I’ve often been asked about my ministry career: Are we called to evangelism or discipleship? My somewhat glib answer is usually, “Yes.”
I understand the difference between evangelism and discipleship. Evangelism is the proclamation of the good news to those who have never heard. Discipleship is taking believers to a higher level of instruction and growth under the lordship of Jesus Christ.
But back to my “yes” answer. I’m not trying to be a wise guy. How can you really separate evangelism and discipleship?
Jesus’ most frequent call was, “Follow me.” To me that involves the conscious decision to follow Jesus in all respects, including repenting of sin, receiving God’s forgiveness through Christ Jesus, forsaking sin and pursuing righteousness, and coming under the total management of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Someone said to me recently, “Before you came to HCJB Global, we kept hearing about discipleship. When you came, we keep hearing about evangelism.”
My personal passion is for evangelism. Nothing could be more important than introducing people to the Son of God and Savior of the world. Nothing is more critical than changing people’s eternal destiny from hell to heaven. If we properly introduce people to Jesus, they will love Him with all their heart, mind, soul and strength. And subsequently they will begin to follow Him as disciples (literally “learners”).
I applaud the focus on discipleship that former HCJB Global President David Johnson brought to our mission. We needed that vision cast, and our various ministries have responded by making the “passionate discipleship” core value a strategic part of what we do.
As I pray and plan, my heart is to take the legacy of evangelism and discipleship that has been given to us and look at them together—as part of a larger process.
Evangelism isn’t just about getting converts. It’s announcing God’s wonderful good news of salvation by grace through faith. And it’s winsomely appealing to our friends to begin a personal journey following Jesus as Savior and Lord. I believe that this broader picture must be our priority.
Jesus commanded us to “make disciples of all ethnic groups.” That means bringing people to Jesus to become His followers and “students.” After the life-and-death importance of conversion, the intentional decision to follow Jesus in full surrender is life-changing. The learning and growth process is vital to spiritual health and productivity.
As I reach out to those around me, I try not to refer to myself as a Christian. That word is so marginalized in many of our cultures. It’s lost meaning in our “Christian” culture and is an offense in many cultures. I also avoid labels like “evangelical” or “born again.” They’re good words, but they typecast us to the world.
I refer to myself as a “follower of Jesus.” Jesus’ command is to follow Him. That means a humble confession of sin and trust in His atonement. That means loving God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. That includes loving my neighbor as myself. It means loving the poor, children, the widow—even enemies. It means denying myself and following Him. It means persecution, submission, humility, disgrace—even martyrdom!
So in its most simple … and most extraordinary form, I’m a follower of Jesus … wherever. By introducing people to Jesus and inviting them to follow Him, we evangelize and disciple a growing number of Christ-followers.
As part of that, I proclaim the good news whenever possible, however possible. Nothing is more important than introducing people to Jesus. We are compelled to this effort because of our legacy in the past and our “global ends” that help define our future:
· To reach those people groups who have never heard.
· To reach people groups with restricted access to the gospel.
· Then, to mobilize believers to demonstrate and proclaim Christ.
Yes, that’s evangelism. That’s discipleship. That’s our calling.
