The Power of Recruiting

Presbyterian missionary expert, Ralph Winter, once asked, “What’s the quickest way to put out a barn on fire – to grab a bucket and run to the lake with it or to grab a hundred people, tell them to get a bucket and run for water?”  We hear about the power of compound interest.  Do we know about the power of recruiting? 

Let’s say our church could use money to carry out God’s mission in this area.  We could all reach deeper into our wallets.  What if you brought five people to church in the course of one year and everyone else in the congregation did the same?  Our 100 worshippers would bring 500 people.  That would be 500 more wallets opening!

We all give to the church not only in money but in time.  I recently asked our session about how much time they gave to choir practice, committee work, Sunday School class preparation, and the like.  Answer:  5 hours per week.

Then I asked how much of that time was directly related to recruiting people to Cocoa Presbyterian.  If you stood on one foot just right, you could say 10%.  But really the answer is more like 0%. 

It would be nice if we did 50% institutional maintenance and internal workings and 50% on outward recruitment and evangelism.  It is unlikely, however, for lots of reasons.  Spending 15 minutes a week though is do-able.  Sure, it is micro compared to a few hours.  But if each member put in 15 minutes a week (actual time), that’d be great.  If some of those efforts paid off, and eventually they would, we would have more wallets opening and more hands on deck.