Lausanne World Pulse – Why Must Evangelism and Discipleship Go Hand in Hand?
By Jerry Root
May 2007
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God begins the process of building the men |
Asking the question, “Why must evangelism and discipleship go hand in hand?” is like asking, “What came first, the chicken or the egg?” Yet, on closer inspection one observes that Jesus gave the Great Commission to his disciples and told them to evangelize in order to make more disciples. Here the sequence is clear: disciples evangelize in order to produce more disciples. The word “disciple” in the New Testament literally means “learner”; being a disciple is being a perpetual learner when it comes to the character of God and his call on the disciple’s life to do his work in the world.
When Jesus called the twelve to himself, “he appointed twelve; so that they might be with him and that he could send them out to preach” (Mark 3:14). The word translated “appointed” is the Greek word poieo; it is the word from which comes the English word poem, and literally means to do, or to make. The text literally says that Jesus “made twelve that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach.” He made the twelve; he built into their lives and shaped each of them uniquely according to their particular personalities and gifts that each could be effective in ministry. Discipleship preceded the evangelistic mission; God begins the process of building the men and women he uses, then he sends them out.
God Uses Flawed Disciples
The disciples were not perfect men—far from it. Even today, God uses flawed individuals to accomplish his work in the world. Flaws are no excuse for mediocrity or arrested development. God expects his disciples to grow in him, and the process of growth is not completed before service is initiated and rendered to Christ. No one is ever fully ready for any significant endeavor. No one is ready to get married. No one is ready to have children. No one is ever ready to do evangelism and fulfill the evangelistic mission of the Church in the world.
We cannot wait until we are ready. Jesus made twelve to be with him and sent them out. This is still the obligation of all who would serve him. His disciples always learn more and more of his love and forgiveness; they are continually nurtured by his grace. Knowing him in this way lends authority to the message that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.” In Acts 4:13, Peter and John preached boldly to those who needed the message of God’s love and forgiveness and the text says those who heard the disciples and noted their confidence “recognized them as having been with Jesus.” They were called disciples when they were with Christ during the days of his incarnation; they were called apostles after his resurrection and ascension. Apostle means “sent one.” Discipleship comes first, then comes the sending out to evangelize. Then the work of discipling begins all over again. Evangelism begins and ends in discipleship. The disciples were not perfect; however, they stepped faithfully into a process that multiples and has affected generations.
Reproducing Reproducers
While no disciple is perfect, every disciple should be maturing in Christ. Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navigators and the man who developed the follow-up ministry for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, once said, “A person is mature physiologically when he or she can reproduce physically; so too, a person is mature spiritually when he or she can reproduce spiritually.” The growing, maturing Christian is one who is committed to lead another to Christ and nurture that new convert until this person can also lead others to Christ and nurture them to be reproducers of reproducers. This is the way in which all evangelism is couched in discipleship. Disciples evangelize in order to disciple. This is not a self-serving process. The goal of discipleship is to bring people into an ever maturing relationship with Jesus Christ. Those who are with Christ will get to know and love him; they will also come to love what he loves: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). True disciples want others to come to know him and love him as well. True disciples will be evangelistically fruitful.
Paul’s Conversion
If we piece together the accounts of Paul’s conversion (Acts 9:1-9; 22:6-11; 26:1-29), we find that Paul asked two noteworthy questions of Christ: “Who are you, Lord?” and “What would you have me do?” These are the questions every new convert and every disciple must ask continually.
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Dr. Jerry Root is associate director of the Institute for Strategic Evangelism at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, USA. He has taught in the evangelism masters program for the past eleven years. Root has invested nineteen years in student ministry, evangelism, and discipleship. |