Evangelism or Discipleship: which matters more?
Post by Justin Nash
Which is more important, evangelism or discipleship? Both! The two concepts are inextricably dependent on one another. Many churches define themselves as concentrated on one or the other. “We’re a church focused on evangelism. Our mission is to bring as many people to Christ as possible,” some will say. Others will counter, “Our church is committed to discipling people so that they grow more mature in their faith. We don’t care about numbers.”
Both are worthy sentiments, but they present a false dichotomy between the two activities. One is not more critical than the other – both are essential activities of Christ’s church. Focusing on one to the exclusion of the other is to run the risk of creating an unhealthy imbalance in a church’s ministry. It is kind of like trying to ride a bicycle with only one pedal.
A quick examination of the New Testament will help us see that both evangelism and discipleship were taught by precept and practice. For instance, all for Gospels contain some version of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:44-49; John 20:21) in which both activities are commanded by Jesus. For instance, in Mark 16:15, Jesus commands, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” In Matthew 28:19 He commands, “make disciples of all nations.”
The book of Acts and the epistles demonstrate the commitment of the first Christians to proclaim the gospel through evangelism and then to nurture the new converts as they matured in their faith through discipleship. Both of these concepts are interdependent. Without evangelism, there will be no one to disciple into Christian maturity. Without discipleship there will be no one to evangelize unbelievers. So to prioritize one and ignore the other is to ultimately undermine and destroy both. But it is helpful to understand the unique role of each concept.
Evangelism is a message to be proclaimed.
People have a number of misconceptions regarding evangelism. First, sharing your personal testimony is not evangelism. As Mark Dever writes, “It is good to share your own testimony of what God has done in your life, but in your testimony, you may not actually make clear what Christ’s claims are on other people.”[1] Further, service, social action or political activism are not evangelism. Again, these can be good things, but do not necessarily require evangelism even if they are done in Jesus’ name. Finally, apologetics is not evangelism. Apologetics is the process of defending the Christian faith and it can be an excellent tool for evangelism, but apologetics is, as Devers says, “responding to the agenda that others set,” where evangelism is “Evangelism is the positive act of telling the Good News about Jesus Christ. [2] So if these things are not evangelism, what is evangelism?
The Laussane Covenant defines evangelism as follows,
“To evangelize is to spread the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead according to the Scriptures, and that, as the reigning Lord, he now offers the forgiveness of sins and the liberating gifts of the Spirit to all who repent and believe.”[3]
The gospel is good news. It is not a morality to be lived. It is a message to be proclaimed. And evangelism is the act of proclaiming the gospel. It is not about courting new church members, nor should it be confused with people coming to faith in Christ. People come to faith in Christ through evangelism (Romans 10:14-17), but a person need not come to Christ for evangelism to occur. Evangelism is quite simply the proclamation of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as the only means of sinful humans being reconciled to a holy God. Faithfulness to this task is not measured in converts, but consistency.
Discipleship is the lifelong process of becoming like Christ.
Evangelism might be thought of as the first step in discipleship. It is through evangelism that one becomes a disciple. As Michael Wilkins summarizes, “In the Christian sense, a disciple of Jesus is one who has come to him for eternal life, has claimed him as Savior and God, and has embarked upon the life of following him.”[4] So a disciple is not some advanced class of Christian as some people seem to believe. Instead, every Christian is a disciple. He might be a good disciple or a poor disciple. She might be an immature disciple or a mature disciple. But they are all disciples nonetheless.
Discipleship can then simply be defined “the ongoing process of growth as a disciple.”[5] Discipleship is that lifelong process in which the Christian is transformed into Christlikeness. It is, as Andrew Davis says, an “infinite journey” because we will never arrive at perfection this side of Jesus’ return. Discipleship is a holistic process that conforms the entirety of our lives – actions, attitudes, and affections – to those of Jesus Christ. It is to live in union with Christ in this world. There are, of course, a number of aspects to discipleship and important implications for the local church and individuals.
The church must have both evangelism and discipleship.
There are at least two important implications for the local church. First, any church that neglects either activity disobeys the clear commands of Christ to His church. To be disobedient to Christ is to invite His displeasure and discipline. Second, churches must give priority to both activities. To neglect either is to be destructive to both. The overall health and fruitfulness of the church is at stake. As Andrew Davis writes,
“It is impossible for the Church to make progress externally to the ends of the earth if there are no Christians mature enough to pay the price to go as missionaries and martyrs. And it is impossible to make genuine progress in sanctification if people only read good Christian books and stay in classroom, but refuse to get out into the world as witnesses. These journeys are mutually interdependent: without progress in one, there can be no progress made in the other.”[6]
If a church is to be faithful, it must invest itself fully proclaiming the gospel through evangelism and shepherding people through the discipling process. The making of disciples is the mission of the local church. Churches must not forget this.
Discipleship is not optional for Christians and neither is evangelism.
There are also at least two critical implications in the life of the individual Christian. First, discipleship is not optional for a believer in Christ. As Michael Wilkins states, “discipleship is not a supposed second step in Christianity, as if one first becomes a believer in Jesus and then, if he chooses, a disciple. From the beginning, discipleship is involved in what it means to be a Christian.”[7] Every Christian is a disciple. Therefore, every Christian should be undergoing a discipleship process in which they are maturing in their faith and are helping other believers mature in their faith.
Second, individual believers need to be an active part of a local church. We cannot grow in our faith apart from a local body of believers. As Greg Ogden has stated, “the church is not an optional afterthought for those who name Christ as their Lord. The church is central to God’s plan of salvation… To be a follower of Christ is to understand that there is no such thing as solo discipleship.”[8] We need one another if our discipleship is to be fruitful and move us and others toward maturity in Christ. We cannot grow alone.
While evangelism and discipleship are distinct from one another, one cannot exist apart from the other. Therefore, our churches must give themselves fully to this great task of making disciples. To fail to do so is to be disobedient to the Lord Jesus. To be faithful in these tasks is to have the great blessing of being used by God as He reconciles a lost world to Himself.
[1] Mark Dever, 9 Marks of a Healthy Church, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2004) Kindle Edition, Location 2075.
[2] Ibid.
[3] “Lausanne Covenant,” https://www.lausanne.org/content/covenant/lausanne-covenant#cov
[4] Michael J. Wilkins, Following the Master: A Biblical Theology of Discipleship (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992), 119.
[5] Ibid, 120.
[6] Andrew M. Davis, An Infinite Journey: Growing Toward Christlikeness (Greenville, SC: Ambassador International, 2014), Kindle Edition, Location 239-240.
[7] Michael J. Wilkins, Following the Master: A Biblical Theology of Discipleship (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992), 82.
[8] Greg Ogden, Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples a Few at a Time (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 32.