…You’ll Get More with a Net. Most churches focus on personal witnessing and on church altar calls, but many have overlooked the practice of fishing with nets. Hooking those who are readied through personal witness is satisfying, but casting wide nets and drawing in entire groups is more effective.
Jesus of Nazareth taught his disciples, some of them experienced fishermen, how to draw people to God. Jesus likened the kingdom of heaven to a dragnet – the kind fishermen in his time used to gather fish from the Sea of Galilee. They well knew how to catch fish, but Jesus taught them how to catch men.
Personal witnessing is like fishing with a line – fine for catching one at a time. (At his Lord’s instruction Peter cast a line and hooked a fish with a coin in its mouth.) But networking is about pulling in large numbers. One-to-one responses are satisfying – the soul-winner’s patient skills rewarded – but many who do not respond individually might well come to Christ in the company of others.
Christianity and networking are perfectly compatible. Simon, James, and John were working with nets when they became disciples of Jesus. They left those nets to learn how to fish for people – not just individuals but groups with shared interests. Just as fish swim in schools there are schools of thought in groups with firmly held ideas and attitudes. Niche marketers know this and prepare their nets accordingly.
It’s significant that the apostle Paul used a networking term when calling for unity in the church at Corinth. The Greek word translated “perfectly joined together” is used elsewhere to describe mending nets, equipping God’s people, and restoring fallen believers. It means: “to put a thing [back] into its appropriate condition, to equip, arrange, prepare, set up.” Christians are called to network together in lasting relationships, with the goal of drawing people to the Lord in large numbers.
On two occasions Peter netted all night for fish and caught nothing. But when Jesus told him exactly where to cast his nets, the result was more than he could handle! A patient fisherman will catch a particular fish with the right line, proper hook and appropriate bait. Some might say that Jesus ‘caught’ the Samaritan woman that way, and through her reached a whole village. But usually, it’s better to make and maintain nets that can enclose large numbers. Locating and drawing in like-minded people groups is what networking is all about.
When Jesus instructed Simon Peter to push his boat out into the deep and let down his nets for a catch, the experienced fisherman was dubious. After all, a long night of doing just that had brought no result. This was the first time he had worked nets as directed by Jesus, who knew exactly where Peter should cast his nets for a good result.
Peter had to adjust to the Lord’s way of doing things. “We’ve worked hard all night and caught nothing,” was a statement of fact. Peter’s willingness to forget an unsuccessful night’s netting and do as Jesus directed, hinged on his word “nevertheless.” He put aside his nightlong failure at trying to find fish. Successful networking results from information acted on quickly, without regard to outdated ideas or past failures.
When the nets were cast into the water, “they enclosed a great number of fish, and they broke.” Hauling in their nets, Peter, James and John found that they had caught far more than they could handle! But their partners in another boat worked with them, and together, they saved the catch.
The NT Greek word for “partners” (verse 10) may also be translated “fellowship”. It means “to share in common.” Networking with others who share your vision and goals will maximize your capacity to receive from God. Peter’s astonishing, net-breaking, and almost boat-sinking catch emphasizes the need for strong, personal, relationships between believers – as distinct from membership in formal, less interactive, and non-personal religious structures.
Networking is simply a term for relationships formed – spiritual connections made – within and beyond the structure of the local church. It’s not uncommon to have a nice building, a united eldership, a proper order of service, and a systematized theology without having within all this a strong network of related believers.
Creeds, doctrinal statements and membership rolls, though useful, are not nets. A body of unrelated believers is not a New Testament- style church. We need relationships so that we can hold and draw in the catch!
After the Resurrection, a second networking incident occurred. Following another futile night of fishing the disciples obeyed the Lord’s direction to “cast the net on the right side”. They found themselves unable to draw it in because of the great number of fish enclosed. John drew the net to shore, where it was found to contain 153 large fish! Despite this huge catch, the net was not torn, as it had been in the first catch
An unbreakable net is one of carefully mended and regularly maintained human relationships. Better a small net in good repair than a large net likely to break under the strain of a large catch. We’ll keep the entire catch if we make and maintain nets that hold together under strain — nets that work. Nets function well across denominational boundaries because a net is a well-connected, extendable, moveable, network of well-connected and interactive personal relationships.
A non-interactive church whose leadership is unwilling to work co-operatively with other churches, and its members spectators rather than participants, and its interpersonal relationships undeveloped, will find networking difficult, if not impossible.
As well as being about interactive relationships within and beyond the local church, networking also means linking to with other networks. For example, a small, local church net, can link to a large, regional teaching net, or a national missions network. Just as heavy nets are required for large fish, and fine, lightly-woven nets for smaller fish, so it is also with networking. Some nets are made for the deep, others for the shallows. The type of catch will determine the type of net used.
Effective network evangelism requires a change of perception in regard to how a Christian organization or local church body should function. We need to connect with others to become extendable, moveable networks of interactive personal relationships, useful and practical for drawing people to Jesus. Structures are impersonal; nets are relational.
Nets need to be carefully maintained, so that no-one slips through torn relationships. They must be moveable, because people of differing schools of thought are found in varying and sometimes surprising places. They must be extendable, because unlike pyramid style structures, which extend in order to grow higher, nets have potential to spread wider. They have the capacity to enclose and to draw to Christ the large numbers who are “out there, somewhere”.
Christian networking is about us drawing the lost to the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s about ensuring unbreakable personal relationships with other believers. It’s about nets that really do work! Networking requires that believers remain connected, even when relationships begin to fray under strain, for the sake of greater results, and the greater glory of God!
The kingdom of God is likened to a net because nets are effective. Nets work! Ask the Lord to show you how to create one by linking to other believers in strong, effective and enduring personal relationships (Matthew 13:47-50).