The Big Evangelism Mistake
(Yet) another book on evangelism
My inbox tells me that yet another "must-buy" book on evangelism has come out.
I yawn.
Why?
Because I've probably heard (and read) it all before?
Not really, we are all learners.
No...
Because a couple of times every year a new book comes out attempting to stir the pew to evangelism.
But evangelism is the gifting of a few unique and special people who are called to that role.
So the danger is that books like these only create a wave of evangelical guilt-trips rather than a flood of true believers.
I yawn most of all because the calling of every believer - to make disciples - is largely ignored by evangelicalism.
Some of God's people will be called to be evangelists - people who can go from zero to Gospel in a bus journey, or spend time explaining the Good News like Philip to complete strangers.
All of us, on the other hand, are called to be disciple-makers.
What we need are books with titles like:
"You can be a disciple-maker"
"Everyday Discipleship"
"Discipleship made easy"
"Discipleship 101"
"Discipleship for Dummies"
Let me explain...
Discipleship for All (not Evangelism for All)
Every believer is called to be a disciple-maker. How come? The command of Jesus in Matthew 28 falls on the whole church not just on the Eleven.
How do we know?
Look at the Great Commission:
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:16-20)
Jesus cannot be speaking only to the Eleven because:
there was no way that 11 men could take the Gospel to the world
the promise Jesus makes - to be present to the end of the age - only applies to people who would live beyond the age of the disciples
The Great Commission applies to every believer.
What is Discipleship?
Discipleship is far easier, and infinitely more difficult than evangelism. The former fact will encourage us to start, the latter challenge explains in part why it is not in vogue.
If we had asked the 11 what Jesus meant by "make disciples" there is no question as to how they would have responded. "Go and do for the world what Jesus has just done for us in the last 3 years."
And what was that? Invite a few friends on a spend-a-lot-of-time-with-journey with you.
Not hit them with the Gospel and run.
Not invite them to some religious meeting.
No, befriend them, do life with them, eat with them, talk to them, help them, teach them by life as well as lip. As you go along, month by month, year by year, opportunities will come up to talk in the most natural way about things eternal.
On the one hand, discipleship is so much easier than evangelism. Be yourself. Prepare a meal, befriend them, take them for coffee. On the other hand, it is far more costly because of the time and energy commitment required.
Jesus basically poured 3 years of his life into...
...twelve men!
Why do we hear virtually nothing about discipleship today?
There are at least four reasons the practice of discipleship is all but unknown today.
First, the Western church in many respects looks more like an academy than the band of Twelve who followed Jesus around, or the New Testament church. The academy is all about teaching sessions rather than "doing life" with. Teachers don't really want to hang out with their pupils do they? The university model discourages discipleship.
Second, because of the cerebral nature of Western evangelicalism, the heart aspects of the Christian faith - such as loving people and spending time with them - are naturally disregarded. You will find that mainly-mind-people are rarely heart-people.
Third, spending lots of time with people - is this too costly for Western Christians?
Fourth, discipleship will mean we must burn the idol of numbers. Because if Jesus only managed to disciple 12 men in 3 years, we're likely to be able to disciple only a handful of people over the span of our whole lives.
The tragedy - and irony - is that by focusing on evangelism and overlooking discipleship we neglect the single greatest means of church growth. If every Christian prayerfully committed to discipling just - say - 5 - people their whole lives, the church would grow exponentially and Jesus would return, very soon.
So I shan't be buying the latest book on evangelism but end with a challenge to my readers: Who in your world could you begin a prayerful journey of discipleship with?
AI Art "Draw one person following another"
(As you can see, AI is no good at discipleship either: From the image above, AI must think I am talking about stalking, which of course I am not.)