Evangelism and Discipleship

 

Al was saved after a friend had shared Jesus with him and told him what Jesus had done in his life. His friend, Harry, had been trying to get Al to come to church with him for over a year. Finally, after repeated refusals by Al to attend church, Harry realized he needed to tell Al about Jesus. Harry told Al about Jesus and the work He did on the cross and why. He told Al how Jesus had saved him from drug addiction and pornography. That seemed to really get Al’s attention and when he allowed Harry to pray with him, he surrendered to Christ. But it didn’t end there. Harry took Al under his wing, as they say, and began to disciple him and help Al with his spiritual growth and sanctification. Al began to mature and grow in his faith in Jesus and began to share that good news with others.

Evangelism and discipleship are slowly fading away in the Church today. Christians in this culture are afraid to tell anyone about Jesus for fear of rejection and possibly being canceled. Most times it is just the fear of rejection or being told no. But after a time of spiritual growth, a Christian should be able to trust in God to give them the boldness to tell others about Jesus. There has to be an understanding that it is the Holy Spirit within us who gives us the boldness and the words to speak when we tell others. The word evangelism comes from the word evangelist which means to tell the good news. In this case, the good news is about Jesus. Evangelist comes from two words in the Greek. The first is eu which means well and the second is, angelos which means messenger and is also where we get the word angel from. So, an evangelist is a person who preaches or tells others about the gospel of Jesus. Evangelism is the practice of doing that. But any Christian can be an evangelist in any case when they tell someone about Jesus and what He has done for us.

I could be wrong but it just seems like it is a lost art in the Church today. Christians sometimes get too caught up in their own lives or in the world around them. They get busy with their jobs or careers, their families and other Christians and lose sight of the fact we were put here by God to tell others about Him. Someone told us, those of us who are Christians, about Jesus so we need to keep that message going. Pass it on don’t hold onto it. Let those who don’t know Him discover what He has done in our lives and how He can do the same in their life. You might know someone who is not a Christian who is miserable in their life. For whatever the reason, this person is just miserable and can’t find the answers they are seeking. Tell him/her about Jesus. Help the person understand how Jesus can change their life and always be there for him/her. That’s evangelism. You don’t have to be Billy Graham or Greg Laurie to share the gospel with an unbeliever. And don’t just invite the unbeliever to church. That is no help to him/her at all. It’s more of a way to avoid telling them about Jesus. Jesus will save them but the idea of a boring (to them) church service just turns them away. Tell them about Jesus and give them a reason to want to come to church.

Some might not be sure how to approach a person who is not saved. The first and best thing to do concerning this is to pray. Maybe it’s a friend who does not believe and you’re not sure how to tell them or how to approach them. Just ask God to create an opening or open a door allowing you to share the gospel.

Attempting to stop a person on the street and trying to tell a complete stranger can be a lot more difficult but if it is what God has put on your heart to do, then do it. I used to be in ministry at a couple of churches where we did public outreach. As my friend, Steve Feaster, always reminds us on our podcast, Discussing Christianity, we live in an entertainment driven society. So, we played off of that and did live concerts in public parks. We had three of four Christian bands come in and play. In between sets, we would give a brief message which was always Biblically based but not in a pushy way but related to issues or problems people might be dealing with in general and the answer was always found in Jesus. We were giving the public what they wanted, entertainment. There are a number of ways to reach the unsaved of this world but it starts with asking the Lord how He would have you go about it.

So, the person gets saved. Then what? Do you just leave them hanging without any help? New Christians need to be discipled. They need to be helped along as they grow in their faith. A good example for this has always been the need of a newborn baby. A baby needs to be fed, changed and loved. As the baby grows, he/she needs to be taught many things about life. They need to be disciplined. And that is where we get the word disciple from. And it simply means someone who is a learner or a follower of a teacher. But, again, it is almost like a lost art in the Church today. Allow me to explain why. Statistics show that Christians don’t read their Bible. So how can one person who doesn’t read the Bible help another person understand what the Bible says? If there is no spiritual growth in the first person, how can that person help another with their spiritual growth? So the root cause can be traced back to the fact that people who have been Christians for a length of time, should be able to help newer Christians. But they can’t because they haven’t read and studied the Bible and have had no spiritual growth and lack spiritual maturity.

The Apostle Paul had this same issue with the church in Corinth and he told them so.

Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready,  for you are still controlled by your sinful nature.   1 Cor 3:1-3

The writer of Hebrews told those he was writing to they had a similar issue.

There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen.  You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.   Heb 5:11-12

Those who should be helping new Christians grow need help themselves with their spiritual growth. So, there are none who grow spiritually or matures in their faith because there is no one to mentor them. Christianity is more than just fire insurance against a trip to hell. It’s doing the Lord’s work for Him while we are here on this earth. Does He need us to do that work because He can’t? No. But it’s what He wants us to do.

Telling someone about Jesus and seeing the person get saved and then helping him/her grow in their Christian maturity is a true blessing. We cheat ourselves by not taking part in this work which God has assigned us to.

After the Apostle Paul was saved, he made it his life’s work to tell others about Jesus. (Acts 20:24) I would encourage you to read the book of Acts and discover the work that Paul and the others did for Jesus. Paul traveled many, many miles to tell people who Jesus was and share the gospel with them. He suffered greatly for doing it but it never slowed him down. But down through the history of the Church there were many others who also considered nothing to be above the work of telling others about Jesus. The latter part of Hebrews 11 tells of some who were killed for doing this and Foxx’s Book of Martyrs also tells of the many who sacrificed their well being and even their lives for telling others the gospel. I know some will say that was then but this is now and things are different now. When it comes to the gospel and telling others, nothing changes. There are numerous people around the world who are dying every day for spreading the gospel message.

We live in a country where it is still relatively safe to share the gospel and help others grow spiritually. So why isn’t it happening? Don’t be afraid of being told no. And step up and help a newer Christian in their spiritual growth and maturity. Tell someone who doesn’t know and when they are saved, help them in their growth. Be a mentor and disciple a new Christian.

-Bill Petite