New Birth & New Life

People often view evangelism and discipleship (by which they usually mean discipling) as two distinct things. They see the first as outreach, the second as inreach. Or the first as being about conversion and the second as being about growth. Or the first as focused on redemption and the second as focused on sanctification.

But really, evangelism and discipling are both about the same thing: people meeting, knowing, and following Jesus. Evangelism may lean towards new birth and discipling may lean toward new life, but they are both about new people living with and for Jesus as part of new creation.

When we try to put these two things in separate boxes, we risk losing the full picture of life with Christ.

We never stop evangelizing, that is proclaiming the Good News that Jesus is the rescuing and reigning King. That truth never gets set aside for deeper or more profound doctrines — what could be deeper or more profound than the redeeming, transforming, and loving Lordship of Jesus Christ? We don't move on from proclaiming and inviting. We simply expand the proclamation to include more knowledge and understanding of Jesus and the invitation to include more awareness of joyful transformation and surrendered obedience. In other words there is no finish line for evangelizing.

And there's no official starting line for discipling. We don't wait to start discipling until someone has definitively started following Jesus (which is a different experience and process for each person). If discipling is helping others become more like Jesus, that can be happening long before someone is even interested in Jesus. The way you live, speak, and interact with others is a model of Christlikeness, whether they realize it or not. Your words about Jesus — even if intended to simply introduce people to him — are also teaching them about what it means to follow him and live for him. And if or when someone does begin following Jesus and surrender their life to him, all of those previous conversations and interactions get folded into their new life and become discipling moments in reverse.

Both evangelism and discipling can be framed like this:

• Enter the world of others.
• Build relationships of trust.
• Proclaim the Good News of Jesus.

That's what we do, over and over again, whether we are first meeting someone or walking alongside them as co-followers of Jesus.

• Entering the world of others, whether for the first or 31st time, requires courage and commitment.
• Building relationships of trust, whether with a new acquaintance or a longtime friend, requires consistency and connection.
• Proclaiming the Good News of Jesus, whether a basic introduction about believing or a deeper challenge about abiding and conforming, requires that we be clear and compelling.

Evangelism and discipling aren't two different roads or two different ways of being. When you are telling the Good News of Jesus, you are also discipling. When you are discipling, you are also telling the Good News of Jesus. The focus and frame may shift slightly, but the goal and aim do not. We want people to meet Jesus, trust Jesus, follow Jesus, and become like Jesus. That's the full story that we must keep living ourselves and leading others toward.

For more, check out Evangelism for the Care of Souls​ by Sean McGever and his article What Evangelism Is & Why 3 Laws Are Better than 4.

​

Reflect - Discuss

• How have you previously thought about evangelism and discipleship?
• If someone asked whether you were more of an evangelism person or a discipleship person, how would you have answered and why?
• How would thinking about evangelism and discipling as two parts of one thing possibly change your perspective and your ministry?
• What are some ways you can expand your understanding of evangelism to be more than "invite someone to make a decision for Jesus" and your understanding of discipling to be more than "teach people how to follow Jesus"?