A Different View of Christian Evangelism, Part 2

What the bible says (and doesn't say) about witnessing, discipling, and evangelism.

discipling

‘Discipling’ is a term that needs to be defined. It’s a new word being used by many churches, and they seem to be using it to mean ‘making disciples’. Like witnessing, that should be a natural outgrowth of the Christian’s everyday life.

The modern evangelical Christian churches’ emphasis on ‘discipling’ I suppose comes from the command Jesus gave to his 11 apostles in Matthew 28:19 to “Go and make disciples…” in the ‘Great Commission’, as it’s called. We’ll examine that passage in more detail next week.

I couldn’t actually find the word “discipling” in the dictionary, or in the bible, but since it’s a verb, it presumably means “to make disciples”. Those two words, “make disciples”, do not appear anywhere else in the New Testament except Matthew 28:19. Mark 16:15, the other version of the Great Commission, uses different words: “…preach the gospel…”.

A ‘disciple’ is a follower, a disciplined learner. After Jesus rose into heaven and the church began, a Christian disciple would be a baptized, born-again believer, a “new creation”. We often call the birth of a new-born baby a miracle, and there is a similarity with the birth of a new Christian.

God created everything miraculously. The creation of Adam and Eve was miraculous. After that, the built-in capacity to reproduce is usually considered natural, even though the more we learn about the amazing details of every step in the reproduction process, the more it seems like a miracle too. But it happens without what we would call miraculous intervention.

Bev and I have been blessed with the birth of 3 great grandchildren in about 3 months this year, so we’re especially aware of how close to a miracle a new birth is.

Just as life itself was created miraculously and then propagation was in a sense natural, so it is with the church. The church was started miraculously, beginning with the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the apostles and they spoke in languages that they had not known, so that all the nationalities that had gathered for the annual feast in Jerusalem could understand them in their own language.

The miracles continued in the early church, with many signs and wonders performed by the apostles, and even some of the newly formed ‘disciples’ were given miraculous gifts and powers as passed on to them by the ‘laying on of hands’ by the apostles’. As the gospel was carried to foreign lands, the miracles were needed to authenticate the very unusual message of the greatest story ever told – a miraculously risen Savior sent from God with love.

Eventually, as the apostles and those they had laid hands on died off, the church continued to reproduce itself, but in a natural way, without the need for miracles.

Just as life was created miraculously and now reproduces naturally, so the church was created miraculously and now reproduces naturally as Christians are living examples of Jesus’ love and how He can change us. “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35

I’ve often been amazed to witness the complete change in a person after they genuinely commit their life to Christ. It seems like a miracle, just like the birth of a new baby. In some cases, the change is much more noticeable because of their previous life of very obvious and glaring sinfulness. In other cases, the change brought by Christ is quieter and gradual and more of an inner transformation, but if there is no change, I dare say there was no conversion. In either case, God is involved: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” John 6:44

Both John the Baptist and Jesus preached “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Repentance means to turn around, which involves a complete change.

So the apostles were given all the miraculous gifts – they could heal the sick and even raise the dead – and they started the church miraculously. They could use those gifts to go out and “make disciples”. But the miraculous gifts aren’t necessary today for the church to reproduce itself naturally.

So how are disciples made today? They are produced as a natural outcome of seeing the good fruits of the church and the Christian life and hearing all about Jesus. The church is a community that is open to everybody and anybody. The term Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, (DEI) that is so popular with liberal politicians today ironically is actually found in Christian fellowship. Jesus is calling all people, everywhere, to repent and follow Him. No one is excluded. Murderers on death row have been converted to Christ. There is no sin that can’t be forgiven if we repent and take up our cross and become a disciple of Jesus. The church is open to all nationalities, all ethnic groups, rich or poor.

The love that Christians have for one another, and even for their enemies, is what attracts outsiders to the church and to Christ.

That’s the ideal. Unfortunately, not all who claim to be Christians are living the way Jesus taught. There are many polls today that show the churches are declining. Recently, a poll found 40% identified with no religion at all.

Perhaps the decline is why we see such a church emphasis on ‘discipling’ today. It’s an attempt to turn the trend around – to go out and bring more converts into the church, the Family of God.

When I was younger, the churches used to get together and have big rallies, and church ‘growth clinics’. Various methods of attempting to increase church growth were promoted over the years. This usually involved leadership urging the rest of the congregation to get with the program and get out there and lead others to Christ.

It was good to get together and share ideas on how to be more effective in sharing our faith. But in every case that I can think of, the programs eventually fizzled out and sooner or later were replaced with some new method.

To a certain extent, there is a logic to changing methods of outreach, because the culture is always changing. But generally, if you push people too hard to do something that might not come naturally to them, they either resist it or get burnt out doing it.

ambassadors for Christ?

Last week I had a discussion with a local preacher about 2 Corinthians 5:18-20. He was connecting ‘discipling’ with the idea that he derived from the phrase “we are ambassadors for Christ” in this passage. An ambassador, like an apostle, is someone sent out as a representative. I mentioned that the actual context is talking about Paul and Timothy, the authors of the letter, being ambassadors for Christ – not us. He agreed that I was correct but he thought that in the earlier part, where it says that Christ gave us the ministry of reconciliation, the “us” is us – not Paul and Timothy. So I figured I’d better study the passage again.

I’ve decided that he was wrong. The clincher for me, besides the context, is in verse 20 – “…we (Paul and Timothy) beg you (the Corinthians) on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God.” So again, the “us” that has been given the ministry of reconciliation is Paul and Timothy, not us everyday Christians.

Here's the actual passage, from the New International Version:

 ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” 

Understanding that it was Paul and Timothy who were given the ministry of reconciliation and were the ambassadors for Christ, and not the Corinthians, makes sense in the overall context of the letter. The letters to the church in Corinth were written to a church that had serious problems, like idol worship, sexual sins, and so on. The members that were involved in those type things would make terrible representatives of the Church of Christ as ambassadors. They were the ones who needed to be reconciled to God.

So if ‘discipling’ is based on this passage in 2 Corinthians, it is based on a misunderstanding of scripture. As disciples, or followers of Christ, we are not all sent out as ministers or ambassadors, although some may be called and ordained to do that.

On the other hand, ‘discipling’ could be taken to mean ‘mentoring’ - a continuation of teaching and training and setting an example for disciples to follow. You don’t abandon a new born baby, whether a physical baby or a spiritual baby. You nurture them. That idea, too, might come from the last part of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:20 – “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you…” – so be sure to tune in next week.

Next week in Part 3 we’ll closely examine the Great Commission and see if it is a command given to each member of the church, or to the body of Christ collectively, as a whole, and how it should be applied today.