ReThink Week 8: ReThinking Discipleship and Evangelism

The audio didn’t record on Sunday but we have the written notes from Kim Braught as she taught on ReThinking Discipleship and Evangelism: From Evangelism to Discipleship to Discipleship then Evangelism.

Let’s start this morning with a word association activity. When I say “evangelism” what words, thoughts, or mental pictures pop into your heads? (Call them out.) 

What do you think of when I say discipleship?

Who is usually evangelized? Who is usually discipled?

This morning, I want us to rethink some of these ideas about discipleship and evangelism. Many of the thoughts I will share this morning come from Chapter 9 of the book Rethink by Brad Brisco.

Missional church leader, Alan Hirsch said, “I believe that the key to the health, the maintenance, the extension, and the renewal of the church is not more evangelism, but more discipleship.”

This is because many churches have reduced the concept of discipleship to being an activity we do for people who are already believers, while evangelism is something we do for people who are not yet believers. As a result, discipleship has often been limited to our personal morality, and it often happens within the confines of the church.

The problem is that when we reduce discipleship to something that is just for believers, we neglect the biblical mandate to “go and make disciples.”

The solution to this problem is to rethink our understanding of what it means to make disciples. So, let’s shift our paradigm about discipleship, using the Great Commission as our guide.

Matt. 28:19-20 says, “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.”

This means that if you are a disciple, Jesus has called you to make disciples everywhere you go. So that logically means that discipleship is not just something we do at church with people who are already believers. It’s something we are instructed to do everywhere we go. We are called to disciple people both before and after conversion.

Conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit. Our role is to apprentice others in the ways of Jesus. Anytime we point people to the person, work, and ways of Jesus, we are discipling them, even if they are not aware that is happening. 

So, you may be thinking, “Ok. This makes sense. Discipleship begins before conversion, but what about evangelism? Where does it fit in?”

Well, evangelism still happens, but it happens within the context of discipleship. When I taught Kindergarten students to read, I didn’t just  teach them phonics rules or give them lists of words to memorize. Instead, I taught them to read using the context of books. Evangelism and discipleship are a lot like that. Evangelism is the good news about Jesus, while discipleship includes the process, context, and relationships through which the good news is shared. Also, discipleship is a lifelong, ongoing process of learning about Jesus and of becoming more and more like him. 

When I think about my discipling relationship with my children, Kaiden and Trinity, I can see the long-term nature of discipleship. They were both taken to church a few weeks after birth. They were dedicated as infants. We began reading Bible stories to them around the age of 1. They have been surrounded their whole lives by loving church families and extended family members who have helped with the discipleship process. In their own time, the Holy Spirit prompted them each to ask Jesus to forgive their sins and be the Lord of their lives. Everything that happened before, leading up to the point of conversion, was evangelism occurring in the context of discipleship. When we prayed with them, read the Bible with them, took them to church, or talked about Jesus with them, they were being discipled. Most importantly, their discipleship didn’t end at their conversions. The process is still continuing, and will continue for the rest of their lives. Discipleship is long-term.

Another example of discipleship before believing or before conversion is Jesus and his disciples. Jesus called them, taught them, and apprenticed them long before they truly understood who He was or fully put their faith in Him. So for much of the gospels, the 12 were “pre-conversion disciples.” 

As we can see from these examples, discipleship requires authentic, long-term relationships. We should seek to have both pre-conversion and post-conversion discipling relationships. We should be careful to never make people into projects, but to be committed to investing in long term relationships with them whether they ever come to the point of conversion or not.

So far, we have focused mainly on discipleship through one on one relationships. That is important, and certainly part of the process, but we must also consider the powerful role that the church plays in discipleship. Let’s return for a moment to my example of Kaiden and Trinity’s discipleship process. In addition to Ryan and I discipling them at home, both Veritas and Hempfield Church of the Brethren have had, and continue to have, an important role in their discipleship.

Some churches are better at discipling pre-believers than others. It has a lot to do with their mindset toward who is “in” and who is “out.” Social set theory is a model for how and why people get together. In it, there are two types of social sets: bounded and centered. 

A bounded set is a relational system with clear boundaries around it, but without a strong agreement on a set of ideas in the center. Think of this as an American ranch with fences keeping the cattle in and the wild animals out. 

A centered set is a relational system with a clear vision at the center, but with no boundaries that people have to cross to join. Think of a ranch in the Australian Outback with no fences, but with a well in the center so that the animals can’t stray too far from if they want to survive. The animals are drawn to the center by their need for water.

What are some ways churches can become bounded sets?

(Belief in a specific doctrinal statement is required, moral requirements or expectations must be met before attending or becoming a member, there is a dress code, etc.)

What would a centered set church look like?

(Christ is in the center. There is a distinction between Christians and not yet Christians, but the emphasis is on helping everyone follow Jesus. There are no requirements to attend or be welcomed.)

Centered set churches need to have a very clear set of beliefs that are rooted in Christ and His teachings. The role of believers is to be moving toward the center (Christ) and to point other people (both believers and not yet believers) toward the center. The closer we move toward the center, the more Christlike we should become. However, those who are far from the center are still seen as belonging. Growth toward the center is the result of discipleship. 

In his book, The Road to Missional, Michael Frost says this, “When we understand what it is to be truly missional - incarnated deeply within a local host community - we will find that evangelism is best done slowly, deliberately, in the context of a loving community. It takes time and multiple engagements. It requires the unbeliever to observe our lifestyle, see our demonstrations of the reign of God, test our values, enjoy our hospitality. And it must occur as a communal activity, not as a solo venture. Unbelievers must see the nature and quality of the embodied gospel in community. 

As we seek to live out the great commission, it’s important to remember that conversion isn’t the result of knowing certain truths about Jesus. Instead, it’s the result of having an encounter with Jesus.

So how can we make disciples of the people we encounter as we go about our lives? We begin by praying for opportunities to share and for the not yet believers in our lives to be open to the gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Colossians 4:2-6 says, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message so that we may proclaim it clearly, as we should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

In other words, Paul is saying that believers should live in such a way that unbelievers will ask questions. This will open opportunities for evangelistic conversations.

I Peter 3:15 - 16 says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have. But do this with a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”

The small group that meets at our house on Monday evenings recently talked about the importance of our posture as believers. No, I don’t mean how straight we stand, but about our attitude toward unbelievers. Do we see them as inferior to us? Do we have a judgmental or condemning attitude toward them? Can we admit that we have many of the same struggles with sin, and that we need Jesus as much as they do? 

I believe it is impossible to live a “questionable” life (one that invites unbelievers to ask questions) if they sense a spirit of superiority or hypocrisy in us.

So how do we live questionable lives? We need to be in close proximity with people, intentionally blessing them, and intentionally building relationships. 

Let’s think of ourselves as missionaries in our neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces. Let’s build good reputations by living Christlike, generous, hospitable lives. In our society Christians don’t always have the best reputations, but we can do our part to change that. Building trusting relationships with unbelievers will lead to opportunities to talk about Jesus and His kingdom. Let’s go and make disciples.

The Church of us vs. them: A review

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David Fitch recently released the book The Church of us vs them: Freedom from a faith that feeds on making enemies. I can’t imagine a book that is more timely, more spot on, and more in need of being read by all followers of Jesus. Progressive Followers of Jesus need to read this. Conservative followers of Jesus need to read this. And those who don’t identify as either progressive or conservative need to read this.

All one has to do is go on social media (Facebook or Twitter) and see the vitriol between people about almost anything (be in social issues, theological issues or political issues). All one has to do is get into face to face conversations with people to see the antagonism that can exist when people disagree about various things. Many people (both followers of Jesus and those who aren’t) in the midst of these issues fall into one of two responses to differences…they either want to fight or they want to flee. But beneath both responses we see people taking sides, making the person on the other side- the other, and forgetting the call of Jesus to love- those you agree with and even more so, those you disagree with.

So what is the alternative to fighting or fleeing, and making the other person (or people, or type of person- i.e. conservatives, progressives, etc..) the enemy? Making that group “them” and opposition to “us” They are wrong, we are right. How do we move beyond this bifurcation of our world? God calls us out of this enemy making space and into a space beyond enemies. Fitch puts it this way, “Beyond speaks to the way this place is not a middle space or a place of compromise between two positions. Rather, this space is from God, opened by the presence of Christ and always working for something new that could not have been anticipated. If the world is ideological in the sense described above, we must get beyond the ideological. So beyond is not a third way that mediates between the two previous ways in conflict. It is a space where we are still able to be who we are. Indeed, we come more of who we are because, in this space, we can extend further into being faithful to Christ and his Kingdom.”

So it isn’t fight or flight. It is open up space for Christ to work. Dan White Jr. in his book Love over fear would calls this affection. To pull up a chair, invite people over for a meal, sit with them, listen to their story, ask questions, and pray for God to open up the space for healing to happen.

This is the space beyond enemies. And the table is a crucial part of opening up the space. My prayer is that this book will help all of us (because we are really in this together as followers of Jesus) make space for Christ and His Spirit to work and move us beyond an us vs. them church.

Do yourself a favor. Pick up this book. And may it help us to regain the call of Jesus to love. And instead of seeing us vs them, to just see us.