharing Jesus’ command for all to witness, teaching effective ways to do so, and encouraging continual sharing of faith and testimonies with unsaved people. Bishop Dale P. Combs, JWC’s pastor, estimates that the congregation’s witnessing activity increased by more than twenty times due to having the in-congregation evangelists and fire starters present the five-minute tutoring sessions.

As a result of appointing these people and engaging in the encouragement and learning activities, about 40 percent of the JWC congregation regularly shared testimonies and spoke about Salvation with unsaved people. More than half of the congregation has prepared written testimonies that have been assembled into a book, Real Life Stories, that has been given to tens of thousands of people around the world who don’t know Jesus as their Lord and Savior (to read these testimonies for free online, go to www.step-by-step.org). Even people who had been afraid to share their faith have become comfortable with sharing these books of testimonies and talking about their lessons.

You may be wondering why having in-congregation evangelists conducting learning sessions would make such a big difference. Consider what Paul had to say in Ephesians 4:7-16 (NKJV):

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says:

“When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men.”

(Now this, “He ascended” — what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ — from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

As Paul indicates, evangelism is a spiritual gift separate from being a pastor or a teacher of the Bible. For the body of Christ to operate optimally, all the gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are needed. When a congregation is operating without the benefit of an in-congregation evangelist, a specialized teacher, its ability to witness will not be fully activated and developed. For a fuller explanation of the need for all the spiritual gifts to help save more souls, please read the Pastor’s Prologue by Bishop Dale P. Combs in Witnessing Made Easy (available to read for free at www.jubileeworshipcenter.com and www.step-by-step.org, and in an inexpensive electronic Kindle version on Amazon.com).

Christian witnessing is an activity that the enemy who is in the world wants to minimize. Surveys indicate that this opposition works in a variety of ways:

• Many Christians don’t realize that Jesus has called them to share the Gospel.

• Due to their ignorance of the Bible, some wrongly believe that only evangelists and pastors are ever supposed to engage in Salvation-related presentations to and discussions with unsaved people.

• Some Christians so strongly favor famous evangelists presenting the Gospel of Salvation at large crusade events that they oppose their churches directly engaging in any other witnessing activities.

• Some of the Christians who know they should witness don’t because they are fearful of what could happen when they do.

• Many Christians who are willing to witness either misunderstand or are confused about the best ways to do so, reducing their activity and effectiveness.

An anointed in-congregation evangelist can offset much of this opposition with Bible studies, inspiration, encouragement, and training, helping most Christians to go from being ignorant about witnessing or afraid to witness to being well-prepared, confident, active, and joyful witnesses. You can read the details of how to identify anointed in-congregation evangelists and the tasks they should do in Witnessing Made Easy, where you will also find directions for contacting coauthors Bishop Dale P. Combs and Jim Barbarossa for more assistance by telephone and e-mail.

An in-congregation evangelist can make further exponential increases in fruitfulness by spending some time each week teaching pastors and those with the gift of evangelism the potential benefits of and best methods for teaching congregational witnessing. As Witnessing Made Easy describes, Jim and Carla Barbarossa have been very active in sharing their knowledge and experiences through the organization they co-founded, Step by Step Ministries. As a result of the Barbarossas’ efforts, hundreds of churches around the world have added effective in-congregation evangelists and established witnessing development tutoring programs. My prayer is that every in-congregation evangelist will help lead at least another hundred churches to select anointed in-congregation evangelists who lead five-minute teachings about witnessing during each church service and activity.

Lest I give you the impression that only such teaching and encouragement by in-congregation evangelist need be added, let me share some other valuable ways to conduct a church’s witnessing activities.

Add Six Other Dimensions of

Teaching and Encouraging Witnessing

But do not forget to do good and to share,

for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

— Hebrews 13:16 (NKJV)

The aforementioned contest was also blessed by receiving many other fine suggestions for improving witnessing. While implementation details are included in Ways You Can Witness, the following lists six of those methods:

1. Christians make increasing weekly written commitments to witnessing activities.

2. Establish low-cost Christian radio networks and stations providing music and programs that appeal to unsaved people where no programming exists for that purpose. If a church’s locale has plenty of such stations, a church should support this activity where such stations are needed.

3. Make available at all times and to all people witnesses who are well equipped to discuss Salvation.

4. Ask for more kinds of help from more people in more ways to expand witnessing.

5. Serve pressing, unmet physical and emotional needs of unsaved people and gain opportunities to witness after aiding them.

6. Seek out and witness to unsaved people with secret sins that deeply embarrass them.

One of the most amazing lessons of this contest is that all eight improvement methods (in-congregation evangelists teaching and inspiring a congregation, training in-congregation evangelists in other congregations, and these six listed methods) can be conducted by a single church. When such a combination is implemented, the improvement in how many people receive and how frequently they hear the Gospel of Salvation grows in truly astonishing, exponential ways.

Let me spell out this Godly multiplication for you. If one such method multiplies witnessing by twenty times, then two such complementary methods increase witnessing by 400 times, three methods by 8,000 times, four methods by 160,000 times, five methods by 3.2 million times, six methods by 64 million times, seven methods by 1.28 billion times, and eight methods by 25.6 billion times.

This math means that a single church in each country employing all these methods effectively to support witnessing can expect to provide the basis for enough revival to change a whole nation! Wow!!

Some churches may not want to do all of these activities. Acting on that desire is a big mistake. Each method not employed reduces the overall impact of the church’s total efforts by 96 percent. As a result, a church not doing any one of these things is operating at less than 0.0000001 percent of the potential that God has placed in that congregation. By adding only one activity, a church is still operating at only 0.0000001 percent. With two activities, a church is fulfilling just 0.000002 percent of its potential. Is that how you want to serve God?

Naturally, no church can accomplish so many things at first. It’s perfectly appropriate to start with one highly fruitful witnessing-improvement activity and to add others later. In most cases, the right first step will be to appoint an anointed in-congregation evangelist and to provide five minutes for that person to speak at each church service and activity. Let’s now look at how other congregational ministries can become more fruitful.

Establish Each Necessary Type of Congregational Ministry

and Develop 2,000 Percent Cubed Solutions for Them

And say to Archippus,

“Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord,

that you may fulfill it.”

— Colossians 4:17 (NKJV)

Pastors have told me that the work required for the congregational ministries they wish to expand and new ministries they would like to establish always greatly exceeds the time available from Christians who are willing to volunteer and faithfully serve in loving ways. After much prayer and receiving guidance from the Holy Spirit, pastors make painful decisions to increase and establish just some of the many desirable ministries while they continually offer prayers for more volunteers.

To understand the potential to accomplish more, consider the behavior of people who live near a nice beach during warm weather. Unless a storm threatens, most people who can go to the beach will find a way to visit, even if just for long enough to enjoy looking at the scene and listening to the water’s movement. Many will spend every spare moment there. Some will invite friends who live elsewhere to join them. Their hearts are fully committed to visiting and enjoying the beach.

What if Christians were drawn to volunteer for congregational ministries that their pastors favor with as much enthusiasm and frequency as beach lovers enjoy their favorite stretch of sand? If such were the case, there would be many more volunteers and resources available for Godly ministries to share Christ’s love.

A good starting point for expanding volunteer time devoted to congregational ministries is to teach the fourteen lessons for individual Christians listed earlier in this chapter to those in the congregation who want to become more fruitful for the Lord. If called by the Holy Spirit to improve personal effectiveness, the pastor or in-congregation evangelist might find this learning to be helpful and could then testify to its value. Someone who has personally applied those lessons could provide tutoring support for others who need a helping hand.

By the end of Lesson Three, most people would have found a calling to serve the Lord. Many of such callings could provide potential leaders for existing and new congregational ministries. Then, in going through lessons four through fourteen, capacity to lead and accomplish more would increase, as informed by the Holy Spirit. Soon, such leaders in training would be in a position to help other potential leaders to increase their individual capacities in being fruitful for the Lord.

As an example of what’s possible, let’s look at increasing Biblical knowledge within a congregation. Surely, that’s part of God’s will. Although knowledge doesn’t automatically translate into doing the right thing, at least the risk of ignorantly doing the wrong thing is reduced by having church attendees become more Biblically knowledgeable.

How could a congregation’s Biblical knowledge be most usefully measured? Before seeking measurements of effectiveness in following God’s will, it’s always a good idea to pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit and to investigate what the Bible has to say on the subject. You may well receive better ideas about measurements to use concerning Biblical knowledge than mine from the Holy Spirit and from your Bible reading. Nevertheless, to encourage your investigations and thinking and to help me to explain what a 2,000 cubed solution is, I’ll pose the following measurement-related questions:

• How many people know the essential elements of what the Bible says about receiving Christ’s free gift of Salvation?

• How many Christians know how to deepen and strengthen their relationships with Jesus Christ after accepting Salvation?

• How many saved people know the difference between sinning and not sinning in their typical daily activities?

• How many of those who have received Salvation know how to repent when they sin?

• How many born-again Christians know what the Bible says they should pray for and what they should not pray for?

• How many believers know what the Bible tells us about how to relate to people who aren’t Christians?

• How many people who are saved know what the Bible tells us about how to behave toward a fellow Christian who is observed to be sinning?

• How many born-again believers accurately apply their Biblical knowledge concerning the seven prior measurement areas with joyful and loving hearts?

Once the appropriate measurements of accomplishing any aspect of God’s will are in hand, the work of creating a 2,000 percent cubed solution for a congregational ministry can begin. Such a solution will have three complementary elements that multiply their individual effects, each element accomplishing twenty times as much with the same or less time, effort, and resources that are currently being applied by a Christian, a group of Christians working in a congregational ministry, or a whole congregation to accomplish the activity.

Looking at my preceding list of eight suggested measurements for Biblical knowledge, you may have noticed that the last element (How many born-again believers accurately apply their Biblical knowledge concerning the seven prior measurement areas with joyful and loving hearts?) can be a point of focus for locating and applying complementary 2,000 percent solutions (solutions creating improvements in one aspect of performance that fully multiply the benefits gained from solutions for the other performance aspects).

Here is an example of a 2,000 percent cubed solution (three complementary 2,000 percent solutions that have full value for multiplying the benefits from each one to expand the last measurement on the list): While applying the same or less time, effort, and resources, increase by twenty times

• the number of people who have adequate knowledge of the first seven areas.

• the percentage of the time that people with adequate knowledge accurately apply what they know.

• the percentage of the time that those who accurately apply adequate knowledge do so with joyful and loving hearts.

As you can see, the combined effect of these three exponential solutions is to increase the occasions when people who adequately know the Bible accurately apply their knowledge with joyful and loving hearts by 8,000 times (20 times 20 times 20) while employing the same or less time, effort, and resources.

Calculating the magnitude of increased benefits demonstrates how powerful the complementary aspect of such exponential solutions can be. Put another way, one such set of three complementary exponential solutions can accomplish as much as involving 8,000 times more people in a congregational ministry activity doing what they would normally do. I’m sure you agree with me that finding and employing the complementary solutions have the potential to be more effective for increasing congregational ministry benefits than trying to recruit so many more helpers.

How realistic is it to find and employ such sets of three complementary exponential solutions? I believe that it can always be done because I am not aware of any circumstances in which such solutions could not be found and implemented with reasonable effort. In my experience, an individual can usually develop a 2,000 percent cubed solution with less than 250 hours of activity. If a team of people is involved in the same task, the combined total time will be about 300 to 350 hours.

In the first two sections of this chapter, you read about ways to create such complementary 2,000 percent solutions for increasing witnessing: You combine the two complementary 2,000 percent solutions described in Witnessing Made Easy to be provided by a church’s in-congregation evangelists:

• five-minute witnessing teachings and encouragements during each church service and activity to increase congregational witnessing by twenty times, plus

• preparing twenty or more in-congregation evangelists to serve at least twenty other churches’ congregations with five-minute teachings and encouragements so that those churches’ congregational witnessing also expands by twenty times

with any of the six 2,000 percent solutions contained in Ways You Can Witness to increase witnessing activity by 8,000 times from the congregation’s initial level while employing the same or less time, effort, and resources by the church. If you add more than one of the Ways You Can Witness solutions to the two Witnessing Made Easy solutions, you can accomplish even more, engaging in 160,000 (with four complementary solutions), 3,200,000 (with five complementary solutions), or even 64,000,000 (with six complementary solutions) times more witnessing than the congregation had been doing. Aren’t these opportunities awesome?

As described in Witnessing Made Easy and Ways You Can Witness, while designing and conducting the global online witnessing contest to find these eight 2,000 percent solutions, I devoted less than 100 hours of my time. If you use such a contest to locate complementary exponential solutions for congregational ministries, I believe that you’ll also succeed without spending a lot of time. You can read more about the methods I used for the contest in Chapter 12 of Adventures of an Optimist (BookSurge, 2007).

In contrast with the 2,000 percent solution directions given in the two witnessing books that the first two sections of this chapter are based on, ways of exponentially improving many congregational ministry activities other than witnessing to accomplish more of God’s objectives have yet to be identified. The first people who work to improve the effectiveness of these other ministries without global contests can rely instead on the directions in The 2,000 Percent Solution (iUniverse, 2003) and The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook (iUniverse, 2005) to develop each complementary exponential solution. Those seeking breakthrough congregational ministry solutions can also examine the two witnessing books to see if any of these eight exponential witnessing solutions can be adapted for use by other ministries. In addition, Chapter 11 of Adventures of an Optimist explains many more potential dimensions for creating complementary solutions.

Once three (or more) 2,000 percent complementary solutions have been identified or developed for a congregational ministry, the next step is to test the solutions on a small scale. By examining the evidence of how well the solutions work, it’s possible to draw lessons to make it easier and more successful to implement them. Once identified and tested, the new practices need to be documented, taught, and improved. Chapter Two of Help Wanted explains more about how to do so.

In addition to concentrating on what this chapter describes, a well-organized church may choose to take the measurements described in Chapter 1 for its own congregation and those who live and work nearby. By doing so, a congregation’s leaders will have a greater sense of what needs exist, how well improvement programs are working, and where needs aren’t being met. In the process, it’s likely that people will begin to hear the Holy Spirit more clearly and follow His urgings. If the entire church doesn’t want to do this, it will still be beneficial for specific ministries to use measurements to inform about needs and to assist in making activities more fruitful for the Lord.

Now, while highly fruitful churches are essential to establishing a 2,000 percent nation, Christian ministries that operate independently of churches are also important. In Chapter 4, our attention shifts to what actions such Christian ministries should emphasize.

Copyright © 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012 by Donald W. Mitchell.

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Scripture quotations marked (NKJV)

are taken from the New King James Version.

Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The 2,000 Percent Nation--Chapter 4

Chapter 4

What Actions Christian Ministries

Should Emphasize

“Listen to Me, O Jacob,

And Israel, My called:

I am He, I am the First,

I am also the Last.

Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth,

And My right hand has stretched out the heavens;

When I call to them,

They stand up together.

All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear!

Who among them has declared these things?

The LORD loves him;

He shall do His pleasure on Babylon,

And His arm shall be against the Chaldeans.

I, even I, have spoken;

Yes, I have called him,

I have brought him, and his way will prosper.”

— Isaiah 48:12-15 (NKJV)

Tasks for creating the 2,000 percent nation that require support from a large number of believers can be better accomplished by independent Christian ministries than by a single church. Here are some of the typical reasons why having greater size and independence can sometimes permit accomplishing more and better serving God’s will:

• Greater visibility of a ministry and its task makes it easier to recruit volunteers and any needed resources.

• Volunteers can be helped to learn more about how to perform and gain joy from doing their activities.

• Tasks can be better studied and simplified so that more people can succeed as helpful volunteers and increase how much each person can accomplish.

• Scale effects offer opportunities to lower the costs of performing an activity or delivering a benefit so that financial resources can be stretched to serve more beneficiaries.

• Recipient benefits can be greatly increased by combining many more dimensions of exponential breakthroughs.

• Larger projects can be accomplished.

• Credibility from providing excellent benefits at low cost helps attract more resources as well as greater interest in obtaining the benefits.

Despite the value and importance of improving as much as possible in performing activities that God wants us to do, most Christian ministries are only achieving a small percentage of their performance potential. Tutors skilled in developing exponential performance-improvement methods and helping others learn how to use such methods can assist ministries to close any gaps between their full potential and the Godly fruit they currently provide.

Each Christian ministry’s opportunities for accomplishing more are somewhat different, but I believe that many have in common five important performance-improvement opportunities that should be attended to in the following sequence:

1. Be sure that the ministry is optimally focused on accomplishing the right results for God.

2. Determine the tasks required for accomplishing the right results.

3. Design the tasks for providing benefits to be irresistibly appealing to perform.

4. Serve needs in extraordinarily low-cost, effective ways that require few physical resources.

5. Obtain enough resources to provide for all needs.

By contrast, many Christian ministries focus first on obtaining more resources, less often search for more effective ways of serving needs, rarely look to improve the appeal of performing any required tasks, haven’t considered what results should be accomplished in decades, and don’t think about what tasks are required for achieving the right results. Because few donors are excited about providing resources for organizations that inefficiently deliver benefits and have trouble attracting enough volunteers, focusing first on obtaining resources often works poorly. In addition, the resources that are received don’t help much due to inefficiencies in the ways that benefits are supplied. Volunteers see and are discouraged by any waste, don’t enjoy the work very much, complain about their experiences to potential volunteers and donors, and are reluctant to continue. When potential donors learn about the volunteers’ reservations, they become less willing to provide financial and physical resources.

Exponential improvements in serving needs are developed faster and better by doing more to engage the attention and enthusiastic support of as many dedicated people as possible. When you design from the beginning any tasks for providing benefits to be the ones God wants done and to make those tasks irresistibly appealing, you will attract the kind and size of interest that can lead to rapid, substantial improvements in a Christian ministry’s activities. How to accomplish such a shift in focus is described in terms of how tutors can assist Christian nonprofit organizations in Chapter Three of Help Wanted, and those lessons also apply to Christian ministries.

Some Christian ministries have a fundamental opportunity that should precede identifying and making performance improvements: evaluating how well they are focusing on accomplishing God’s purposes. If the intended purposes for acting are incomplete or mistaken, then the activity’s focus will be misdirected, as well. We look next at the purposes Christian ministries should seek to fulfill in a helping to establish a 2,000 percent nation.

Choose Purposes That Help Build a 2,000 Percent Nation

He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,

and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

— 2 Corinthians 9:6 (NKJV)

In writing this section, I happily yield to any messages that you receive from reading the Bible and listening to the Holy Spirit. These sources are always superior to what I know and how well a general message like mine here might apply to a given Christian ministry.

In thinking about determining a ministry’s purposes, let’s first consider how a child’s top, the well-known spinning toy that defies gravity while sitting so exquisitely on its point, can provide more joy. As we consider spinning such a top together, please mentally stretch your imagination to see how a child playing with the toy displays similarities to a Christian ministry providing all the benefits God intended its beneficiaries to receive.

A top at rest provides only part of its potential fun. You have to spin it before a top can provide all of its benefits. Children generally need someone to show them what is possible before they begin focusing on making a top spin.

Such spinning cannot be done in just any way. You generate higher speed and better balance by rapidly pulling the end of a carefully wrapped, light string in the top’s upper groove than by spinning it using only your hands.

Even with a well-placed string, plenty can go wrong. If you pull too fast, the string will not unwrap smoothly and the top may be thrown against a wall instead of being spun. If you pull too slowly, the top won’t spin fast enough to stand on its point. If you pick a place where there’s not much room, the spinning top may bump into an obstacle or fall off a surface … stopping or slowing the correct spin.

By pulling a correctly wrapped string at the right speed on a large-enough smooth surface, the top will spin with uncanny balance and continue that way for a satisfying length of time. Even the end of such perfect spinning is fascinating, as a slight wobble gently increases … providing hypnotic entertainment prior to a slow slide into motionlessness. The ensuing moment of peacefulness is hard to fully appreciate without experiencing it.

Let me now look at this example in terms of what it explains about having the right purposes for a Christian ministry. If, for instance, a ministry pursues too few of its God-intended purposes, it will lack one or more of the elements needed to be as fruitful as its full potential. For example, if a ministry alleviated physical suffering among unsaved people but did not provide information about the Gospel, beneficiaries’ bodies would be in better shape, but these people would still be headed for eternal suffering far greater than what had been experienced on Earth. It would be as if Jesus had only healed people during His Earthly ministry and not helped them to gain Salvation.

If, instead, a ministry has purposes unrelated to its spiritual fruitfulness, resources and attention will be diverted away from Godly activities. Imagine that Jesus had decided to stretch finances for itinerant teaching by asking His followers to wear logos advertising an inn that provided discount lodging to such witnesses. While some money would have been saved, it would have been small compared to what Christ could have supernaturally provided, and such commercialization would have undoubtedly undermined the power of the witnessing with many unsaved people.

Prayer, Bible study, and fasting are all useful activities for helping to identify the correct purposes for a Christian ministry. Be sure engage in these activities while seeking your ministry’s purposes.

Simply to make it easier to start identifying God’s purposes for a Christian ministry, let me suggest some possible starting points to study and to pray about:

• Review the lists of the ways that God measures fruitfulness and that we can approximate His measures, which are summarized in the final section of Chapter 1.

• Consider if at least one aspect from each of the five fruitfulness categories (spiritual, moral, health, emotional, and physical) should be included.

For instance, a witnessing ministry could consider attracting unsaved people with activities that encourage moral, health, emotional, and physical improvements (such as by holding sports clinics for youngsters where witnessing and teaching occur).

• Investigate whether purposes for more than one aspect from each fruitfulness category should be included.

For instance, a witnessing ministry providing sports clinics might also make available free health screenings and tutoring in basic school skills.

• Think about how accomplishments in one aspect of a category might help create more fruitfulness in other aspects of that category as well as in any of the aspects for other categories.

If a number of the youngsters who come to the clinics lack good role models, the ministry could potentially provide mentors who could help with getting to know the Lord, discipleship, and solving any Earthly challenges the unsaved and newly saved youngsters have. The mentoring activity could become a way to multiply benefits for the youngsters and to prepare them to become Godly leaders in their families and communities.

Returning to a child’s smoothly spinning top as an analogy for being more fruitful for the Lord, it’s also important to carefully balance the accomplishments in various aspects so that more proportionate results are gained. Let me explain what I mean. A Christian ministry could be so focused on helping people gain Salvation that other important needs might not be met, including spiritual ones such as teaching new believers about their faith and helping them learn how to apply it. A different Christian ministry might be so intent on feeding starving people that few of those fed ever learn about the Gospel. In both examples, it’s as if a top is being held up by a hand rather than spun so that it can stand on its own by relying on the physical forces that God has provided for us to use.

Like children learning to walk, new and very narrowly focused Christian ministries can easily be overwhelmed at first by trying to move forward too rapidly with an ultimately appropriate set of broad purposes. As a result, it’s important in a ministry’s beginning or when it’s about to expand its focus to select a reasonable schedule for adding any appropriate purposes and tasks.

Let’s look next at choosing the tasks needed for accomplishing a Christian ministry’s most appropriate purposes.

Determine the Tasks Required for Accomplishing

the Right Results for God

Then Isaac sowed in that land,

and reaped in the same year a hundredfold;

and the LORD blessed him.

— Genesis 26:12 (NKJV)

Successful farmers know that they need to plant the right kind of crop to expect any useful harvest. Try to grow lettuce in an area subject to frequent frosts, and you’ll just have brown, rotting heads to show for your time, money, and effort. After choosing the right crop, farmers know that seeds vary a lot in the size and value of the harvests that they can produce. What is a good type of seed for one growing area may be terrible for a growing area not far away that, for example,  receives much less or a lot more moisture and warmth. Not only is seed selection important, but the optimal time for planting also depends on local conditions. Not all the corn that’s going to be eaten on the Fourth of July in the United States is planted on the same date.

A seed contains all the needed potential for growing into a plant, for producing whatever will be eventually harvested from the resulting plant, and for creating still more seeds so that future crops can be grown. In the same way, those selecting tasks for a Christian ministry to accomplish should think in terms of planting seeds that can fully flourish and multiply in all dimensions of Godly fruitfulness.

While it’s tempting to start by endlessly discussing possibilities to figure out what such a starting task is, I believe that such conversations are unnecessary. To me, the Bible is quite clear: The first task is to plant the seed of the Gospel in the minds (and, hopefully, the hearts) of unsaved people. Here is what Jesus had to say:

Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” (Matthew 13:31-32, NKJV)

While considering how the great potential residing in a mustard seed is like the kingdom of heaven, it’s important to keep in mind what else Jesus had to say on the same occasion, as is recorded earlier in Matthew 13. This chapter begins with the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-9, NKJV), continues on to explain that parable (Matthew 13:18-23, NKJV), and then adds the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13:24-30, NKJV). Since the parable of the sower is about sharing the Gospel and how It must be received, understood, and acted on for there to be exponential fruit, the connection to fruitfulness among believers based on sharing the Gospel appears to be carried over into the parable of the planted mustard seed.

The parable about the wheat and the tares explains that God allows evil to continue so that the growth of the good will not be uprooted while eliminating evil. All that changes when the harvest, the forthcoming judgment, occurs. Some commentators interpret the parable of the mustard seed as Jesus referring to evil workers in describing the birds of the air nesting in the mustard plant’s branches, to show that present evil can be easily overcome by good.

We also see practical evidence that sharing the Gospel comes first in examining the works of the apostles. Peter, for instance, doesn’t appear to have been an accomplished witness until after being filled with Holy Spirit and preaching the Gospel of Christ crucified to redeem sinners and risen to be our Lord in Acts 2 (NKJV), leading to about 3,000 souls accepting Salvation. By contrast, Paul’s great disputation in Athens describing God Almighty as the Athenian’s unknown god (Acts 17, NKJV) convinced few. When Paul instead just shared the Gospel of Christ crucified and risen to redeem sinners in Corinth, many were saved, including Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue.

In putting sharing the Gospel first in priority, consider, too, that believers gain so much more understanding of and ability to accomplish God’s tasks by being baptized with the Holy Spirit than can be accomplished in any other way. We should think of individual believers as being like the mustard seeds that turn into mighty plants producing a great harvest while easily overcoming any evildoers. To me, Matthew 17:20 (NKJV) clearly demonstrates that witnessing is task one for a Christian ministry:

So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Concluding that witnessing is the first task in priority doesn’t mean that complementary tasks might not be mixed in with witnessing, much as wise farmers often dust their seeds with herbicides to avoid rot from fungus and add fertilizers to supply nutrients in short supply within the soil. Jesus, for instance, appears to have used His supernatural power to perform miracles, in part, to help attract interest in His preaching of the Gospel message.

Based on my studies of evangelism, I believe that there are many tasks required for providing the most effective witnessing. Many ministries may be employing too few of the most effective ways for sharing the Gospel. Much as a successful farmer will test seeds in small plots before switching to a more fruitful variety, Christian ministries should be continually praying for guidance about other promising methods of witnessing that they should investigate and try. Although only the Holy Spirit can bring Salvation, witnessing can certainly increase the opportunities for hearts to be opened, sins to be repented, and Jesus to be accepted as Lord and Savior.

Testing should also be a priority task for finding ways of combining activities so that more kinds of fruitfulness are expanded. Let me explain more about what I mean by examining a hypothetical Christian ministry that provides food to low-income people. Let’s imagine that this ministry dispenses food from a central warehouse where recipients come to pick it up. Imagine that the warehouse displays on its side a Christian name and a cross.

As Jesus found when He fed first the 5,000 men and later the 4,000 men after starting with a few loaves and fish, many people can be attracted by free food. Those who arrive will even listen to a Gospel message, but many hearts will be more focused on the food than on gaining Salvation.

Consider a different way for this hypothetical ministry to attract attention to the Gospel. People are inclined to reciprocate in measured ways for whatever has been provided or done for them. If recipients have to travel and to wait in long lines for free food, they may feel that relatively little has been done for them.

If, instead, the ministry regularly delivers the food to homes and volunteers stay to help prepare a meal, it will be a rare recipient who won’t welcome such volunteers. During time spent together in the home, recipients and volunteers will gradually become acquainted and develop relationships. During their time together, such volunteers will have many chances to share their testimonies, to show the love of God, and to explain the Gospel. Surely, more hearts will be opened in this way than by just handing out food at a warehouse. Such service will also be a wonderfully faith-affirming opportunity for the volunteers to grow in their relationships with the Lord.

Having easily imagined that such a changed approach to food distribution would lead to more souls being dedicated to the Lord, you can see that similar thought experiments could be beneficial in identifying ways of accomplishing ministry purposes by defining additional tasks. Ideally, all the ministries involved in similar activities would share their ideas and experiences with one another so that any God-blessed methods might be adopted sooner by others.

If such cooperation doesn’t already exist, establishing a way to record, gather, and usefully share such test and practical experiences to similarly directed ministries is an important task for some Christian ministry to perform. Fostering more useful conversations among such ministries about how more fruitfulness purposes might be combined is one benefit that could come from such information development.

Let me continue with the food-distribution ministry example to explain what I mean. Let’s assume that the spiritual fruit from bringing food to homes and helping to prepare it is unusually good among single moms with lots of kids. Undoubtedly, those in such households have many other needs that could be served to expand fruitfulness. While the food-distribution ministry might not have the knowledge, resources, or expertise to provide for all of those other needs, its volunteers could be trained to elicit what such needs are, to find out if the family is interested in having more help, and to introduce appropriate ministries to the family. In addition, the in-home volunteers could also check to be sure everything is going smoothly with whatever other ministries become involved and help troubleshoot whenever there are problems. As a result, all ministries could become more fruitful, and more people in the family could be leading the lives that God intended for them.

In addition, as a Christian ministry increases its effectiveness, unsaved people, new believers, and needy believers will be open to requesting and receiving more assistance. Much of such increased effectiveness will undoubtedly come from volunteers learning to supply more love as they serve beneficiaries. If beneficiaries aren’t reaching out for more help, any Christian ministry should be seriously concerned about the adequacy of the love that’s being provided. As a result, I suggest that all Christian ministries make it a top priority to understand how what is being done for beneficiaries is seen, felt, and considered by the beneficiaries. Be sure to add this task to whatever other tasks are being done.

Now, let’s look at designing the tasks for providing benefits to be irresistibly appealing to perform.

Design the Tasks for Providing Benefits

to Be Irresistibly Appealing to Perform

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks

for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

— 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NKJV)

Many people either forget or don’t realize that relieving suffering and helping others to be happier are two of the best ways to be filled with joy. To design irresistibly appealing volunteer tasks, begin by learning how to make receiving a ministry’s benefits as delightful as possible. Always keep in mind that when the beneficiaries are happy, the volunteers are more likely to be, as well.

To illustrate this point, let me tell you a little more about my experiences during visits to homeless shelters. In some shelters, many of the homeless people are smiling and optimistic, while the rest appear to be relaxed and comfortable. In other shelters, the beneficiaries almost all seem to be bored, afraid, upset, or uncomfortable. In the shelters with many smiling, optimistic people, volunteers were having a great time serving, while the volunteers in the other shelters looked uneasy and defensive. I know which shelters I would prefer to spend my volunteer time in, and I believe most people would choose the same ones.

It can be difficult to identify delightful ways for beneficiaries of Christian ministries to receive the benefits they desire. Many beneficiaries either won’t be able to or won’t want to tell anyone what would make receiving help more appealing. Some beneficiaries are discouraged or sad as a result of setbacks and cannot imagine what might help them feel better. Clinically depressed people are especially likely to be a limited source of ideas. Even when beneficiaries have good ideas to share, they may withhold rather than share those thoughts, believing no one will be interested.

Here are some possible ways to make receiving benefits highly appealing to needy beneficiaries, methods that are drawn from observing Christian ministries:

• Avoid long waits and red tape.

• Build self-respect.

• Treat beneficiaries as either peers or superiors and in considerate ways.

• Ensure that beneficiaries receive what they need to succeed in useful activities that will enable them to take care of themselves.

• Provide loving support and encouragement to overcome any especially harmful personal weaknesses (such as using illegal drugs, drinking too much alcohol, being violent, or engaging in any other secret sins). Tell them that God will forgive them when they repent of their sins, seek a relationship with Jesus as their Savior and Lord, and follow Him, and that they will receive Earthly support from fellow Christians.

• Explain the process for gaining improvements and allow beneficiaries to regularly observe significant progress.

• Encourage beneficiaries to develop warm friendships with the people who serve them.

• Ensure that beneficiaries have opportunities to assist those with needs similar to what their own had been.

I also encourage you to think about your experiences with receiving help from others as well as what people have told you about their experiences to learn other helpful ways to make receiving the aid more appealing. I would like to learn from your successful experiences in applying any methods that I have not mentioned. Please e-mail me at save_more_souls@yahoo.com to let me know what else worked for you.

Having improved the satisfactions that beneficiaries receive, the most important way to make volunteer tasks more appealing, let’s shift to looking at some other appealing personal rewards that volunteers can obtain while serving others:

• spending time with volunteers they like

• meeting people they would like to know

• performing interesting tasks

• having fun

• helping to accomplish results that are enjoyable to tell others about

• developing valuable personal skills that can apply to other areas of life

• gaining sought-after experiences in more pleasant ways

• visiting desirable places

• performing roles they like that are not as available to them in ordinary life

• satisfying curiosity

• gaining satisfaction from providing a service for someone else that they, too, had benefited from

• feeling release from having experienced problems earlier in life through helping someone else

• feeling appreciated

• receiving recognition and attention from people they respect

I’m sure you have even better ideas for making volunteer tasks irresistibly appealing. I would be delighted to learn the methods that work well for you, so please feel free to e-mail me at save_more_souls@yahoo.com.

Serve Needs in Extraordinarily Low-Cost, Effective Ways

And my God shall supply all your need

according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

— Philippians 4:19 (NKJV)

Ways to serve needs in extraordinarily low-cost, effective ways are discussed by Carol Coles and me in Part Two of The 2,000 Percent Squared Solution (BookSurge, 2007). I encourage you to read that information in addition to this book. Here are the topics that are covered:

• Eliminate the unnecessary

• Employ an efficient business model design

• Cancel delays

• Simplify, simplify, and simplify some more

• Help the unskilled avoid accidents

• Automate the important tasks that remain

• Add do-it-yourself features

• Compare your solutions to what outsourcing can do

• Replace any expensive outsourcing

• Ask the world to compete to find breakthrough methods

• Repeat the cost-reduction investigations on a regular basis

In this section, I apply each of the preceding improvement methods to a hypothetical example of how Christian ministries might better serve the millions of poor children supported by sponsors who help provide food, clothing, housing, education, and Bible-based instruction.

While each of these organizations supplies benefits somewhat differently, they usually partner with local churches to locate children who need help, to distribute purchased items, and to provide volunteers who serve many nonfinancial needs. Many of the organizations encourage sponsors to develop relationships with the children by writing letters that encourage Christian study and paying attention in school. Because of the high rate of mortality among infants and young children in some lesser-developed countries, sponsorships usually begin when a child is four years old.

Let’s look at the economics of such programs. While the size of requested donations varies from organization to organization, many now require a minimum of $420 a year and request added payments for birthday gifts and some Christmas presents.

To make the arithmetic easy, let’s assume that a sponsor sends $500 a year for these purposes, starts providing for a child when she or he is aged four, and continues to send money until the youngster becomes eighteen. Before considering the effects of any tax benefits (available in the United States, but not present in many other countries) to the donor from such sponsorships and rising future costs due to inflation, the total expense over fourteen years will be $7,000.

I’m sure you’ll agree that’s not a lot of money to make a big difference in a youngster’s life, especially if the eternal rewards of Salvation are gained. In looking at some alternatives to help the youngsters, I don’t mean to make or to suggest any criticism of the fine work done by these organizations, so please don’t write letters of complaint to any of them. Meditate instead on what Jesus had to say in Matthew 25:44-46 (NKJV) and consider helping these organizations with your prayers, your time, and your money:

“Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Let’s start by eliminating the unnecessary. Most needy youngsters have at least one parent living with them and may also have a nearby grandmother who helps out with child care. The whole family is probably short of income or the sponsorship benefits wouldn’t be needed. What if we could permanently increase the family’s income instead of paying for some of the child’s needs?

Increasing family income might mean providing some education for a parent or grandparent; training for certain jobs or operating small businesses; and tools, equipment, and working capital to do a specialized job or to start a small business. In parts of the world where the adult unemployment rate is high and incomes are low, you can often establish a thriving local business employing several people at a cost of less than $1,000 for education, training, and investment. Such a business might be a wholesale provider of a basic commodity (such as charcoal for cooking) or an equipment provider (such as a reseller and repairer of treadle water pumps).

What would happen if donors provided $1,000 and succeeded in boosting the family’s income while simultaneously supporting a youngster with another $1,000, with the combined sum to be paid over two years? If that approach worked, the whole family could be lifted out of poverty on a permanent basis for a total of $2,000. That’s not only a lot less than spending $7,000 over fourteen years, but the money has also assisted more people. In addition, the child and his or her siblings can probably learn how to do that job or to run the business while growing up, greatly reducing the risks of adult poverty for the child, her or his siblings, and their descendants. If a business is started, needy employees and their families are also helped. Average the $2,000 donation over the several generations that will receive benefits, and it becomes clear that you might alleviate poverty through such an alternative program for less than $100 a person. When successful, the new program provides a 2,000 percent solution (accomplishing at least twenty times as much with the same or less time, effort, and resources — seventy or more people and descendants helped for the previous cost of helping one child).

Notice that although the average cost of helping to raise someone out of poverty is greatly reduced, the near-term cost for a donor of serving each child and his or her family is increased: The annual cost of the alternative program is $1,000 per year rather than $500 per year for the child sponsorships. If the number of donors doesn’t change, that increased cost means an initial 50 percent reduction in how many children are served each year. The reduction in how many children are served fortunately disappears over time: After four years, the donor can shift to assisting a second family without spending any more than the total cost of the original sponsorship program.

Let’s now examine other ways to serve more children and their families. Rather than consider both the opportunities to help with jobs and with small businesses in the rest of this section, I will just look at starting small businesses.

How might the organization employ a more efficient business-model design? Many small businesses in lesser developed countries would be more successful if they could purchase what they need at lower costs, store what they own more securely, and learn better ways to serve customers. Rather than set up each beneficiary family as a potential competitor with every other supported family, the Christian ministry could instead set up cooperatives to pool buying power, to allocate franchised territories that reduce harmful competition (where this practice is legal), to build and to guard secure storehouses, and to develop and to teach owners improved ways of serving customers.

Providing these forms of support would probably reduce the amount of money needed to start a business, shorten the time needed to prepare, enable each business to become more profitable, and permit faster growth in hiring local people. As a result, the cost of helping a family might drop from $2,000 to $1,300, mostly by eliminating one year of support for the child. That change would increase by 54 percent the number of families that could be assisted initially with the income-boosting program.

Next, let’s cancel any unnecessary delays in the process of starting up a business. The cooperatives could recruit their most successful business owners to spend volunteer time training and mentoring people who are about to start up new businesses like theirs in nearby villages, towns, and cities. Detailed written, video, and audio resources could be developed and provided to demonstrate every aspect of what needs to be done.

Done properly, this support might further reduce by more than half the time needed to go from not having a business to operating one profitably. Should that be the case, the cost of helping a family might drop from $1,300 to $1,000, again mostly by reducing how long the child’s needs are subsidized. In that case, 30 percent more families could be helped initially to gain income permanently with the same funds.

Let’s simplify operating the business so that what needs to be learned can be comprehended and done perfectly after only eight hours of training. Such a simplification might involve having the cooperative take over the task of acquiring customers so that the local business owner only needs to deliver the orders and to collect the money. The cooperatives might also discover that many individual business owners aren’t able to figure out how to become more profitable. To simplify that task, the cooperatives might provide volunteers who are trained in business analysis with tools to evaluate and recommend improvements for individual businesses in the cooperative. Let’s also assume that customers need some greater value from what they are buying. The cooperative could develop proprietary products that other suppliers could not provide so that its business-owner members would be able to better serve customers and earn more money.

From such changes, the cost of helping a family might drop from $1,000 to $800. This change would permit 25 percent more families to be initially assisted.

We now have reduced the program’s costs of starting a business. Let’s simplify operating the business again by having the cooperatives put in good distribution networks so that business inventories can be reduced by 80 percent. As a result of that change, the cost of helping start a business might drop from $800 to $600, allowing 33 percent more families to be initially assisted.

Let’s not stop there with rounds of simplification. Now let’s design what is being sold so that less equipment is needed by the business to handle it. From that improvement, the cost of starting a business might drop from $600 to $400, allowing 50 percent more families to be initially helped.

Notice that the hypothetical cost of the program has now dropped below the original $500 annual donation to subsidize one child. As a result of these improvements, more children are being helped from the beginning than with the original sponsorship program. In addition, a sponsor’s donation can be shifted toward the end of the first year to a second family, permitting geometric increases in how many people are helped.

Next, the cooperative should regularly review the experiences of its new and veteran owners to locate any patterns of mistakes that cause them to lose customers, not be paid, spoil what is being provided, and waste resources in any other ways. The cooperative could then use what it learns to retrain its members and to redesign its processes so that the owners and their employees will make fewer and less expensive mistakes. In this way, the profits of each business might increase by 25 percent.

With increased profits, the businesses might be able to start smaller and be established with less investment capital while still providing the same income to their family owners. If this were the case, the funds needed could drop from $400 to $320, allowing 25 percent more families to be initially helped.

At this point, the hypothetical small business is pretty easy to start and to operate. The cooperative could then explore how automation might help eliminate or reduce the costs of other mistakes, reduce the number of employees needed, and enhance what is provided for customers. Only the results of successful automation experiments would be implemented. We’ll assume that the equipment needed will earn back its cost within six months of being installed, a typical rate of return for such small, fledgling businesses. In that case, the initial size of the operation could be even smaller with less investment and still generate the same annual income for the family. In this instance, the total donor funds needed could decline from $320 to $270, permitting 18 percent more families to be initially assisted.

Some families are larger and more energetic than others. The cooperatives could take those differences into account so that businesses could be started in ways that substitute the family’s do-it-yourself labor for some investment funds. In the same way that Habitat for Humanity families supply some of the labor needed for building their own homes, new cooperative members could provide services for existing cooperative members to gain extra income that reduces the new members’ part of the needed investments. Providing these opportunities could potentially cut the donor funds needed from $270 to $200 for some families, allowing as many as 35 percent more families to gain opportunities from existing donor sources.

Let’s now compare this set of improved solutions to what outsourcing could accomplish. In each case considered so far, the only source of funds has been donor payments. If these new enterprises are going to earn at least $500 a year, it becomes practical to consider supplementing some or all of the donor funds with low-interest borrowings from other Christian ministries specializing in that activity. Let’s assume that $100 of the $200 needed could be borrowed in this way at a 15 percent annual interest rate. A new business owner could repay that loan out of profits during the first year and still enjoy a much higher income.

Making this change would double the number of families that could benefit initially from the available donor funds. Notice that at this point, five times more families are hypothetically being helped initially than with the child subsidy program.

Having found this outsourcing solution for borrowing, it’s a good idea to check it against the alternatives. In this case, the cooperatives could also serve as lenders to their members for starting up such businesses. Let’s assume that the cooperatives could borrow money at 3 percent annual interest through subsidized programs funded by governments of countries with advanced economies. After allowing for the risk of not being repaid, the cooperative might decide that it could cover its costs of borrowing and administration by charging 8 percent annual interest. With that drop in interest charges, new members could find it attractive to borrow $150 of the $200 needed to start their enterprises by stretching the repayment period to two years. This shift would drop the funds needed from donors to $50, making it possible to expand the number of families served initially by another 100 percent.

In The Ultimate Competitive Advantage (Berrett-Koehler, 2003), Carol Coles and I describe how for-profit companies sponsor global contests with significant rewards to find breakthrough methods for accomplishing their most important tasks. Since that book was published, hundreds of thousands of organizations have made these contests a mainstream practice in the for-profit community. The same approach can also be employed in the nonprofit world to make breakthroughs in making donations more productive (as was demonstrated by my 2006-2007 global witnessing contest and described in Adventures of an Optimist, Witnessing Made Easy, and Ways You Can Witness).

Let’s assume that the cooperatives regularly run global contests to improve the operating, financing, and start-up processes for the businesses their members operate. If the contests focus on areas the cooperatives haven’t considered, such as getting start-up financing from suppliers for their members’ businesses, these contests are especially likely to be productive. Let’s assume that these contests reduce the amount of money needed from donors to start up a business by $50 a year. With this change, no more donor funds will be needed except to subsidize the living costs of needy orphans.

Many people would be delighted to accomplish this much and with good reason. By heeding the Holy Spirit’s direction, I believe that making major gains is a practical goal.

Despite this enormous success, the most important opportunity remains untapped: repeating all the improvement methods. Since the value of repetition is addressed in every book I have written or coauthored for The 400 Year Project, I won’t say much about it here other than to repeat the lesson: Costs can decline by another 96 percent each time the improvement processes are repeated.

If that result were to occur from the first repetition of the improvements methods, the new business owners would be able to eliminate all borrowings and increase their initial incomes by more than twenty times.

When costs become so low, a little money and effort go a long way. The world would change in highly desirable ways that God approves when that occurs.

If you doubt that such substantial gains are possible from employing these methods, be sure to read about Dr. Burra Ramulu’s tutoring experiment in India where even greater gains were made in less time, as described in the Introduction to 2,000 Percent Solution Living.

I believe that your experiences with creating cost breakthroughs will identify other excellent methods. Please be so kind as to send me an e-mail at save_more_souls@yahoo.com describing the lessons you learn about those methods.

Obtain Enough Resources to Provide for All Needs

When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said,

“This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late.

 Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages

and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat.”

But He answered and said to them, “You give them something to eat.”

And they said to Him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread

and give them something to eat?”

But He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.”

And when they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.”

Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass.

So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties.

And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish,

He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves,

and gave them to His disciples to set before them;

 and the two fish He divided among them all.

So they all ate and were filled.

And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish.

Now those who had eaten the loaves were about  five thousand men.

— Mark 6:35-43 (NKJV)

Lack of sufficient faith may be one reason many Christian ministries focus first on obtaining resources. As you appreciate from the example in the preceding section, a small amount of resources can potentially be stretched a long way to provide for needs before gaining added effectiveness from any supernatural transformations. Add His unlimited power to accomplish His purposes, and the results can be beyond awe inspiring. To me, Ephesians 3:20-21 (NKJV) captures the full dimension of the resources we should be seeking:

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Obtaining enough resources is a task we can approach with great confidence when we follow the specific instructions in Malachi 3:8-12 (NKJV):

“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.

You are cursed with a curse,

For you have robbed Me,

Even this whole nation.

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,

That there may be food in My house,

And try Me now in this,”

Says the LORD of hosts,

“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven

And pour out for you such blessing

That there will not be room enough to receive it.

And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,

So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,

Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”

Says the LORD of hosts;

“And all nations will call you blessed,

For you will be a delightful land,”

Says the LORD of hosts.

God says to pay your tithes (the first 10 percent of your income) and your offerings (gifts above the tenth that represents the tithe) to your local church. After that, you should generously provide alms for the poor. When you do these things, He promises to increase what you have so much that the tithes, offerings, and alms you paid will seem almost like pocket change by comparison.

Compare these directions to the approach some Christian ministries use. These Christian ministries typically don’t mention to potential donors that tithes and offerings should be provided before alms, from the first fruits of our income. Instead, these ministries make the strongest emotional appeal they can for alleviating suffering and doing God’s will. In the process, some Christians may take money that should be used for their tithes and offerings and wrongly direct the funds for alms. We shouldn’t be surprised if such ministries find themselves with donors whose incomes are shrinking so that the donors cannot sustain the giving that they have committed to do.

Instead, the Christian ministry should begin by being so faithful in making volunteer work rewarding and in reducing costs that there may be little or no need for donations. If a need remains (such as the need for supporting orphans in the example), the ministry should be vigilant in encouraging potential donors to follow God’s financial prescriptions for tithes and offerings before providing any funds to the ministry.

It costs money to solicit donations, funds that could be used to support those who need help. Christian ministries should do as much of their fund-raising as possible through praying for the Lord’s help. Some ministries have a long history of receiving all they need without spending money on making solicitations.

With a stout dedication to making good use of funds and not diverting funds from God’s purposes, such a Christian ministry should find itself with more resources than it can use to accomplish His purposes.

Now, keep the lessons of chapters 1 through 4 in mind as you read Chapter 5 where the subject is what Christian nonprofit organizations should accomplish in establishing a 2,000 percent nation.

Copyright © 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012 by Donald W. Mitchell.

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