"After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves... When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you.'" - Luke 10:1-3, 5-6

Jesus had a strategy. It wasn't complicated, but it was brilliant.

When He sent out the seventy-two disciples, He didn't tell them to go to every house, knock on every door, and try to convince everyone. Instead, He told them to look for something very specific: a "person of peace."

For years, I thought this was just a nice biblical principle. Then I started actually

looking for people of peace in my own world and encouraging others to do the same, and everything changed.

What is a Person of Peace?

A person of peace is someone God has prepared to receive the gospel and potentially become a bridge to others in their community. They're not necessarily the most religious people or the most obvious candidates. Often, they're people whose hearts God has been quietly preparing through circumstances, relationships, or divine encounters.

Here's what makes them different: they're open. Open to you, open to your message, open to exploring faith. They welcome you into their life AND their network (this is important). They listen. They ask questions. They're genuinely curious about spiritual things.

But here's the thing - you don't find them through strategy or marketing. You find them through prayer and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

My friend Paul learned this the hard way. He was living in a town and praying for God to show him a person of peace. In his mind, he got a picture of a guy he knew - let's call him Bob. But Paul didn't want to build a relationship with Bob. He found him annoying. So he kept rejecting the idea, asking God for someone else.

Then there was a knock at the door.

Paul opened it, and there stood Bob - wearing a t-shirt with the word "DISCIPLE" written across the front in huge letters. Bob wasn't even a believer yet. He'd just randomly purchased this t-shirt as it was a cool brand.

Paul laughed to himself. Message received.

He stopped resisting and started investing in Bob. Eventually, Bob came to Christ.

His wife came to Christ. And when Paul left that town, he realized that Bob - the guy he'd tried to avoid - was actually the reason God had moved them there in the first place. Bob and his wife became pillars in the church.

The WOOLY Acronym - How to Identify Them

So how do you actually recognize a person of peace? Here's a simple acronym that helps:

W - Welcome You They welcome you into their life and space. When you reach out, they respond positively. They're glad to see you. There's a natural openness to the relationship.

O - Open Oikos Their network is open to you. "Oikos" is the Greek word for household or network. A person of peace has a sphere of influence - family, friends, coworkers - and they're willing to include you in that world. They introduce

you to people. They invite you into their community.

L - Listen to You They actually listen and engage with your perspective. It's not just surface-level politeness. They remember what you've said. They ask follow-up questions. They show that your words matter to them. They show a level of spiritual hunger.

Y - Makes it a Word! And the "Y" just makes it a word so you can remember it!

When you see these four things in someone, you've likely found a person of peace.

Common Mistakes People Make

But here's where most of us get it wrong. We identify someone as a person of peace and then immediately try to move them into discipleship or invite them to church or start deep spiritual conversations.

We forget there's an arc to relationship.

The biggest mistake: jumping straight into spiritual conversations without building relationship first. We get excited that we've found someone open to faith, and we skip all the crucial relationship-building steps. We invite them to church before we've even had a meaningful conversation. We start talking about Jesus before we've earned the right to be heard.

Another common mistake: not giving interested people enough time. I've taught on people of peace at conferences, and when I ask the room, "Who here already knows someone you believe is a person of peace?" about 40-50% of hands go up. But when I ask, "Keep your hand up if you feel you've given them enough time to develop the relationship," only a few hands remain.

We identify them and then abandon them. We move on to the next thing. We don't stick with them long enough for real trust to develop.

The third mistake: forgetting that people aren't projects. We can treat people of peace like items on a to-do list. Find them, check. Invite them to church, check. Get them to a Bible study, check. But people aren't projects. They're human beings who need time, genuine friendship, and authentic relationship before they're ready to take spiritual steps.

So what’s the next step for you? Have you asked the Lord to direct you to people of peace? And are you giving them the time they need?

Let’s go make disciples!

Simon