I woke up at 4am this morning (as I sometimes do) and I had a strange picture in my head for someone, which I then emailed them before I forgot it.  I have no idea what garbled nonsense might have come out, but before I fell asleep, a lot of thoughts started rushing through my brain which I thought I ought to write down.

The essence of the picture was based on the story of Jesus feeding the 5000.  It interests me, that, being Jesus, he could have just got out his mobile, dialled Domino’s, ordered 2500 Might Meaty pizzas and then, 40 minutes later (or your money back), a camel would have rocked up laden with pizza and everyone would have been bloated but ok.  There would have been a few crusts and some soggy boxes remaining.

What Jesus actually did, was used what little they had there.  The key point here is that what they had, was not enough.  He got the disciples to give out what they had and somehow, during that process, Jesus multiplied what went out.  I love stories in the Bible, because they are never just stories of a cool miracle that Jesus did, they always have a dual meaning.  Here, we can see that we, on our own, are insufficient to do the work of God.  However, us+Jesus=enough and in fact there will be leftovers!  Bonus!

If you apply this principle to the church, it shows that we could spend all our time investing in ‘new fish’ (i.e. the Alpha Course, mission, etc), all of which are very valid and in fact vital.  However, if we only serve ‘new food’ and not the food we have (even if it seems insufficient), then multiplication cannot occur.  If you bring people into the church and there is no one there to pastor them, serve coffee, welcome them, teach them, lead worship, etc then there is no church to bring them into.  If you serve with what you have then Jesus, along the way, will multiply your offering and grow the church.