In this write-up, I posit that, THE PROBABILITY OF A LOCAL CHURCH CONTRIBUTING TO REVIVAL IN THEIR COMMUNITY IS EQUAL TO THE PERCENTAGE OF HER MEMBERS WHO ARE AGENTS OF TRANSFORMATION. THAT FRACTION IS ALSO A MEASURE OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE LOCAL CHURCH IN BEING AN EQUIPPING CENTRE IN POSSESSING THE NATIONS.
Last Sunday, I visited one of our local churches. During the Bible study session, one man asked why there seems to be little or no revival among present-day Christians compared to the Early Church.
My response was that, assuming without admitting that the hypothesis may be true, this calls for testing. We can use that very local church and, of course, the testing can also be replicated in other local church settings.
To do the testing, I established that, a person who is an agent of transformation is one who is on fire or revival for the Lord. Such a person should be consistent in:
1. PRAYER (P): Praying personally and alone for at least 15 minutes a day
2. BIBLE STUDY (B): Reading and meditating on at least a passage of scripture a day
3. DISCIPLESHIP (D): Shares the gospel or engage others in discussing their issues in the light of what the Bible, through Christ, teaches; doing so to at least one person – onsite or remotely – once a week
I then counted the needed numbers as follows:
- Total Number of Adult Members above 20 years = 46
- Total number of members who fulfill the indicator “Prayer” (P) defined above = 36
- Total number of members who fulfill the indicator “Bible Study” (B) defined above = 19
- Total number of members who fulfill the indicator “Discipleship” (D) defined above = 21
Each of the 46 adult members above 20 years did at least P, B or D. None of them did exactly 2 of P, B, and D.
The number of the 46 adult members who are TRUE AGENTS OF TRANSFORMATION are those who fulfill ALL THREE INDICATORS (P, B & D). Let us represent that by the variable “x”
To find “x”, I employed 3-set Venn Diagram as follows:
36-x + 19-x + 21-x = 46
76-3x = 46
-3x = 46 – 76
-3x = – 30
x = 10
This means only 10 out of the 46 adult members above 20 years in that local assembly are TRUE AGENTS OF TRANSFORMATION.
Hence, the probability of that local assembly possessing the nation (their contextual community in this case) is given by
10/46 × 100% = 21.74%
This figure is way below average (50%)
Hence, to some extent, the old man’s observation that there seems to be less revival in the present-day church compared to the Early Church is true for the local assembly he belongs to.
The research was premised on the following as true:
1. The 46 people sampled are a true representation of the local church adult above 20 years population.
2. The Early Church in the Book of Acts is the Standard of Christian Living.
3. Evidence is replete to the effect that any Christian who does all three indicators (P, B & D) transforms their sphere of influence for Christ.
As a church leader at any level in The Church of Pentecost, you may want to replicate this research to measure the extent to which the local church as an equipping centre is truly churning out true agents of transformation.
God bless you
Selah.
By Apostle Seth Kwame Fianko-Larbi.