Neil Short, member of the Leading your Church into Growth team, shares a story of the reality of running an enquirer's course in a local church.

Jesus told us the parable of the sower so that we do not lose heart in ministry but always keep going.

Our church is quite small so when we run a Start Course the numbers are bound to be low:
Four people attended our most recent course.
One dropped out half way through.
One was not well and missed a few meetings including the all important last session.
One was an atheist, and only seemed to become more fixed in his beliefs as the course progressed.
One attended all the sessions and had lots of questions.

So when only two attended the last night we were bound to feel a bit discouraged. We persevered however and praised God when our fourth member made a commitment. She has started her journey of faith so the following day I dropped off a couple of Christian books to help feed her.

It all seems like the parable of the sower. It would be so easy to give up because of the
disappointments. So let’s pray for this lady that the seed puts down deep roots and produces thirty, sixty or even one hundredfold.