The thought of going out and evangelizing people can seem like something scary and uncomfortable. Most folks I know would prefer to avoid it altogether. And none of us love the “bullhorn” guy who stands on the street and hollers at people to repent. Ick.
But how does anyone come to trust and love Jesus if they don’t know him or have not heard and experienced the truth about him? (Romans 10:14)
Yet interestingly, Jesus’ command in Matthew 28 was actually to go and make disciples who make disciples. Nothing mentioned here about evangelism.
So which is it, which is more important: discipleship or evangelism?
Let’s take a look.
For many of us, we see evangelism as what happens–the words, events, activities etc.– that brings us (or others) to the point of belief, or faith.
In contrast, we usually understand discipleship to be the process for growth in our Christian life after we’ve come to faith.
Evangelism “gets us in the door” and then the work of discipleship begins.
But let’s look a little closer.
Are We Doing This Whole Thing Out of Order?
Another word for faith is “belief,” and the Bible clearly teaches us that all sin comes from not believing what is true about God. (Romans 14:23)
Discipleship is the process of moving from unbelief to belief about what is true of God and the gospel, in absolutely every area of life.[clickToTweet tweet=”Discipleship is the process of moving from unbelief to belief in absolutely every area of life.” quote=”Discipleship is the process of moving from unbelief to belief in absolutely every area of life.”]
Jesus described it this way. He said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.”
Okay, pretty clear and simple.
But then he went on to say something really interesting: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).
In Jesus’ view, the whole thing starts with learning to follow him–becoming his disciple. Living in his ways. As we enter that process, and as a result of it, our lives are transformed and we are set free from guilt, shame and the weight of sin.
This is what discipleship is all about! According to Jesus, we are discipled to the truth that sets us free…
But in my experience, we have done this whole process backwards. We expect people to first believe what we tell them is truth, then say a Jesus in their heart prayer to be saved and THEN we start to disciple them. But that is not what Jesus says here or what he modeled in his own life.
This Is Important…
Don’t assume that the first move from unbelief to belief that happens in a person’s life is necessarily around the issue of their ultimate and utter sinfulness and need for a savior. As we engage people and treat them like family, their first shifts in belief may be in the areas of trust and grace and God’s abundant generosity as experienced through us.
I’ll bet if we are honest with ourselves, our own faith journey had many shifts in belief about who God is and what he has done in and through his Son, before we came to believe we needed saving from our own sinful, rebellious choices.
We see that whether we are talking about our own hearts or the hearts and lives of our friends and neighbors, the process of discipleship (evangelism in its truest sense) can begin long before a confession of faith and continues throughout our entire lives.
And On It Goes From There
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught….” (Colossians 2:6,7)
In the same way that we come to put our faith in Jesus by hearing and experiencing the gospel in community, we also continue to grow and mature by the light of that same gospel. This is a lifelong process. We are always in need of evangelism. In fact, discipleship can be simply understood as the ongoing “evangelizing” of our hearts.
So again, which is more important…discipleship or evangelism?
The next best time to see them as much more closely connected, believing that we are discipled to faith and beyond, is now. Would you share this post or video now and leave me your thoughts below?
Which do you tend to focus more on: discipleship or evangelism…why? How does this post help change your thinking?
