Do you get a tight knot in your stomach whenever you hear the word, “evangelism”? Maybe you get the picture of standing on a street corner hollering scripture at strangers or going door-to-door trying to get a word in edgewise with anyone who will listen.
What if I told you that’s not what Jesus had in mind when he said to “go and make disciples”?
What if I told you the biggest secret to make disciples was to not preach at them at all?
For clarity’s sake, I’m not going to argue that one should never preach on street corners or share the Gospel with their neighbors. Instead, I’m going to suggest that our perspective of evangelism doesn’t line up well with how the New Testament teaches us to make disciples. We’ll end the article by looking at different ways we can incorporate disciple-making into our everyday lives—no matter what vocation we have.
Getting Evangelism Right
To evangelize is to preach. Specifically, this word points to preaching the “Good News” or “Gospel” (evangelion in Greek).
When you and I think of evangelism, we’re probably thinking of preaching the Gospel to complete strangers. Most of us shrink at the idea. Few people are extraverted enough to walk up to total strangers and start talking with them about anything. As a result, the work of evangelism appears to us to be limited to those uniquely extraverted individuals.
Meanwhile, the rest of us wrestle with insecurity and identity, wondering if we truly love Jesus if we get so nervous when attempting to “evangelize.”
But Jesus did not tell us to go and preach to total strangers; he said, “go and make disciples.” Within the context of making disciples, we are to (1) baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and (2) teach them to observe all that he has commanded us (Mt. 28:19-20).
Notice within this passage we are never told to preach. We are told to make disciples.
This isn’t to say we never preach. Jesus preached repentance (Mt. 4:17). He tells his disciples to preach the kingdom of God is at hand (Mt. 10:7, 27). They are supposed to preach in towns and cities (Mk. 1:38). Even the apostle Mark records Jesus as saying to “preach the Gospel to all creatures” (Mk. 16:15). Paul describes himself as being called to preach the Gospel where it has never been heard before (Ro. 15:20).
But this preaching is not the aim, neither is it without a larger context.
Most of the times Jesus preached, he was speaking to his disciples (Mt. 5:1, 8:18-22, 9:37, 13:10-19, 14:16, 15:12). And it seems as though anytime Paul or Peter preached, it was either to Christians, to people they had previously known, or to people they stayed with longer than just the sermon to help them better understand the Gospel message (Acts 2:14, 13:13, 17:18-34).
My point?
Instead of thinking of “making disciples” as an extension to evangelism, we need to understand we called to make disciples and preaching is a small part of that process.
So, What Is Discipleship?
Jesus didn’t just tell us to make disciples; he modelled for us what it looks like to make disciples.
Choosing Those Younger
Jesus intentionally selected twelve young men to “apprentice” with him, to come and learn how to follow Yahweh.
If you remember, Jesus was roughly thirty years old. When asked about paying temple tax, Jesus and his disciples only paid for two people (Mt. 17:24-27). Temple tax was required of all those twenty years and older. It’s commonly assumed that Peter was only of Jesus’ disciples in that age range.
In other words, the men Jesus called to be his apprentices were roughly ten to fifteen years younger than he was.
Choosing Outcasts
Not only that, but eleven of the twelve were from northern Israel, most of them Galilean. Those who lived in the north were not seen as legitimately “Jew.” Foreigners had moved into the land while they were in exile. When they returned from exile, many of them intermarried with non-Jews. As a result, Galileans became despised by Judeans (from the south). Being from Galilee was considered a slam, not a praise.
Galileans were the outcasts of society, yet Jesus chose twelve of them to be his disciples.
And guess who the lone Judean was?
Judas.
Discipleship doesn’t only look for the upper class and proper people of society. In fact, discipleship as Jesus modeled primarily focuses on those least likely to be thought of and taken seriously by the rest of culture.
Using Every Moment to Teach
Jesus also showed us that making disciples is not just something we do on Thursday nights and Saturday afternoons. He spent every single day with his disciples. If he wanted to rest, he got up early and went into the wilderness.
Every moment, from fishing to eating to hanging on a cross, provided an opportunity for Jesus to teach his disciples was it means and looks like to live according to Yahweh’s design.
3 Ways Anyone Can Begin Making Disciples Today
The invitation to join Jesus in reconciling the broken world to Yahweh reaches to every person who hears the word of the Gospel and believes (Eph. 1:13). Even more, Jesus gives those who are being reconciled (the church) the commission to go and reconcile others (make disciples).
Certainly pastors, missionaries, and ministry leaders play an active role in making disciples. But one doesn’t have to become a pastor, missionary, or ministry leader to make disciples. This work is for parents, teachers, doctors, business leaders, lay-workers, plumbers, truck drivers, artists, musicians, authors, scientists, construction workers, and anyone who hears the Gospel and believes.
Let me share with you three potential scenarios in which you could begin making disciples today.
Handyman Evangelism
For the past two and a half years, I’ve been doing handyman work to help cover bills as I write and attend college here in Southern California. I do anything from hang towel rods in Hollywood to redoing fences in East LA. I’m always a bit uncertain how to talk about my faith. Sometimes, I am able to get to know my customer at a deeper level and such a context provides several opportunities to talk with them about Jesus.
But what about the lady that just needs a dining room mirror hung? Or the elderly man who has a door that’s sticking?
The work of discipleship is first and foremost the work of the Spirit. So whether I’m at a customer’s place for a couple of days or just a half-hour, I always seek to listen to God’s Spirit about whether I should take the conversation deeper.
However, beyond that guiding principle, it is important to me to (1) have good communication with my customers, (2) show up on time, and (3) do quality work. Those are three practical, yet desperate needs here in LA. When a business does well at those three, they will most likely be able to keep customers for a long time. I have found that over time, with repeat customers, I am given opportunities to share.
Tony, was a customer of mine who recently moved. He has been in a couple of different gay relationships and has two sons in their teens. One of them has gotten into drugs.
I’ve had the privilege of getting to know Tony and his partner over the last couple of years. We’ve talked about the challenge of raising kids, and how each of us has a propensity inside of us to go our own way and do foolish things—we each have a propensity to sin. I’ve had the honor of sharing with them that Jesus is the only one who can empower us with a greater propensity—a desire for what is right and honorable.
When Tony found out I had written a book on male sexuality, he expressed keen interest, so I gave him one. Last I heard, he had read the first several chapters and was really enjoying it. But then he moved a couple of months ago and I am not sure how all it impacted him.
Pray that God’s Spirit might continue turning Tony’s awareness to his presence and his desire to make Tony whole.
Skateboarding Buddies
I have a friend who is really good at skateboarding. He goes to Venice Beach and skates with the best of them. He also loves people and has an incredible desire to know truth.
On multiple occasions, he has told me about how he was talking with one of the other skaters about what truth is and how you can know God exists.
My friend is in his early twenties, and he’s not necessarily formally educated. But he continues to learn and he continues sharing what he learns with those he interacts with. For him, it’s often been at the skate park.
A Mother’s Caring Heart
When the weather suits, we have church in a local park. Last summer, after church one afternoon, a young girl came up to my wife and began telling a horrific story about how her mom’s boyfriend had sexually molested her.
When she told her mom about it, her mom didn’t believe her and kicked her out of the house. She was now “living” in the park.
Teresa couldn’t just let that story sit. She spent the next week trying to connect the girl with any shelter or young lady’s program she could. We fed our new friend and made sure she had things she needed. But after it became apparent did not want to go anywhere other than the park, and after we discovered she was eighteen years old and couldn’t technically force her anywhere, we let it rest.
The girl still primarily hangs out at the park, although she spend her nights with her grandma.
We still have church at the park, and get to interact with her whenever she’s around. It has really tugged at my wife’s heart, because the girl is in desperate need. Yet, she’s very stubborn. She seems to have some slight mental injuries, but we’re not entirely sure if it’s from chemicals or simply all the trauma she has received.
Even so, my wife does what she can when she can to help this girl out. Our church as a whole has gotten to know the girl and we all do our best to take time and help out if ever we can.
Two Closing Questions
The purpose of the church is to help restore creation to God’s original design for it. God uses those who believe Jesus and trust his way for life to accomplish this work of reconciliation. But he hasn’t given us a responsibility with no model to follow.
Jesus shows us how to make disciples. And it’s not just standing on street corners preaching about the ten commandments.
Making disciples is a very dirty work. And most of the work goes unnoticed.
The question for you and I is not whether or not we have the gifting. The question is whether we truly believe God’s way is best?
And if it is, do we care enough to intentionally disrupt our weekly schedules to incorporate into our lives others who have nothing to offer us in return so they can hear, see, and get to know God’s good and perfect way?
That’s discipleship. That’s evangelism.
Question: Does the thought of evangelism make you feel overwhelmed? Does thinking of evangelism as something that happens in the everyday process of discipleship make it feel easier or more difficult? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
