While the church concentrates on personal witnessing and altar calls, maybe it’s missing an established New Testament principle: that of netting large groups-–as well as hooking individuals. Fishing with a line is fine but more can be caught with a net.
Jesus Christ 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 they frequently used in gathering fish from the Sea of Galilee. Those men knew a lot about catching fish, but Jesus taught them how to catch men.
Personal witnessing is like fishing with a line – fine for catching one at a time. (With Jesus, you can even hook a fish with money in its mouth.) In contrast, networking is about pulling in large numbers. One-to-one responses are satisfying – the soul winner’s patient skills rewarded, but many who might not respond individually may 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 of people with shared common interests. Just as fish swim in schools, so there are schools of thought – firmly-held ideas and attitudes – within various groups, as today’s niche-marketers know.
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” elsewhere is used to describe mending nets, equipping God’s people, and restoring fallen believers. It means: “to put a thing in its appropriate condition, to establish, equip, arrange, prepare, set up.”
Christians are called to network – to join with each other in lasting relationships, in order to draw people to the Lord in large numbers.
On two occasions, Peter netted all night for fish, and caught nothing. But when Jesus told him where to cast his nets, the result was stunning! A patient fisherman will catch a particular fish with the right line, proper hook and appropriate bait.
It could be said that Jesus caught the Samaritan woman that way. Usually, though, it’s better to make and to maintain nets that can enclose large numbers. Locating and pulling in like-minded people groups is what Christian networking is all about.
When Jesus instructed Simon to push his boat out into the deep and let down his nets for a catch, the big fisherman was dubious. After all, a long night of doing just that had brought no result. Peter was experienced, but this was the first time he had worked nets with Jesus, who knew exactly where Peter should net for the best result.
First, though, 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 to do as Jesus directed, was hinged on his word “nevertheless.” He put aside his own failure to find fish. Successful networking results from information that is 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 word “partners” (verse 10) may also be translated “fellowship”, and means, “to share in common.” Networking with others who share your vision and goals will increase your capacity to receive from God.
This astonishing, net-breaking – almost boat-sinking – catch emphasises today’s need for strong, personal, relationships between believers – as distinct from membership in formal and less personal religious structures.
Structures are useful. 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, an eldership, a proper order of service, a systematized theology – without having within the church structure a network of related believers. Creeds, doctrinal statements and membership rolls are not nets. Nor is a body of unrelated believers a true New Testament church.
We need relationships that can hold the catch! After the Resurrection, a second networking incident occurred. Following yet another futile night’s fishing, the disciples obeyed the Lord’s instruction to “cast the net on the right side,” and found that they were not able to draw it in, because of the great number of fish it enclosed. John drew the net to shore, where it was found to contain 153 big fish! Despite the huge catch, the net was not torn. What a contrast between this catch and the first!
An unbreakable net is one of carefully mended and regularly maintained human relationships. Better a small net in good repair than a large net that will break under the strain of a big catch. We’ll keep the whole catch if we make and maintain nets that can hold together under strain. Nets that work.
Nets function well across denominational boundaries, because a net is a well-connected, extendable, moveable network of interactive personal relationships.
A non-interactive church – its leadership unwilling to work with other churches, its own members spectators rather than participants, its interpersonal relationships undeveloped – will find networking well-nigh impossible.
As well as being about interactive relationships within and beyond the local church, networking also means linking with other nets. For example, a small local churches net can be part of a regional teaching net, or a national missions net. Just as heavy nets are required for large fish, and fine, lightly-woven nets for smaller fish, so it is with networking. Some nets are made for the deep, others for the shallows. The catch you’re after will determine the type of net you’ll use.
Effective network evangelism requires a change in 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 for drawing people to Jesus. Structures are impersonal; nets are relational.
Nets need to be carefully maintained, so that no-one slips through broken 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 pyramidical structures – they have limitless potential. Nets have the capacity to enclose and draw large numbers to Christ – those who are “out there, somewhere.”
Christian networking is about us drawing the lost to the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s about unbreakable personal relationships between believers. It’s about nets that really work!
Networking requires that believers remain connected – even when relationships fray under strain – for the sake of the great results, and the greater glory of God!
Why is the kingdom of God like a net? (Matthew 13:47-50) Because nets are effective! Because nets work!