Fishing With a Net: Why Jesus Always Went After Whole Communities not Individuals

This is Part 3 of an 18-part series drawn from Kurt Olson's book, The Endgame of God. New posts publish every Wednesday at  GoMultiply.org/blog.

In the church world today, we usually fish for souls one at a time, like fishing with a hook. Jesus fished with a net — and in every example I can find, He reached the person and their whole social network.

Jesus was teaching a crowd on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and the people pressed in so tightly that He climbed into Simon Peter's boat and asked him to push out from land so He could keep teaching. When He finished, He told Peter, "Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish" (Luke 5:4). Peter pushed back: "Master, we worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing. But if you say so, I'll let the nets down again" (Luke 5:5). Notice why he obeyed — not because he wanted to or because he thought he was going to catch anything (it was midday, when the fish go down into the deep), but for one reason only: his Master told him to. That, by the way, is the first mark of a disciple, and we will come back to it.

What happened next these fishermen would never forget. The nets were filled so full they began to break; they signaled their partners, and soon both boats were so loaded they were on the verge of sinking. When Peter grasped what had happened, he fell down at Jesus' knees (he couldn't see His feet) and said, "Oh, Lord, please leave me — I'm such a sinful man" (Luke 5:8). Jesus answered, "Don't be afraid! From now on you'll catch people!" (Luke 5:10). Then, don't miss this: they left everything — the greatest catch of their lives — and followed Him. I don't think Jesus was merely showing off His power. I believe that miraculous catch of fish was a prophetic picture, staged on purpose as the backdrop for one sentence: from now on you'll fish for people. It was as if He said, "Now that you've seen Me fill your nets with fish, follow Me, and I will fill your nets with people."

If Jesus trained His followers to fish with a net, then in Scripture we should expect to see people entering the Kingdom in groups, not one at a time. And that is exactly the pattern we find. 

I was teaching this principle in Asia when a man in the front row objected, "I have taught personal evangelism classes!" I asked what passages he used; he named Zacchaeus from Luke 19 and the woman at the well from John 4. I thanked him — because they are perfect examples of Jesus fishing with a net. Then I asked the group to look at how each account ends.

When Zacchaeus met Jesus, salvation came to his whole household (Luke 19:9). When the woman met Jesus at the well, her entire town came out and believed (John 4:39–42). One person, and then their whole social network. Over and over in the Gospels, Jesus reaches the individual and the people that individual knows and loves — their family, their friends, their village. He loves the individual, and He loves everyone that person knows and loves. Mathematically, winning one here and there will never compare with reaching them five, ten, and twenty at a time. That happens when we fish for souls with a net.

A few years ago one of our disciple-makers in Uganda messaged me. He and his team felt led to reach a Muslim village, and their plan was to knock on every door of every house and share with anyone willing to listen. So I asked our firewall question: "Where does anyone go door to door with the gospel in the New Testament?" The next day he wrote back: "Nowhere, sir." I said, "Then read Luke 10, where Jesus sends out the seventy-two, and ask the Lord what to do before you decide." After praying with his team, he messaged again: "We're going to walk the streets and pray and look for persons of peace" — someone open to spiritual things, already searching for God.

That one shift, from operating according to traditional door-to-door evangelism to finding the person God has already prepared, makes the difference between striving for souls and reaping a massive harvest. When he later found his person of peace, God healed the man, and more than a hundred Muslims came to Christ — though not one of them had been searching for God beforehand. They were not hungry fish, but they got caught up in the net of the Kingdom of God anyway. His full story comes later in this series.

I am not trying to hurt anyone. I am asking because Jesus tied the two together. If a person claims to follow Him but never fishes for people, we have to ask whether they are truly following Him — no matter what they say.

When you do share the Gospel, think in terms of networks of souls. And when someone comes to Christ, resist every urge to extract them; leave them right where you found them, because this is how we take territory for the Kingdom of God.

Think of one person in your life who doesn't yet follow Jesus. Who are their five, ten, or fifteen closest relationships? What would change if, instead of focusing on that one person alone, you started praying for — and reaching toward — their whole network?