# Converting the World Little by Little



## Peairtach (Apr 11, 2010)

Is the Christian Church destined to convert the World little by little  as the Israelites conquered Canaan? (see Exodus 23:29-30; Deut. 7:22)


----------



## jambo (Apr 11, 2010)

Sometimes little by little, (as maybe in the west) and sometimes in leaps and bounds (as in times of revival such as the Great Awakening or in some parts of the world today where there has been phenomenal church growth such as Africa, parts of Asia etc -although how deep this is may be open to question) 

The Lord in his own sovereign way acts as the seed sown yields a very tiny harvest whilst on other occasions the harvest is sometimes 50, sometimes 60 and sometimes 100 times what was sown.

I would not be concerned whether it is a stream or a flood but I always take heart from the following:

-the harvest is plentiful
-the great commission is achievable
-the great multitude (Rev 7) is guaranteed

It is possible that with a sudden influx of new believers the church can be overwhelmed. I look at some churches (my own included) and wonder how they would cope with 20 or 30 new converts all at once.

I sometimes think that because in the west we do not see big numbers of converts (indeed I would like to collect some figures from western churches regarding numbers of new converts) there is the tendency not to expect too much when we preach. I think this is a big sin for preachers to fall into. We have a great God who declares his word would not return to him void yet so often preachers preach with little expectation.


----------



## Peairtach (Apr 12, 2010)

Yes there is massive progress sometimes when God's people "go in and take the Land"

But _overall_ it's been a slow process as it was with the Israelites. It took them over 400 years to reach the glories and extent of the Solomonic Empire, and it's taken the Church 2,000 years to reach its present global coverage. 

It was in God's decretive will that the Church should struggle against the world, the flesh and the devil, against indolence and heresy.

If the Jews had believed between AD 30 and 70, and if the Roman apostasy hadn't happened things would have gone quicker.


----------

