Discipleship vs. Evangelism--Why not both

It seems that in the mainstream Christian way of thinking, you are either called to evangelize or you‘re not. If you aren't, then the thinking is you should either be discipling or being discipled. The problem with the last statement is most Christians want to be discipled for 20-30 years. The church* today is encouraging this in several ways. First, and I feel foremost, is the belief that the way to get people saved is to make your church* as welcoming (seeker friendly) to the unsaved as possible and offer programs that will attract them, in the hopes that somewhere along the way they might think about spiritual things. This has resulted in a church* full of unsaved people with an extremely watered down doctrine. The second way is with the implied teaching that pastors/teachers are more anointed than other believers and that you have to be in this special class to be doing God's "real work".

In the last three and a half years, since we began using Way of the Master methods and really began to see that every believer is called to evangelize, we have had many discussions on this matter with many different people. If you aren't aware, we have an evangelism ministry and work with a team from all over Houston going out witnessing and street preaching. One day I was asked by a man I know who isn’t involved in our evangelism work, "Do you think all men should be doing what Gene is doing?" Let me give you a better picture of what Gene does so that you will understand my answer completely. Gene has a full-time job working 40-45hrs a week. In the evenings he has been writing a novel, and he spends a great deal of time with me and our 5 daughters. We have set aside Friday nights as our evangelism night. Every Friday night, Gene & Lindsay go into Downtown Houston and witness and open air preach from 9pm until 12am. Sometimes things run late, and after the 45 min drive home, they arrive home between 1:30am and 2am. This causes our Sat. mornings to be late mornings, but that is part of what we do. During the week, as we come across people, we will give out tracts or witness to them depending on the situation. To us, giving up a few hours a week for evangelism is a very small thing to do, considering what was done for us two thousand years ago and considering the destiny of those who aren’t saved. So when I was asked this question, my answer was yes, I do. Now, I wouldn't have gone up to him or anyone else and said, "Hey you, why aren't you out witnessing?" But he asked my opinion on the matter, and my true feeling is that we are all called to evangelize. I don’t often go out with Gene on Friday nights because as a mother, I have responsibilities here at home, but I do evangelize as I go through my day. For clarification, by evangelizing I don't mean lifestyle evangelism. I don't believe that is what we are called to do. You didn't see Paul walking through a city just hoping someone would come up to him and say, "Hey, it's really cool the way you were thrown in jail. What can I do to get thrown in jail, too?" He didn’t try to impress anyone with his lifestyle. He opened his mouth and shared the gospel. I tend to give out lots of tracts just because the people I come into contact with are generally working and can't have a conversation. But a good tract is a great tool to use in a situation where you don't have time to strike up a conversation.

My conversation with this friend was very long and drawn out and he was really battling a lot of things, mainly how do you balance work, family, and ministry. We are all called to minister to others as well, and I believe that discipleship and ministering works are handled in the same way. I can't minister to the whole city of Houston, but I can minister to those God brings into my path. I can't disciple a lot of people either, but I can direct people to God's word and show them things as we come to them in our walk together. Think about how Jesus did much of His teaching with the disciples. It wasn't in a classroom at the temple, it was as they came into situations. When something would come up, He would correct their thinking on it. We have many examples of when He used this method, such as when the disciples tried to stop the children from coming to Him. We work similarly with our children, giving them a set of guidelines to work within, but doing much of their training and teaching as situations arise.

The scriptures make it plain that we are called to both evangelize and disciple, not either or. Sadly, less than 2% of all “professing” Christians share their faith . . . makes ya wonder doesn't it? If we truly love others, and if we understand what we have been saved from, then why aren't we doing something about it? One thing that really impacted Gene was an atheist he heard on the radio. The atheist had called into a talk show and said, "Christians don't really believe what they teach about heaven and hell, because if they did, they'd be on every street corner warning people about what was to come."

My prayer is that you would think about all that the Lord has done for you, even if your life seems to be in shambles. If you are His child, He has given you the greatest gifts ever: pardon from your sins and eternal life, neither of which do any of us deserve.

Here is a great quote by William Booth that really sums up how I feel:

“‘Not called!’ did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.”


*This refers to what is called the church by most people, not the true church which is the body of all believers.