Discipleship

How does one become a disciple of Jesus Christ? Christians have been asking this question since the Apostle Paul began sharing the gospel message throughout Judea and the known world in the first century. Paul dedicated his life to following Jesus’ command, “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you” (Matt.28:19-20). 

Drive-by evangelism was popularized in the 60s and 70s when church members would drive through a neighborhood, go house to house asking residents if they believed in Jesus, while handing them a religious tract; which was written by someone who believed the best way to get sinners’ attention was to scare the “H-ll out of them. The tract of course would have the church’s name and address stamped on the back so the sinner could find the church the following Sunday. This was the strategy for getting people to church so they could be baptized and then join other believers walking the neighborhoods to seek the lost for the Lord.

Drive-by evangelism may have been popular in the early-mid twentieth century, but I find it difficult to believe the success of the twentieth-century church, or any church throughout the generations had much to do with passing out tracts to strangers or by scaring them. I believe it had more to do with individuals sharing the gospel stories and how the stories changed their lives. These individuals were not trying to make disciples, they just wanted to share what they truly believed with people they truly cared about.

“More often than not, investing in authentic relationships precedes personal evangelism and is a key element in effective witnessing. People are open to the gospel when presented in the context of a genuine relationship by a Christian they view as authentic, because they have had the opportunity to get to know and trust the messenger. People desire friendship and authenticity and tend to reject the messenger who is simply trying to reach his [or her] evangelism quota.” (Tom Cocklereece, Simple Discipleship, How to Make Disciples in the 21^st Century)

How does one become a disciple of Jesus Christ? This is a good question but the question I want to address is how does one become an authentic Christian. A Christian who has a passion for sharing the gospel story with family and friends as well as their neighbors, because this is how we not only make disciples, it is how we truly become a disciple for Jesus Christ. Next week we will begin by looking at what Tom Cocklereece calls the four stages of spiritual growth. 

Original publication in "The Morrow Mirror, Words to Ponder… August 31, 2014