Why You Should Be Concerned About R
According to the BBC, there is a simple number at the heart of understanding the threat posed by the coronavirus. It is guiding governments around the world on the actions needed to save lives.
It is called the reproduction number or R.
The reproduction number is a way of rating a disease's ability to spread. It's the number of people that one infected person will pass the virus on to, on average.
If R is above 1, an epidemic will grow exponentially. If R is below 1 and an outbreak will end – eventually. If every infected individual passes the disease on to less than one other person, the epidemic will fizzle out.
R explains the difference between a ministry and a movement. Ministries aim to win as many individuals as they can, one person at a time. New disciples are not trained to immediately reach their world of relationships. R is way below the number 1.
Movements grow exponentially when they succeed in raising R above 1. They train new disciples to make disciples. They are not always successful, but when they are a movement spreads like a wildfire.
A ministry aims to add people and keep them dependent on itself by providing religious goods and services. A movement aims to train disciples to make disciples. They shift the focus from the ministry at the center to the movement on the fringes. Multiplication doesn’t always occur, but when it does, it’s because R is more than 1.
So, what’s your focus? Drawing people to yourself, one by one? Planting churches one by one? Or training even the newest disciples to fulfill Christ’s command to make the disciples of the nations?
Here’s something you could do. Stop worrying about the number of people you have in your group or church and start paying attention to R.
