Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. [Matthew 13]
Imagine this--he just went out of the house to see the lake and already multitudes of people, crowds of them, went after him. I try to picture this out in my mind--a lake along the shore so filled with people that Jesus had to get to a boat to have some space.
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That's a mighty big crowd.
And yet, we don't see him issuing invitations to people or promoting his lake-shore bible "conference." You know what churches today would do just to get a big crowd? They'd put out ads and display banners and posters, distribute fliers, offer freebies and invite everyone to their crusades or concerts. Or even force them.
You know how other churches attract people? They offer free meals or medical missions. Jesus never offered free meals just to attract people to his meetings. He saw how late it was when one of his "conferences" ended and decided to feed the 5,000 men (later, the 4,000 men). It was out of compassion, not to attract membership like what churches do today.
Question is, why was it so easy for Jesus to draw people to himself without effort, and why does it take a lot for the church today to lure crowds to itself? Have you seen that?
There must be a big ingredient missing which the church has not figured out for centuries--because it doesn't care about the ways of Jesus Christ--or probably hasn't realized what it means to have Jesus as the only Way.
How did Jesus do it--without any fanfare or gimmicks, even staying low profile (sometimes he told people not to spread the word around about him), he got big crowds he sometimes didn't seem to pay much attention to. he loved them, no doubt, but you never see Jesus desperately pursue after people the way churches and pastors do today.
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