Office of the President
Multiplication Works
I remember memorizing the multiplication tables when my mom homeschooled me at Camp Panorama in southern Brazil. She must have done a good job because when we returned to the United States for my fifth-grade year I didn’ t need remedial math. During our second term, when I attempted algebra by correspondence... well, that’ s a story for another time.
But back to multiplication, Jesus-style. He invested deeply in 12 disciples( 11 of whom ultimately carried on the mission). He understood the power of multiplication— what a small group of committed followers could accomplish. According to church history, those 11 carried the message of Jesus and his kingdom to distant regions such as Spain, India, Ethiopia, Armenia, Egypt, Britain, Iran, and beyond.
God could have designed a plan in which his incarnate Son lived for 60 years and traveled to those places himself. Instead, Jesus entrusted the mission to his followers, knowing that the Gospel— the message of Jesus and his kingdom— would spread worldwide through multiplication.
This is why One Mission Society exists: to multiply disciples, churches, leaders, and missionaries for Jesus Christ. Today, we feel a renewed urgency to prioritize multiplication. Jesus commands us to go and make disciples. A true disciple makes another disciple, who then makes another, and the Gospel advances as communities of believers are built.
Following Jesus’ example, the question isn’ t whether multiplication works— it always has. The real question is whether we will personally engage the one to reach the many. Who can you intentionally invest in and disciple?
For Christ and his kingdom,
Jeffry Max Edwards
3