How Billy Graham Would Have Lead A Church

Once, when asked what he would do as the pastor of a church in a city, Billy Graham shared this strategy:

I think one of the first things I would do would be to get a small group of eight or ten or twelve men around me that would meet a few hours a week and pay the price. It would cost them something in time and effort. I would share with them everything I have, over a period of years. Then I would actually have twelve ministers among the laymen who in turn could take eight or ten or twelve more and teach them. I know one or two churches that are doing that, and it is revolutionizing the church. Christ, I think, set the pattern. He spent most of his time with twelve men. He didn’t spend it with a great crowd. In fact, every time he had a great crowd it seems to me that there weren’t too many results. The great results, it seems to me, came in his personal interview and in the time he spent with the twelve.¹

So, I’ll ask again…why aren’t you starting a house church?

Photo Credit: Billy Graham Franklin Graham Cleveland Stadium Ohio June 11,1994 by Paul Wash

¹This quote is famously captured in Robert E Coleman’s important book, “The Master Plan of Evangelism.