Missions

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to
the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and
in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 1:8

THE GREAT COMMISSION

Jesus gave the Great Commission command to the apostles shortly before He ascended into heaven, and it
essentially outlines what Jesus expected the apostles and those who followed them to do in His absence.

It is interesting that, in the original Greek, the only direct command in Matthew 28:19–20 is “make disciples.”

The Great Commission instructs us to make disciples while we are going throughout the world.

The instructions to “go,” “baptize,” and “teach” are indirect commands—participles in the original.

How are we to make disciples? By baptizing them and teaching them all that Jesus commanded.

“Make disciples” is the primary command of the Great Commission.

“Going,” “baptizing,” and “teaching” are the means by which we fulfill the command to “make
disciples.”

A disciple is someone who receives instruction from another person; a Christian disciple is a baptized follower
of Christ, one who believes the teaching of Christ.

A disciple of Christ imitates Jesus’ example, clings to His sacrifice, believes in His resurrection,
possesses the Holy Spirit, and lives to do His work.

The command in the Great Commission to “make disciples” means to teach or train people to follow
and obey Christ.

Many understand Acts 1:8 as part of the Great Commission as well: “But you will receive power when the Holy
Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends
of the earth.”

The Great Commission is enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We are to be Christ’s witnesses, fulfilling the Great Commission in our cities (Jerusalem), in our states
and countries (Judea and Samaria), and anywhere else God sends us (to the ends of the earth).

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Throughout the book of Acts, we see how the apostles began to fulfill the Great Commission, as outlined
in Acts 1:8.

First, Jerusalem is evangelized. Acts 1 — 7

Then the Spirit expands the church through Judea and Samaria. Acts 8 — 12)

Finally, the gospel reaches into “the ends of the earth”. Acts 13 — 28

The first step in making disciples is evangelism of the Gospel to the unbelievers.

THE GOSPEL
The word gospel derives from the Old English godspell, meaning “good story” or “good message.”
The key to understanding the importance of the gospel is found in Romans 1:1:
When Paul speaks about the gospel of God, he is not saying that it is a message about God, but that it
is a message that belongs to God.
In other words, he’s saying that this gospel comes to us from God.
It is God who announces to the world the essence of what we call the kerygma: the proclamation of
the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and return of Christ.
So the whole task of evangelism is merely to repeat to the world what God Himself has first declared,
He was the original messenger.
What is the nature of this message?
During the nineteenth century, there was a period of skepticism about the reliability of Scripture and
about many of Scripture’s claims regarding supernatural events such as miracles.
In response, some reduced the meaning of Christianity to the ethical core of the teaching of Jesus,
claiming that what matters is not Jesus’ supernatural status or authority, but rather the power and
relevance of His teachings.
According to this interpretation, the real gospel has to do with the message of Jesus for human
relationships, because He taught people how to get along with one another.
This perspective came to be known as the “Social Gospel”;
The phrase “social gospel” is usually used to describe a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that
came to prominence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Those who adhered to a social gospel sought to apply Christian ethics to social problems such as
poverty, graft and corruption, poor nutrition and education, addiction, crime, abortion, etc;
These things were emphasized while the doctrines of sin, salvation, heaven and hell, and the future
kingdom of God were downplayed.
Theologically, the social gospel leaders were overwhelmingly postmillennialist, asserting that Christ’s
Second Coming could not happen until humankind rid itself of social evils by human effort.

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 For a Christian perspective on the idea of a social gospel, we need to look to Jesus, who lived in one of
history’s most corrupt societies.
The gospel Jesus preached did not have to do with a call for social reform or social justice or
political change, not even by peaceful means.
Rather than attempt to change governments and institutions, which are made up of people,
Jesus came to change people's hearts and point them to God's kingdom.
He preached the saving power of the gospel and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.
Yes, Jesus showed deep compassion for the poor, the sick, the dispossessed, and the outcasts of
society.
He healed them, but before taking care of their physical or emotional needs, He first took care
of their spiritual needs.
He was most concerned about the state of their souls and preached the gospel of repentance
from sin through Him so they understood that their eternal destiny was far more important
than their circumstances here on earth.
Social justice is based on the concepts of human rights and equality.
The Bible supports social justice with regard to the plight of the poor and the afflicted, orphans
and widows, and people unable to support themselves. Matthew 25:34–40
Jesus reflected God’s sense of justice by bringing the gospel message to the lower rungs of
society.
But if believers would neglect reaching out and sharing the gospel to the wealthy and
influential, then believers are also are committing social injustice against the wealthy and
influential.
The wealthy also need to hear the gospel message although they are more likely to reject the
gospel. Luke 16:19–31
Christians should take a God-centered approach to social justice, not a man-centered approach.
Only when Christ returns, true everlasting justice shall be restored.
If we are basing our definition of gospel on the New Testament sense of the word, then there is no room for a
merely social gospel.
This does not mean that the church should not be concerned with ethics and social justice, for if the
gospel of Christ is true, the social implications are staggering.
In fact, it is because of that gospel that the church must become conscious of the needs of those who
are broken and hurting.
But we can never replace the message of Christ with a human enterprise of social concern.
Our social concern flows out of the gospel—it does not replace the gospel.
The gospel in the New Testament, first and foremost, is a message about a person and about what Jesus
accomplished; the redemption of man from sin through His life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

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 EVANGELISM
Godspell translates the Latin evangelium, which is derived from the Greek euangelion.
Originally, the word euangelion functioned as a literal expression for any good report—particularly in the
context of military engagements or political campaigns.
Messengers will traverse the mountains around Jerusalem to spread the good news of the return of
redeemed Israel to the land. Isaiah 40:9; 61:1; Nah. 1:15
Picture how the watchman could see the feet flying as the runner rushed to the city gates to bring
good news.
It was a beautiful sight, and the people would shout celebrations of victory at the sight of him.
They had a word for that kind of a message: it was a euangelion, a good message—a gospel.
But when we come to the New Testament, the concept of a euangelion takes on a new meaning.
Jesus began His ministry with a public proclamation about good news that He was announcing to the
people: what we call the gospel of the kingdom. Luke 4:17-19
He declared a new state of affairs, which He illustrated in many different ways with parables, saying
“the kingdom of heaven is like this” or “the kingdom of God is like that.”
By the time that we get to the Epistles, we see that the usage of euangelion or gospel undergoes a change.
After the personal ministry of Jesus—after His life, death, and resurrection—the New Testament
writers no longer speak about the gospel of the kingdom instead, they talk about “the gospel of Jesus
Christ.” Acts 20:24, Romans 1:9, 16, 2 Corinthians 11:4, Ephesians 1:13, 2 Thessalonians 2:14, 2
Timothy 1:8, 10, 2:8
Apostolic preaching was focused on the person and the work of Jesus.
That’s what the word euangelion came to mean by the close of the New Testament: it had to do with a
message and announcement about Jesus, including who He was and what He did for sinful mankind.
Evangelism, in its simplest definition, is “gospeling” or “making the gospel known.”

Biblical Method of Evangelism

Who Must Evangelize?
Often, it is assumed that the best way to carry out the mission of the church is to hire a preacher or a
ministerial staff and let them handle the evangelism mandate for the church.
An army cannot be successful with a single general that will handle all the fight, it has to have a skilled,
trained, and mobilized rank-and-file.
That’s no less true in the kingdom of God, and in the warfare that is not against flesh and blood but
against rulers and authorities and spiritual forces of evil. Ephesians 6:12
There are some important biblical texts that speak to the issue of the mobilization of the laity, one of the most
important ones is found in the account of Moses and his father-in-law Jethro. Exodus 18:13-16, 19-23
God moved Moses through Jethro to implement a careful organizational structure that would provide
clear responsibility and a high degree of agility in reacting to circumstances.
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 Jethro urged Moses to look for men who feared God and loved righteousness and to set them over the
people as judges.
The judges would hear the small cases and bring to Moses anything they couldn’t handle.
In this way, the burden was spread among many and many things were accomplished.
In the New Testament doctrine of the church, every single person in the body of Christ has been enabled and
energized by God the Holy Spirit to be a part of the mission that God has given to His church. Acts 1:8
To look at the church as an organization where the labor and ministry are done only by the ministers is to miss
the entire point.
The ministers’ primary task is to equip the saints—the rank-and-file, the people in the pews. Ephesians 4:12
Evangelism is not just commanded for those who have been called to function as evangelist, it is for all
believers who have been gifted by the Holy Spirit to carry it out. 2 Timothy 4:5
Whom Must We Evangelize?
All People. Acts 10:34-35, 2 Peter 3:9, 1 Timothy 2:4, Acts 1:8, Matthew 18:19
Believers often times tend to be selective on whom they will share the gospel because of their
outward impression of other people. Acts 9:10-21, Acts 10:
Some also believe that God saves the elect through His sovereign will with little or no use of the
methods of bringing about salvation such as evangelism,
This is an unbiblical over-emphasis of God's sovereignty and under-emphasis of man's
responsibility in the work of salvation.
Since we do not know who God’s elect are, we must obey the revealed will of God to
evangelize and give everyone the opportunity to hear the gospel and be saved. Romans
10:14-15
According to Acts 1:8, we are to evangelize our:
Jerusalem; Those who are closest to us: Our Family,
Our Samaria & Judaea: Whether friends or enemies: Our Neighbors.
To the Ends of the Earth: Those who are Total Strangers.
How Must We Prepare for Evangelism?
Prayerfully
Beautiful words and impassioned speeches may move a soul, but they cannot transform a hard heart,
only the power of the Holy Spirit can bring conviction and repentance.2 Timothy 2:25
The first Christians relied on massive amounts of prayer before they attempted to do anything for the
Lord. Acts 1:14; 4:31; 6:6; 13:3; Colossians 4:4
When our prayer lives are consistent and meaningful, we are ready to engage in evangelism.

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Equipping of Biblical Knowledge
We don’t have to possess a seminary degree or the ability to read ancient Greek, but we do need an
overall understanding of what the Bible says.
Many people allow this factor to silence them, citing their lack of biblical knowledge as a reason they
don’t witness for Christ.
But there is no reason that we cannot study and learn for ourselves what God says about His plan of
salvation.
Christians should be experts on the gospel: Second Timothy 2:15 commands us to study as unto God so
that we will become “as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly
handles the word of truth.”
We need to know the basic truths of Scripture in order to have effective personal evangelism.
Colossians 4:5-6
Check Our Motives
We may present the gospel faithfully and lovingly, and the person to whom we witness may hear and
understand but they still choose to reject the call for belief and repentance which leads to forgiveness,
salvation and eternal life.
It is often tempting to modify biblical truth in our personal evangelism in order to elicit the response we desire
from our hearers.
We must understand that we are not responsible for our hearer’s response, we are responsible in obeying the
commission to faithfully proclaim the Gospel.
We can see these in the lives of Old Testament Saints;
Noah in his 120 years of faithful preaching was not able to convert and save anyone outside his own
family.
Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, only had two converts, his scribe; Baruch and Ebed-Melech an
Ethiopian Eunuch, in his 40 years of difficult ministry.
Jesus explained in Luke 8:5–15 that human hearts are like types of soil.
The seed sown is the same in each case, but people receive the Word of God differently and respond
differently.
Our job, as the sowers of seeds, is to present truth as effectively as we know how and entrust the
results to God.
Our motivation for our evangelism is obedience to Jesus and we expect Him to bring about the result so that
we would not manipulate the Gospel and our hearers.
How Must We Present the Biblical Gospel?
While many well-meaning Christians begin their evangelistic efforts with the good news of God’s love for
mankind, that message is lost on unbelievers who must first understand the extent of the bad news.
Until the full extent of the bad news is presented, the good news cannot be effectively communicated.

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Since there are too many evangelism methods that are available today, the church must choose a method that
which contains the following Gospel truths in its presentation:
The Holiness of God
In Isaiah’s vision of heaven, God’s holiness, of all the attributes of God they could have praised—
not His love—is being extolled by the seraphim around the throne. Isaiah 6:3
God is holy, He possess a hatred for sin and righteous wrath against sinners. Zechariah 8:16-
7 and Proverbs 6:16-19 Isaiah 5:25; Hosea 8:5; Zechariah 10:3
What is missing from much modern evangelism is the holiness of God.
Man is comfortable with the idea that God is love and they cringe at the idea of Gods wrath
against sin, as a result many believers remove this truth when evangelizing to avoid offending
others and receiving persecution.
The Sinfulness of Man
All man have sinned, man have done things that are displeasing to God. Romans 3:23, 10-18
All sin, great and small in man’s perspective is the same in God’s perspective.
Since God is Holy and man is a sinner, man stands before the wrath of God and deserves death
as consequence for their sins. Romans 6:23 Hebrews 10:31
This death is not physical death, but of eternal torment in the lake of fire. Revelation 20:14,
2:11, 20:6, 21:8
An unbeliever is separated from God by his sin, which God hates, and there is nothing he can do
about it, he cannot save himself, in spite of good intentions or good works. Romans 3:20, Isaiah
64:6, Hebrews 12:14
God as holy and man as sinful is the bad news, but now comes the good news:
The Saving Work of Jesus Christ
Jesus died on the cross on our place so that we can be forgiven from the penalty of our sins, be
saved from eternal death and be received to eternal life with God. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21,
Romans 5:8, John 1:12
God provided the perfect sacrifice for our sin, not because we deserved it or earned it, but
because of His love and grace and mercy. Ephesians 2:8-9
Call to Faith and Repentance
Repentance refers to a “change of mind,” which implies sorrow for past offences, a deep sense
of the evil of sin as committed against God, and a conscious decision to turn from sin to God by
following Jesus. 2 Corinthians 7:10, Psalm 51:4, Acts 3:19

If a person repents or turn away from His sin and follow Christ by faith, He will live eternally with
Him in the bliss and glory of heaven; this is good news indeed. Romans 10:9, 10:13, Mark 1:15,
Matthew 3:5–8; Acts 2:36–38; Acts 3:1–21; Acts 4:10–12; Acts 10:43–48; Acts 11:18; Acts
16:30–31; Acts 17:30; Acts 20:20–21; Acts 26:19–20

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 Biblical evangelism begins with prayer for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in witnessing, open doors of
opportunity, and a clear understanding of the bad news of sin and wrath and the good news of love,
grace, mercy and faith.
Do We Need to Share Our Personal Testimony?
If we’ve come to know Christ and have experienced forgiveness of sin and His transforming power in our lives,
then we have a story to tell.
Effective personal evangelism often incorporates a personal testimony.
Paul often recounted his own conversion story in his evangelism, reminding his audience of how
wicked he had been and how far God’s grace had brought him. Philippians 3:4–6; Acts 26:9–23; 1
Corinthians 15:9
We may not know the answers to every question we are asked, but we do know what Jesus has done
for us.
But we must be careful to understand the difference between Evangelism and Witnessing or Personal
Testimony.
Believers tend to use the terms evangelism and witnessing interchangeably, but they are not
synonymous.
Sharing our personal testimonies is not evangelism; It’s merely pre-evangelism, sort of a warm-up for
evangelism.
Our testimonies may or may not be significant or meaningful to those with whom we are speaking.
God makes no promise that He will use our story as His power unto salvation.
We see this in John 9:24-25:
The healed man could say, “I once was blind, but now I see,” and that was a wonderful
testimony but it was not the gospel.
With these simple words, the man bore witness to the redemptive work Christ but he did not
preached the gospel.
The man could not tell the Pharisees about Jesus’ saving work and about how they could be
delivered from their sins by faith in Him.
Remember, the gospel is not about us it is about Jesus.
It is the proclamation of the person and work of Christ, and of how a person can appropriate the benefits of
the work of Christ by faith alone.
So we need to make our personal testimonies short and clear while the biblical gospel the central focus of our
evangelistic presentation.

Recognizing Genuine and False Conversion

Judas Iscariot, Simon the Sorcerer, Nicolas the Deacon, Alexander, Hymenaeus and Philetus are some of the
early church professing believers or converts who were later on proven to be false converts due to their

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heretical teachings and unholy deeds. Luke 6:16, Acts 8:9-24, Revelation 2:6-14-15, 1 Timothy 1:19-20, 2
Timothy 2:17
Not everyone who claims to have been converted has, in fact, been converted. Matthew 7:21-23
A false conversion may look like a true, Spirit-caused conversion, but it is not.
The reasons for false conversions are varied:
Sometimes people are self-deceived or doesn’t even realize that they are false converts.
At other times, there is intentional deception on their part to harm the church.
Decisional theology or Easy Believism, is one of the major cause why the church today has many false
converts.
According to decision theology, the new birth occurs when someone: 1) hears the gospel, 2) is
convicted of the truth of the gospel, 3) understands the need for salvation, and 4) chooses to accept
Christ rather than reject Him.
Often, the decision to accept Christ is marked by an action such as walking an aisle as response to the
altar call, praying a "sinner’s prayer," signing a decision card, or other similar activity.

Both the “Altar Call” and “Sinners Prayer” are techniques which are a product of 19th century
revivalism and 20th century pragmatism propagated by Charles Finney.

Scripture says in Romans 3:11 man in his natural state is incapable of choosing Christ because "no
one seeks God"; Ephesians 2:1 he is "dead" in sin , 1 Corinthians 2:14 unable to "accept the things that
come from the Spirit of God and John 6:44-45 he is utterly helpless to come to God on his own.
This being the case, asking a non-Christian to make a decision to come forward and accept Christ is
like asking a corpse to dance.
These methods could lead us into producing self-deceived professing Christians or false converts in the church.

We do not see any evidence in Scripture of a person being led through a sinner’s prayer where there
are asked to “bow their heads, close their eyes, and repeat after me nor do we see any type of altar
call where sinners are called to the front of a sanctuary or stage to “make a decision for Christ”.

As a result, many in the church today believe that they are saved Christians just because they
responded to an altar call and recited the sinner’s prayer at some point in their life while living like the
rest of the world.

What we do see in the New Testament is a clear, bold articulation of the gospel and then a command
issue for all people to repent and believe in Jesus.

We may define genuine conversion as follows: Conversion is our willing response to the gospel call, in which
we sincerely repent of sins and place our trust in Christ for salvation.

The word conversion itself means “turning”—here it represents a spiritual turn, a turning from sin to Christ.

The turning from sin is called repentance, and the turning to Christ is called faith.

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 We can look at each of these elements of conversion, and in one sense it does not matter which one
we discuss first, for neither one can occur without the other, and they must occur together when true
conversion takes place.

For the purposes of this chapter, we shall examine saving faith first, and then repentance.

Saving Faith

True saving faith includes knowledge, approval and personal trust.

Knowledge:

Contrary to the current secular understanding of “faith,” true New Testament faith is
not something that is made stronger by ignorance or by believing against the evidence,
rather, saving faith is consistent with knowledge and true understanding of facts.
(Romans 10:14, 17)

But knowledge alone about the facts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection cannot be
saving faith for people can know facts but rebel against them or dislike them (Romans
1:32).

Approval:

Approval is agreeing or believing that something is true.

But again, knowledge and approval alone cannot also be saving faith.

Nicodemus had evaluated the facts of the situation, including Jesus’ teaching and his
remarkable miracles, and had drawn a correct conclusion from those facts: Jesus was a
teacher come from God. But this alone did not mean that Nicodemus had saving faith,
for he still had to put his trust in Christ for salvation. (John 3:2)

King Agrippa apparently viewed with approval the Jewish Scriptures but Paul was not
able to lead him to Christ. (Acts 26:27-28)

Remember even demons know and believe but that doesn’t mean they are saved
(James 2:19)

Personal Trust:

In addition to knowledge of the facts of the gospel and approval of those facts, in order
to be saved, we must decide to depend on Jesus to save us.

In doing this we move from being an interested observer of the facts of salvation and
the teachings of the Bible to being someone who enters into a new relationship with
Jesus Christ as a living person.

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 We may therefore define saving faith in the following way: Saving faith is personal trust
in Jesus Christ as a living person for forgiveness of sins and for eternal life with God.

Repentance

True Faith Comes Together with Repentance. (Acts 3:19, 2:38, 17:30, 19:18, 20:21)
We may define repentance as follows: Repentance is a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and
a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ.

Repentance, like faith, is:

1. An intellectual understanding that sin is wrong,

2. An emotional approval of the teachings of Scripture regarding sin or a sorrow for sin and a
hatred of it,
3. And a personal decision to turn from it, a renouncing of sin and a decision of the will to forsake
it and lead a life of obedience to Christ instead.

But it is important to realize that mere sorrow for one’s actions, or even deep remorse over one’s
actions, does not constitute genuine repentance unless it is accompanied by a sincere decision to
forsake sin that is being committed against God. (2 Corinthians 7:9-10, Hebrews 12:17)

The fact that repentance and faith are simply two different sides of the same coin, or two different
aspects of the one event of conversion, may be seen in figure 1.

In this diagram, the person who genuinely turns to Christ for salvation must at the same time release
the sin to which he or she has been clinging and turn away from that sin in order to turn to Christ,
therefore, neither repentance nor faith comes first; they must come together.

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Both Faith and Repentance Continue Throughout Life

Although we have been considering initial faith and repentance as the two aspects of conversion at the
beginning of the Christian life, it is important to realize that faith and repentance are not confined to
the beginning of the Christian life, rather attitudes of heart that continue throughout our lives as
Christians.

Jesus tells his disciples to pray daily, “And forgive us our sins as we also have forgiven those
who sin against us”, a prayer that, if genuine, will certainly involve daily sorrow for sin and
genuine repentance. (Matt. 6:12, 5:4, Rev. 3:19; cf. 2 Cor. 7:10).

With regard to faith, Paul tells us that faith abides throughout the course of this life and also for
all eternity (1 Cor. 13:13, Gal. 2:20).

Initial saving faith and initial repentance occur only once in our lives but each day there should be
heartfelt repentance for sins that we commit and faith in Christ to provide and empower us to live the
Christian life, these reality in our lives constitutes true conversion.

We don’t want to coerce a decision out of any one; we believe in sovereign regeneration that God by His
grace will open the eyes of a sinner and irresistibly draw him or her to Himself through the proclamation of
the gospel.
In teaching our people to do evangelism and missions, we must make sure that we focus on getting the
gospel correct and then instructing them to ask people to repent and believe.

The Character of Genuine Saving Faith

2 Corinthians 13:

I. Evidences That Neither Prove Nor Disprove One’s Faith:

A. Visible Morality: Matt. 19:16–21; 23:27

B. Intellectual Knowledge: Rom. 1:21; 2:17.

C. Religious Involvement: Matt. 25:1–10

D. Active Ministry: Matt. 7:21–24

E. Conviction of Sin: Acts 24:25

F. Assurance: Matt. 23

G. Time of Decision: Luke 8:13–14

II. The Fruit/ Proofs Of Authentic/True Christianity:

A. Love for God: Ps. 42:1; 73:25; Luke 10:27; Rom. 8:7

B. Repentance from Sin: Ps. 32:5; Prov. 28:13; Rom. 7:14; 2 Cor. 7:10; 1 John 1:8–10

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 C. Genuine Humility: Ps. 51:17; Matt. 5:1–12; James 4:6, 9.

D. Devotion to God’s Glory: Ps. 105:3; 115:1; Isa. 43:7; 48:10; Jer. 9:23–24; 1 Cor. 10:31

E. Continual Prayer: Luke 18:1; Eph. 6:18; Phil. 4:6; 1 Tim. 2:1–4; James 5:16–18

F. Selfless Love: 1 John 2:9; 3:14; 4:7.

G. Separation from the World: 1 Cor. 2:12; James 4:4; 1 John 2:15–17; 5:5

H. Spiritual Growth: Luke 8:15; John 15:1–6; Eph. 4:12–16

I. Obedient Living: Matt. 7:21; John 15:14; Rom. 16:26; 1 Pet. 1:2, 22; 1 John 2:3–5

J. Hunger for God’s Word: 1 Pet. 2:1–3

K. Transformation of Life: 2 Cor. 5:17

If List I is true of a person and List II is false, there is cause to question the validity of one’s profession of faith.
Yet if List II is true, then the top list will be also

What Next After Evangelism?

CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP
What is a Christian Disciple?

There’s not much difficulty about the meaning of the word translated ‘disciple’ in the New Testament (the
Greek word mathētēs).

It basically refers to a learner or student, someone who is apprenticed to a teacher to learn from him.

Put simply, a disciple is a learner; discipleship is ‘learnership’.

We see this clearly enough in the way the Gospels use the word: A disciple aims to learn the ways and
practices and wisdom of his teacher. Luke 6:40, Luke 5:33

Whether it’s the disciples of John, the Pharisees or Jesus, the basic point is the same—the ‘learners’
stand in relation to their teacher (or teachers), whose teachings and way of life they seek to learn and
adopt.

Certainly they are learning intellectual content—a way of thinking and perceiving the world, a body of
knowledge and understanding.

We often see Jesus teaching his ‘learners’ this content in the Gospels. Matthew 5:1-2

But in the case of Jesus’ disciples, the outcome of this learning was not simply the mastery of a certain
body of knowledge—what we would today associate with classroom or academic learning.

This is in part why ‘learners’ often followed their teacher around; They not only listened to the teacher’s
words, but saw his words in action in his life, and sought to learn that way of life by being with him constantly.

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 The goal was for them not only to know what their teacher knew, but also to be like their teacher, to
walk in his ways.

They weren’t learning a subject; they were learning Jesus way of life.

Jesus repeatedly tells people that to be His disciple is embracing a life-and-death commitment.

To go with him means to leave everything else behind, including your very life. Luke 14:33

It will mean walking the road to Jerusalem with him, and facing up to the cross that is waiting there.
Matthew 10:38, 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23

As Jesus makes very clear, saving our old life is not an option; it’s only by losing our lives that we save
them. Matthew 10:39, 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24, 17:33

Or to put it in the language of Paul, it is only by being crucified with Christ that we can rise to a new life
in him. Galatians 2:20, 5:24

This is perhaps why baptism is such an appropriate symbol for initiation into being a ‘disciple’.

Baptism was how disciples were typically ‘made’, as John’s Gospel shows us in passing. John 4:1

Baptism was a symbol of repentance, of washing away the old and starting afresh, of dying and rising
again. Romans 6:4, Romans 6:11, Colossians 2:12

Repentance is a plea for forgiveness—for a washing clean of all those thoughts, actions, attitudes and
character traits that were contrary to the new kingdom Jesus embodied and taught.

The other potent symbol of becoming a ‘learner’ is the yoke. Matthew 11:27-30

To ‘take the yoke’ is a metaphor for service and submission and obedience, for accepting the authority
of another—like oxen, who are yoked together to plough in the service of their owner; or slaves, who
bear the yoke of their master.

This is essentially what a ‘disciple’ was in New Testament times: someone who submitted to the
authority of a teacher, in order to learn from him and become like him.

Jesus gives two reasons in this passage why he is the obvious person to learn from.

The first is the stunning claim that all things have been handed over to him by the Father—that he is the Son
and heir of God.

He is the only one has exclusive access to the foundational knowledge of all things, who knows the
Father, and who can therefore reveal the Father to others.

If you want to learn what God is really like—in fact, if you want to get to know God the Father
himself—the Son is your only option as a teacher.

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 The yoke of Jesus is total submission to his authority as the Teacher.

His yoke brings a paradoxical freedom not a burden.

Freedom from the heavy burden of sin as revealed by the Law and further weighed by the corruption
of the Pharisees through forgiveness; and freedom to now learn a whole new way of living that is fit for
the kingdom of God.

These two symbols—baptism and the yoke—say a lot about the kind of learning that the learners of Jesus
were undertaking.

It required a radical break from the past and initiation into a new relationship with the Teacher;

It is a form of service and submission that was in fact rest and freedom;

To be a disciple is to learn from and to live like Jesus.

How Are Disciples Made?

1. Choose Someone

Imagine two Christians;

Christian A is a Bible student who can explain doctrines and interpret Scripture soundly and yet doesn’t
get along with other people well.

Christian B who doesn’t read the Bible much but his life displays love for God and fellow believers.

Who should you choose to disciple?

Really, both should care more about Jesus, because Jesus loves the truths of God’s Word and the lives
of God’s people.

Christian A needs to deny himself and follow Jesus by loving people more while Christian B must do
this by working to love God’s Word more.

The discipling work of a church should help both kinds of people to better follow Jesus. Mark 8:34

Discipling is a relationship in which we seek to do spiritual good for someone by initiating, teaching,
correcting, modeling, loving, humbling ourselves, counseling, and influencing.

The first matter we will have to decide is who should we disciple since we only have limited resources.

It’s not just a question for pastors, the Bible tasks all of us with this kind of work. 2 John 5, 1 Thessalonians
5:11, Colossians 1:28, Hebrews. 10:24

With Bible in hand, how should we go about deciding in whom to invest?

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Here are nine factors to consider, and probably in this order:

a. Family Member

The Bible teaches in this passage and others that each of us possesses a special responsibility for the members
of our own family. 1 Timothy 5:8

In the family, God gives life-long relationships and natural grounds for affection and concern and those natural
affections and responsibilities should be employed for Christward ends.

Scripture charges you with special responsibility for them, as it does for parents with children or spouses for
each other especially if you live with them.

These relationships are the most important discipling charge you have.

b. Spiritual State

You should evangelize your non-Christian friends, but it is pointless to disciple them as if they are Christians.
1 Corinthians 2:14

We must invest our lives on a disciple who is a professing Christian who displays the mark of genuine saving
faith.

c. Church Membership

Hebrews 13:7, 17 call us to particularly heed the leaders of our own churches.

Yet a further implication is that the ordinary pathways of discipleship work best within the relational context
of one’s church.

We have a greater responsibility for our own congregation—to help them and be helped by them.

Members of the same church follow and submit to the same body of elders.

They affirm the same statement of faith and church covenant.

They experience the same teaching on primary and secondary matters.

They see each other at least weekly.

For all of these reasons, it is normally more expedient to build discipling relationships within the context of
one’s church.

d. Gender

Scripture is sensitive to matters of gender in discipling. Titus 2:3–5

In a public congregational setting, leaders teach men and women.

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Further we all have disciples of the opposite sex built into our families: mother, father, sisters, brothers, or
spouses.

Yet when it comes to a normal, deliberate discipling relationship, it is wise for men to disciple men and women
to disciple women.

We recognize that gender is a God-given reality, and we mean to treat it realistically and respectfully.

We should love everyone in the church, and at the same time labor to avoid wrong intimacies.

e. Age

Just as Scripture is sensitive to gender, so it’s sensitive to age.1 Timothy 4:12; 5:1

Normally you would disciple someone younger than yourself, having said that, Scripture is full of exceptional
examples of the younger teaching the older.

And surely, as we advance in age, we also want to advance in the humility of learning from those of our own
age, and even those younger than us.

f. Different From You

Few things visibly display the power of the gospel as much as the unity it achieves among people divided by
the categories of this world.

The dividing wall of partition between Jew and Gentile fell at the cross. Eph. 2:18

The unity that the church experiences now is across ethnic, economic, education, and other kinds of divides
which anticipates that day when “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all
tribes and peoples and languages,” stand perfectly together before God’s throne in worship (Rev. 7:9–10).

How much God has to teach us about himself from people who are different from us.

And how the gospel is displayed in our unity—not just the unity of liking each other, but the unity of learning
from one another.

g. Teachability

Proverbs again and again commends the teachable son and repudiates the fool who scorns rebuke,
instruction, and counsel. Ps. 25:9; cf. Prov. 11:2

Therefore, Peter instructs, “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of
you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’”. 1 Pet. 5:5

You don’t want to spend time trying to teach someone who thinks you have nothing to teach them, and that
they have nothing to learn.

Teach the teachable and try to be teachable yourself.

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h. Faithfulness to Teach Others

We want to disciple everyone, and we especially want to disciple those who will turn and disciple those who
will disciple others. 2 Tim. 2:2

We will do addition if we have to, but we’d really like to do multiplication, we are not simply mentoring the
next generation; we are trying to reach all generations to come.

i. Proximity & Schedules

Finally, believe it or not, the Bible is sensitive to time and our busy schedules. Gal. 6:10, Eph. 5:16

This final characteristic I’m talking about is a matter of wisdom.

But generally it is recommended to find those whose schedules align with your own.

We must also consider where we live or work, and our time commitments with family, job, and church.

In all of this, of course, God prepares the good works in advance for us to do . Eph. 2:10

And as with the Good Samaritan, sometimes he places people in our path who we might not ordinarily
think to spend time with.

All that to say, be wise and thoughtful about whom you choose to spend time with, but know that the
Lord’s providence sometimes overrules all our planning. Praise God, it keeps us dependent upon him!

In all of this, whether you are self-consciously discipling one person or four, make sure that you are growing
spiritually, and then help those around you to grow, both are important, and each contributes to the other.

2. Have Clear Aims

Once we choose someone to disciple, have clear aims for that relationship, the larger goal, of course, is to help
him or her follow Jesus.

But how specifically are you going to do that?

Discipling a Christian A will look different than discipling a Disciple B.

That said, let me encourage you to always think both in terms of what people understand and how they live.

a. Help People To Understand More:

For starters, our discipling should help people understand more.

We want people to grow in the knowledge of God in Christ, and faith comes from hearing the word of
Christ. Paul therefore tells Timothy to keep a close watch on himself and on the teaching.

By persisting in this, Paul says, Timothy will save both himself and his hearers (1 Tim. 4:16).

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 Through discipling, you want people to know why Christians pray, why we share the gospel, why we
join a church, why knowledge of God’s sovereignty impacts how we live, and more.

Discipling is not merely about accountability and behavior modification.

Jesus tells us to make disciples by teaching people to obey, but they cannot obey what they haven’t
been taught. We first have to teach.

The Word of God should be central to any discipling relationship.

Discipling might therefore involve outlining a book of the Bible with someone or studying the Word in
some other fashion.

We’re to help one another “hold fast to the word of life,” as Paul put it (Phil. 2:16). What a great
phrase! Encourage people to hold fast to the Word of life by reading and understanding and obeying.

We can use good Christian books in a discipling relationship, yet the best books take people to the
Bible.

We want the basics of the Christian faith and life to be clearly understood.

b. Help People to Live Better

We don’t only want to help people understand better, we also want to help them to live better.

Again and again Paul calls his readers to imitate him as he imitates Christ, and of course he is imitating Jesus in
this. 1 Cor. 4:15–17; 11:1; Phil. 3:17; 4:9; 2 Thess. 3:7–9; 2 Tim. 3:10–11

Knowing God changes how we live (see Gal. 4:9).

We live as aliens and strangers in an antagonistic world, always faced with the pressure to conform but
the Bible calls us to resist that pressure.

We are to be “blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and
twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world”. Phil. 2:15

This is why Christians always need better examples of godliness set before them: “Brothers, join in
imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us”. Phil.
3:17

How then do we impact how others live?

By spending time with them.

So much of discipling is doing what we ordinarily do but bringing people along with us and having
meaningful conversations, like Jesus did.

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 Listen to how Paul involved Timothy in everything: “You, however, have followed my teaching, my
conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and
sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured”
(2 Tim. 3:10–11).

Timothy, apparently, saw it all.

Facades defeat the purpose, invite others to learn from your mistakes.

Our life should attract people to listen to us; our teaching should then work for their transformation; their
transformed lives should then illustrate what we taught, which in turn attracts people to listen to them.

c. Ask Questions

No matter who we disciple, we want to help them better follow Jesus by growing in the knowledge of God and
by learning to put that knowledge into practice—to understand better and to live better.

Beyond that, of course, so much depends on the person we are discipling.

Therefore one of the first things we should do in a discipling relationship is get to know the person by asking
lots of questions:

How did you become a Christian? Where are you from? Were your parents Christians? Your
grandparents? Why do you have the job that you do? And so forth.

In time, the level of trust and transparency should grow, and more and more you should be able to talk
about the deeper, more personal matters and what the gospel means in those areas.

Really, the “how” of discipling is not that complicated. It’s about doing life together with other people as you
all journey toward Christ.

We make friends and then walk them in a Christward direction.

3. Pay The Cost

How do we disciple? We find someone, we establish goals and finally, we just do it.

And to do that, we have to pay the cost: time, study, prayer, and love.

a. Discipling Takes Time

It’s the cost of time that requires us to be deliberate about discipling someone and time limits the number of
discipling relationships we can have.

Yes, we can disciple lots of people by preaching a sermon or writing an article, but here we are talking
about one-to-one or small group discipling and these must be deliberate and intentional.

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 Even if our schedules work together, discipling relationships take time, convenience will not entirely
eliminate cost.

Anytime we do life-on-life relationships, we give each other the gift of time.

We can pay that cost in small ways, like talking to others after church or running errands with each
other.

We can pay it in larger ways, like scheduling weekly meals together, in a coffee shop, at a library, at an
auto repair shop, or during yard work.

We may find that some people are so willing to spend time with you that they’ll fold into your life or
serve you or your family.

We help to make the time worthwhile by being transparent and honest in the relationship.

b. Discipling Requires Study

If faith comes by hearing the Word, we want to feed faith with the Word.

The expositional sermons you hear preached at church (I hope) provide good foundations for
conversations the following week.

Other books can help as well, as they lead you deeper into a topic.

Christian discipleship and discipling involves loving God with our minds.

We should desire to know him, and help others know him, as he has revealed himself in the Word.

c. Discipling Requires Prayer

Paul tells us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17).

Pray for those you’re discipling and teach them to pray.

The changes we need are supernatural changes, even if God uses human means like prayer.

In our discipling, ask questions that help people think through what they pray about.

Do they know how to take a passage of Scripture and pray from it? Are they spending personal time in
prayer? What kind of things do they pray about? Who are they praying for? Do they pray about
friendships? About ministry? About money? About friends they would like to be converted? About
their own purity and holiness?

Read good books that demonstrate how to pray from Scripture, such as D. A. Carson’s Praying with
Paul and Donald Whitney’s Praying the Bible and pray.

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d. Discipling Requires Love

Jesus instructs, “Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another”. John 13:34

He also summarizes the whole law in the two commands to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself/
Mark 12:28–31

Hopefully, we see how important love is in a discipling relationship.

Love Initiates a Discipling Relationship.

It is love that constrains us to deny ourselves and serve others.

It is love that causes us to risk being rejected, which is always a threat when starting a relationship.

It is always love for God and others that leads us to overlook the difficulties and absorb the costs
because we want to see someone grow.

Love Humbly Gives of Itself in a Discipling Relationship.

Maybe were tempted to think that were too big, too important or too busy to love this other person.

There is a place to consider your schedule, to be sure.

But love will enable you to value the other person as you should, and so give of yourself.

We build relational capital in order to spend it for the good of those we love.

Love Perseveres in a Discipling Relationship.

Discipling relationships can be great, but even great relationships needs a persevering love.

Challenges would come between a disciple and its disciple along the way.

Of course this requires us to recall how radically and completely we’ve been loved by God and that
love spills over, and keeps spilling over.

Love Humbly Receives the Criticism that Often Comes in a Discipling Relationship.

Love and vanity don’t work well together;

If we are concerned only with what the other person thinks of us instead of with how he or she is
doing, it will be hard for us to love and disciple as we should.

We won’t be able speak or to receive the corrective word in season.

To do that, our love for God and our friend must exceed our love for our own reputation. Prov. 27:6

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Love Allows Us to End Discipling Relationships.

Peoples circumstances and needs changes and we cannot provide everything like God does.

Maybe the people we disciple need something that we are not equipped to give.

We need a love that humbles us enough to recognize that what they need is not us, but God, and that
God can use us for a while, and then use someone else.

4. Raising Up Leaders

The New Testament is filled with instruction on discipling believers generally.

But now and then it also focuses on raising up church leaders in particular. Titus 1:5, 2 Tim. 2:2

One of the particular obligations of Elders are to raise up future leaders.

Samuel Miller once observed:

Wherever you reside, endeavor always to acquire and maintain an influence with young men. They are the
hope of the church and of the state; and he who becomes instrumental in imbuing their minds with sentiments
of wisdom, virtue and piety, is one of the greatest benefactors of his species. They are, therefore, worthy of
your special and unwearied attention. . . . In short, employ every Christian method of attaching them to your
person and ministry, and of inducing them to take an early interest in the affairs of the church.

Here then are nine steps for raising up church leaders.

a. Shepherd Toward Biblical Qualifications

The place to begin is with the qualifications. 1 Tim. 3:1–7; also, Titus 1:6–9

There is nothing extraordinary about these virtues but D. A. Carson once said: an elder does what an ordinary
Christian should do extraordinarily well, he is a model for the whole flock; he is a picture of maturity for all
of them.

b. Adopt A Posture Of Looking

If we want to raise up leaders, we need to be on permanent lookout for more leaders as our posture,
especially if we are an elder.

When it comes to raising up leaders generally, look for natural gifts of leadership.

Occasionally ask young men with gifts of leadership whether they have thought about serving as an elder and
if building up the church is one of their aspirations;

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If so, do train them in the leadership qualification of 1 Tim and Titus 1:6-9 early on in their discipleship,
knowing that they may be years away from being qualified and ready

We want to promote and equip men who look like they can help to advance Christianity into the place we will
never go: the future beyond my passing.

Pastors should be profoundly opportunistic about raising up more pastors and the whole church should have a
deep confidence that the Lord wants new leaders raised up.

Ultimately, we want to shepherd men toward biblical qualified-ness, that’s the baseline, and the more a man
also demonstrates the natural giftings, which show themselves in the fact that people follow him, the more
we might look for opportunities to have him practice leading.

c. Spend Personal Time

Spending time with people is a crucial part of raising up leaders.

Jesus called the disciples to join him on the mountain so that they might “be with him.”

Hebrews 13 exhorts the church to follow an elder’s example, how can they do that if they don’t know their
leaders up close?

Paul’s call to imitation requires the same—time spent.

Figure out what schedule works for us, and draw disciples into it.

d. Advance Trust

If we want to see leaders raised up, your general posture should be characterized by a willingness to advance
trust.

Advancing trust is a property of love: love believes all things, hopes all things. 1 Cor. 13:7

We probably have members of our church whom the Lord has entrusted with great talent but for that to be
discovered, someone must advance trust to them, and good leaders do this.

They don’t wait for people to prove themselves, and then give them teaching opportunities.

No, they see the hint of something that, with a little encouragement, could grow and flourish and they
advance credit and let the young disciple spend it.

e. Delegate Responsibility

This point is tied to the last one. How do you advance trust? By delegating responsibility and opportunity.

There are several components to this:

Give people the opportunity to lead.

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 Quietly keep a list of men in your congregation that you think might be good teachers, or public
prayers, or service leaders, or Sunday school teachers.

Test them by delegating, I recognize that some pastors feel very protective about their flocks: “But
Mark, the Holy Spirit has made me the overseer” Acts 20:28.

When we are gone the church is going to be fine and we want to help make it more fine by loosening
our grip now and preparing other leaders by delegating.

Our goal is not to build our kingdom; we empower by giving others opportunities to lead and teach.

Lose votes and arguments.

Delegating authority means ceding a measure of control, and if you are willing to do that, you need to
be willing to lose votes or not always have the last word, not everything must go our way.

If we never let people lead in a way contrary to our own opinion, we are not really letting them lead!

We might be disappointed to lose on this or that issue, but the gain of encouraging other leaders to
lead is a better long-term investment.

Cultivate respect for other leaders.

Paul cultivated the respect of the church for Timothy his protégé. Philippians 2:39

f. Give Feedback

We must also model giving godly encouragement.

Paul had plenty of critical things to say to the Corinthian church, yet he opens the letter by giving
thanks to God for them. 1 Cor. 1:5, 7

Paul was not flattering the Corinthians, he was rightly acknowledging what God had done.

Once we delegate responsibilities and opportunities to minister, we also need to create structures for
feedback.

Be honest and tender with brothers about things they could improve upon.

Your ability to give godly criticism will be greatly enhanced by modeling what it means to invite and
receive godly criticism.

g. Encourage Godly Authority

Raising up leaders requires us to teach and encourage about godly authority, Jesus certainly taught his
disciples about a right use of authority. Matt. 20:25–27

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David’s “last words” are striking: “When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them
like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout
from the earth” (23:3–4).

Good authority blesses those under it; Look at how a family prospers under good parents, or a team under a
good coach.

People will gravitate toward good healthy authority that spends itself for the good of those under its care,
rather than using them for its own good.

Just as Jesus tutored his disciples in the godly use of authority, so must we with any men whom we are raising
up in leadership and pastors must model such authority.

h. Expect Clarity

Leaders in the church must know how to be unusually clear on doctrine and in teaching the truth generally.

This is an implication of what Paul teaches the Ephesian leaders in Acts 20 and it’s his assumption throughout
his letters to Timothy and Titus.

A leader must possess a clear-headedness about the truth.

We want people who have a natural ability to answer the question, “Why?”

And they need to be especially clear about certain issues: the most basic matters of theology and the gospel;

Those doctrines that distinguish your church from others; and those teachings of the Bible that are under fire
and currently unpopular in the world at large.

i. Foster a Culture Of Humility

What all eight of these previous practices require is a culture of humility.

Christian discipling depends on such humility, not envy.

It’s no sign of humility in me if I’m watching someone else minister and thinking either “I could do better!” or,
feeling discouraged, “I could never do it that well.”

Fostering a culture of humility means working against the fear of man by learning to fear the Lord.

WORLD MISSIONS
The Bible does not use the phrase “world missions,” but God is certainly missions-minded, and His love
extends to all the world. Luke 19:10, John 3:16

World missions has its foundation in Jesus’ command to His disciples to go into all the world and “make
disciples of all nations”. Matthew 28:19

This is exactly what the disciples endeavored to do.

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 In Syrian Antioch, Paul and Barnabas were “set apart” by the Holy Spirit and called for a special work of
evangelizing Cyprus and Asia Minor. Acts 13:2

Paul preached the gospel “from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum”; he had plans to go to Spain,
and he eventually made it to Rome. verse 19, 24

Always, Paul strived to be a pioneer in world missions: “It has always been my ambition to preach the
gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation”.
Romans 15:20.

The book of Acts showcases the missionary fervor of the early church and emphasizes the necessity of world
missions.

God desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth about Jesus Christ. 1 Timothy 2:4

God does not show partiality to one race or nation above another. Acts 10:34–35.

The Bible says that, without Christ, we are all in the same dead spiritual condition. Romans 10:14–15

The offer of grace is extended to all; God cares about all people equally.

Because of God’s attitude toward the people of the whole world, we know that world missions—the
evangelization of all the people of the world—is one of the primary purpose of the church.

"How Can I Contribute To World Missions?"

World missions is the Christian mandate from Jesus known as the Great Commission.

As the world becomes more accessible, this mandate is more easily accomplished.

Air travel, satellites, and the internet have made it possible to evangelize more of the world than ever before.

Jesus left this instruction with every believer who claims to follow Him, so it is important that we find ways to
obey it.

The following are some ways that every Christian can be involved in world evangelism:

1. Personal Evangelism

In focusing on the needs of the world it is easy to ignore the world right outside our front doors.

While evangelizing Africa, India, and China is vitally important, making disciples of our next-door neighbors
and coworkers is equally valuable.

Sadly, in our postmodern world, nations such as the United States that once held the Bible in high esteem
have produced a new generation that knows next to nothing about the things of God.

Entire segments of Western culture are as pagan as Third World tribes.

Unless we see the mission field in our own backyards, we will probably not have the motivation to contribute
to evangelism around the world. World evangelism starts in our own communities.

2. Prayer
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Missionaries and indigenous pastors need our prayers.

Physical needs, life-threatening dangers, and loneliness are all very real parts of giving up one’s own life to
obey the Great Commission.

Mission boards help, but a common cry from the mission field is “Don’t forget us!” Especially for those
laboring in hostile or gospel-resistant areas, prayer is vitally important.

When we pray for those involved in world evangelism, we can ask the Lord to encourage them (2
Thessalonians 2:16–17), provide for them (Philippians 4:19), give them boldness in presenting the gospel
(Ephesians 6:20), open the hearts of their hearers to God’s truth (Acts 16:14; Ephesians 1:18), pray that they
will not grow weary in well-doing (2 Thessalonians 3:13) and that they will press on in their high calling
(Philippians 3:14).

3. Financial Support

Giving to missions is a vital part of world evangelism.

There have never been so many ways to contribute financially to people and organizations on the front lines
of evangelism.

In order to devote themselves full-time to ministry, missionaries and indigenous workers need financial
support from those whose calling is to send, not go.

Before offering financial support, it is important to research the person or organization responsible for using
the money, as some are more trustworthy than others.

In choosing an evangelistic endeavor to support, look for reputable endorsements, longevity in the field, and
open financial statements.

Read the statements of faith, learn the percentage dedicated to actual ministry as opposed to fund-raising or
overhead, and find verifiable testimonials of others associated with the ministry.

Jesus was supported financially by those who believed in Him (Luke 8:2–3), and Paul was not shy about
rebuking the churches who were not giving adequately to support God’s work among them (1 Corinthians
9:11–14; 16:17; Galatians 6:6).

4. Online Involvement

Due to the extent of the internet, more opportunities abound for becoming involved with world missions from
the comfort of our own homes.

Most major evangelistic/humanitarian organizations have websites that offer an array of support possibilities.

From writing letters to imprisoned pastors to contributing biblical truths in chat forums, opportunities for
world missions are often no farther than our fingertips.

5. Go
For some, the call to world evangelism is deeply personal.
In order to obey it, they leave everything familiar and follow Christ to remote lands, often to people groups
who have never heard the gospel.

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Some mission organizations specialize in facilitating this radical obedience and send trained missionaries into
places from which they may never return.

For others, obedience to this call may mean a short-term commitment.

Medical, architectural, and engineering teams often take time off from their own lives in order to invest their
skills in places that would otherwise continue to suffer without them.

They do so within a limited timeframe so that they can return to their regular positions and continue to
provide for their families and the ministries they financially support.

Short-term mission trips are also opportunities for people considering full-time missions, allowing them to
experience life in another culture and more specifically define God’s call on their lives.

CHURCH PLANTING
Church planting is the establishing of an organized body of believers in a new location.

The process of church planting involves evangelism, the discipleship of new believers, the training of
church leaders, and the organization of the church according to the New Testament model.

Usually the process also includes writing a church charter and/or doctrinal statement and finding a
place to meet or buying property and erecting a new building.

Church planting is a specific focus within the larger work of “missions.”

Church planters are missionaries who concentrate their efforts on preaching and teaching the Word of
God.

The ultimate goal of most church planters is to glorify the Lord in a community by founding an
autonomous, self-propagating body of believers.

Once this goal has been reached and the church is able to stand on its own, the church planter will
usually move on to a different community and begin the process again.

The church-planting focus is biblical.

As the apostle Paul traveled through an area, he always tried to spend enough time in each city to
establish a local body of believers and train the leadership (Acts 14:21-23).

Later, he would try to revisit those churches to confirm and encourage them in the faith (Acts 15:41; 1
Thessalonians 3:2).

The churches he established would then begin to send out missionaries themselves, and so the work of
church planting continued 1 Thessalonians 1:8.

God has gifted each of His children differently, and it is important that we discover those gifts and utilize them
to the fullest in service to Him (1 Peter 4:10; 1 Corinthians 12:4).

However, none of us can say, “World evangelism or mission is not my calling,” because it is a mandate given
by Jesus before He gave anyone specific callings.

World Mission is a universal instruction given to every follower of Christ.

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Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.
To belong to Jesus is to embrace the nations with Him.
William Carey

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