To get stronger takes a lot of dedication and hard work. Improvement doesn’t happen overnight. There are a lot of similarities with growing in Christ. What is the hardest thing about being a Christian? In my experience, there are two answers, both equally difficult. The first is evangelizing, often called “witnessing”. The other is disciplining. The irony is, these are the two most difficult, but they are also the two most important! Let’s unpack this a little, and discuss some ideas for making these areas less difficult.
We’ll start with evangelizing. It’s self-evident that any religion that doesn’t spread its beliefs will eventually die. More than that, Jesus commissioned His disciples with His final words, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). God wants to be known, and His promise of eternal life can only be realized through people putting their faith in Him. Love requires us to share the gospel with others. We who have been shown where to find the Bread of Life must now show others. No one is “off the hook” to spread the gospel.
The necessity of evangelizing doesn’t make it any easier. We all fear rejection. We worry that someone might ask a hard question that we can’t answer and we’ll look foolish. There are many challenges to overcome in evangelizing, but the place to start is always the same: Prayer. Anyone who wants to be obedient to God should pray for the willingness to share the gospel and opportunities to do so. In addition, it helps to intentionally foster deep relationships where friends feel safe to “be real” with one another. Such relationships are emotionally beneficial anyway, apart from the potential for evangelization. Having deep relationships isn’t solely for the purpose of witnessing, but it is the soil where evangelizing seeds are most likely to grow.
Then there is discipling, or disciple-making. The line between witnessing and discipling is blurry, but in general, evangelizing leads one to a saving faith in Christ, which is where disciple-making takes over, in an unending journey into deeper and deeper levels of spiritual maturity. Disciple-making is every bit as important in liturgical worship as elsewhere, because the depth of truth in the Christian calendar and in the many words and actions of liturgical worship will typically remain under the surface until it is taught. Nothing replaces the need for disciple-making. “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17). Spiritual growth prepares one for eternity and allows one to enjoy greater degrees of victory over the old self. Walking this journey with a guide increases the forward momentum and the joy of spiritual growth.
Just like with evangelizing, discipling is HARD. It is slow. It takes lots of time—years. It takes a shared commitment by both the disciple and the disciple-maker. Discipling requires complete honesty and trust. It can be frustrating, but it is absolutely essential. Pastors can preach the Word, but they cannot disciple everyone in the body any more than they can do 100% of the evangelizing. Lay people must do the bulk of the work. Unfortunately, so few people have been discipled themselves, few feel qualified to disciple another. Thankfully, there is lots of help available to those who what to become disciple-makers. There are also lots of approaches one can take, so the process can be tailored to the needs and interests of the new disciple, as well as the state of the relationship. Disciple-making gets really exciting when the discipled becomes a disciple-maker. Just like evangelizing, the whole process begins with prayer, followed by intentional relationships. Picking the wrong person to disciple can feel like beating one’s head against a brick wall. Thankfully, there is also lots of help available to learn how to get started.
Evangelizing and disciple-making are essential to building the Kingdom, but they are difficult. This is one of the main reasons the Church across the country is in the mess it’s in—we aren’t evangelizing and discipling. If the Church is to start growing again and worshiping in truth and love, then evangelizing and disciple-making need to be returned to the center of what we are all about, just as they were for Jesus.
