Discipleship Without Evangelism

There is a lot of discussion these days about recovering “discipleship” in our churches.

Discipleship Definitions

It can be confusing listening and reading about the call to return to discipleship.  It seems there are almost as many definitions as there are leaders and authors.

Some advocate the practice of one-to-one mentoring, small groups or meeting in triads.  Some promote educational programs to teach the basics of the faith.  Some crusade for intentionality by living missional lives in a missional community.  Some use the term to refer to holy living, calling for radical obedience and accountability.  Some encourage greater involvement in serving the church, community and world.

Whichever approach to discipleship is preferred, everyone is pursuing the same goal of making us all better Christ-followers.  However, one thing is often missing.

One Thing Missing

That one thing is evangelism.  Without actually doing evangelism, discipleship is not really discipleship.  And the hoped for results from whatever discipleship approach is taken will not be realized.

We should examine how Jesus discipled His chosen twelve disciples.  He had them minister alongside Him, and eventually He sent them out on evangelistic missions and expected reproduction (e.g., Luke 9:1-6; 10:1-24).

Evangelism is not hinting to people about Christ, nor is it living out a better morality, nor is it inviting them to a church program.  Talking a lot about evangelism and offering many seminars isn’t going to lead to actual evangelism either.  We have to actually evangelize, that is tell people the Gospel message.  And we disciple others by having them learn this by doing it. 

It Is Necessary

The truth is we rarely do it because we are afraid.  And this is one reason why some make doing evangelism unnecessary for a disciple.  After all it is not a significant part of many churches’ discipleship emphases or programs.  More people will sign up this way.

Discipleship approaches without evangelism will eventually frustrate both the leaders and the participants with limited results.  Discipleship approaches that include evangelism will lead to much more visible and lasting success.

Let’s be clear when we talk about discipleship what it is we actually mean by the term.  And even more importantly, let’s not forget to include practical evangelism as part of the method of making disciples of Jesus Christ.