If we are making disciples, then what we do will last for eternity and result in greater glory to God.

This is a particular comfort and challenge in the field of college ministry.

As we see in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), evangelism was never meant to be divorced from discipleship, and neither of these can be divorced from mission. Many ministries are discovering that making on-mission disciples is the best evangelistic strategy they can initiate. Still, making lifelong disciples is a challenge, a truth to which any of us who have wrestled with our students drifting away from the church and Jesus after graduation can testify.

Therefore, we should be asking the question, “How does what we’re doing make disciples?” If we’re serious about ensuring we’re on mission, we will evaluate every program, every meeting, every event, every dollar we spend, and even every staff position by asking how each one serves to make disciples. Some aspects of our ministry will be affirmed and bolstered, others will need to be tweaked, and some will need to be axed if they don’t serve the goal of making disciples.

Why Is Making Disciples Such a Challenge?
Making disciples is a challenge for many reasons. The “tyranny of the urgent” is particularly strong in college ministry, where life-shaping conversations, processes, and events are crammed into fifteen-week semesters. There is always a lot going on. In this context, if making disciples isn’t built into the DNA of who we are, it will get shortchanged. Yes, we might talk about discipleship, but not everything we do contributes to it.

Campus ministry can’t be concerned only with the programs, events, or activities that are happening next week. We must focus on the spiritual formation of students for the missio Dei, a lifetime of following Jesus and joining him in his mission, making our goal to make disciples for the mission of God. After all, wasn’t that Jesus’ goal? Jesus proclaimed the good news that his hearers could join him in a new way of life. More than simply offering a message of personal salvation, Jesus invited his followers to participate in God’s redemption of the world. Our approach to articulating a vision of discipleship ought to be based upon Jesus’ own call to discipleship.

What Is a Disciple?
Perhaps we need to start by demystifying the term “disciple.” A disciple is a Christian, and a Christian is a disciple. Because of our modern obsession with compartmentalizing, we have acted as if there are two kinds of people in the church—Christians (the ones who “asked Jesus into their heart”) and disciples (the ones who are more serious, more disciplined about their faith). But this isn’t a biblical distinction. There is no such thing as a Christian who is not following Jesus. There is no allowance for someone to have Jesus as their Savior but not Jesus as their Lord. There is no such thing as a Christian who does nothing but sit around, passively absorbing content. The word “disciple” is used 230 times in the gospels and twenty-eight times in Acts. It is by far the most common way of referring to the people who followed Jesus and placed their faith in him.

Being a disciple means following Christ. More than that, it means responding daily to Jesus’ instruction that “if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34).

This is a comprehensive following: it means to follow him in everything, even unto death. Where discipleship is involved, there is no room for a simple decision of faith divorced from genuine commitment and the rigors of following Jesus.

To be a disciple is to obey everything Jesus taught us. It is not merely to give cognitive assent to a set of truths, but to belong to a community. It is to be increasingly conformed, by grace, to Christ, and means joining him in his redemptive mission and heeding his sending and discipling commands. Similarly, the essence of discipling others is to say with Paul, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” Being a disciple is always about Christ.

The concept of discipleship Jesus introduced ran counter to the prevailing notion of the teacher-disciple relationship. Jesus was not making disciples who would learn of him, become independent of him, and then make disciples of their own. His goal was that his disciples would make disciples not of themselves, but that they would go forth to make disciples of Jesus. The extent to which we enter the picture is only the extent to which we are conformed to Christ. This conformation must include following him in his redemptive mission.

“Do vs. Done” Discipleship
Because we follow Jesus Christ, true discipleship is always centered on the liberating and radical grace extended to us through him. I can’t overstate how crucial this is, because our failure to keep discipleship gospel-centered is the very reason so many Christians find it distasteful. The gospel is about what Jesus has done to save us, not what we do to save ourselves. Gospel-centered discipleship is about living into our identity as accepted, adopted sons and daughters of God, and following Jesus by the strength and power he provides. The discipleship that many of us have experienced is often about self-control, self-reliance, self-righteousness when we “succeed” and self-reproach when we “fail.” Gospel-centered discipleship is about celebrating and growing into our acceptance, while works-centered discipleship is the ill-fated, soul-sucking, burnout-inducing attempt to earn God’s approval.

The kind of discipleship that results in campus-saturating movements doesn’t rely on people trying to prove to God, others, and themselves that they are worthy. Gospel-centered discipleship tells us we’re not worthy, that we can’t measure up, and it’s only by grace that we’ll become like Jesus.

While works-centered disciples spend most of their time looking down on everyone else or themselves for not measuring up, gospel- centered disciples spend their time looking up in wonder at the grace they have been shown. While works-centered disciples are usually arrogant or depressed, gospel-centered disciples radiate joy and exude a holy confidence. While works-centered disciples are profoundly self-focused, morbidly introspective, and narcissistic, gospel-centered disciples are Christ- focused and radically others-focused. While works-centered disciples try to run on the fumes of self-effort, gospel-centered disciples are propelled by the grace and power of God. To follow Christ works the same as being saved by him—by grace, through faith.

Have you ever watched one of those home improvement shows? A few years ago, some friends of ours were on Trading Spaces. This was before the days of tear-jerking extreme home makeovers, so with the make- over team, they just performed some cosmetic changes that consisted of buying new pillows, adding a fresh coat of paint, and rearranging furniture. But despite their TV home “makeover,” their home looked pretty much the same. It wasn’t until years later, when they had a huge addition put on, that their home was transformed.

Works-centered discipleship—the kind for which we have such distaste, the kind in which the Pharisees and every legalist since them have indulged—makes cosmetic changes but fails to truly transform. It cleans things up a bit and makes for a good appearance, but nothing is really different. On the other hand, gospel-centered discipleship works from the inside out to truly transform someone. The emphasis is not on the external behaviors or the rigor with which we perform them. It’s on receiving the grace of God, which alone can save and change us.

The Problem with Small Groups
“But wait,” you might be saying. “We already work hard at making disciples. In fact, we have a number of small groups designed to do just that!” The problem is that many of our small groups are not doing all that we need them to. The reason we fail to not only make new disciples, but hold on to the ones we have, is that our discipleship processes often lack essential missional foundations. This is particularly the case in what we could call Just Small Groups Syndrome, or JSGS.

JSGS emphasizes intellectual/cognitive knowledge instead of whole-life conformity to the truth. We’ve compartmentalized the learning from the being and doing. In the college ministry realm, we’ve implicitly told students that they can’t “do” until they’ve learned enough. But Jesus taught his disciples through doing. What constitutes a successful small group? A team of people who would win Bible Jeopardy, or people who don’t just hear the word, but do it? JSGS creates consumers instead of disciples. It creates people whose only expectation is to get fed, people who feel threatened if we call them to more than that. JSGS creates inward-facing, self-concerned communities instead of outward-engaging teams of missionaries.

What if discipleship weren’t viewed apart from mission? What if one of the ways we grew in the gospel was not only through community, but through being embedded in a community in which people are on mission together?

We need more than small groups. We need missional communities — teams of students who share a burden for a particular people group and come together for the shared purpose of reaching that group together. They come together in community to preach the gospel to each other and to help each other share it with others. They come together for prayer, encouragement, and equipping. They come together to model the kind of community into which they’re inviting others. They’re not a once-per-week meeting, but a team or band committed to a common purpose. Groups that do this well are gospel-shaped communities on mission, and it is groups like these that God uses to transform lives, campuses, and the world.

This is an excerpt adapted from Stephen Lutz’s book, College Ministry in a Post-Christian Culture.

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Stephen Lutz is a pastor with Calvary Baptist Church in State College, PA and a campus minister with CCO at Penn State University. He is the author of College Ministry in a Post-Christian Culture, a book written to help college students and ministers recover the missional nature of college ministry. Steve is a native of the Philadelphia area. His interests include reaching college students, starting churches, innovation and entrepreneurship, and Penn State and Philly sports. He lives with his wife Jessica and their three children in Boalsburg, PA. He blogs at http://www.stephenlutz.net and tweets @stephenlutz.

Clarity is crucial when it comes to the task of gospel witness.

Let’s say you have been intentionally pouring your efforts and love into a particular non-Christian friend’s life for years. You have worked hard at guiding your conversations toward spiritual things, and progress has only been miniscule and bit by bit. But recently your friend, due to some hard and humbling circumstances that have come into his life, suddenly says to you, “Okay, tell me what this Christianity stuff is all about.” What would you say? Could you explain the gospel clearly in that moment?

I am not asking you whether you know the gospel because, if you are a believer, I assume that you do. The question is whether you are ready to explain it clearly.

I know how to properly kick a soccer ball because I have been doing it since I was four. But I have learned from coaching, that passing that knowledge on is not easy. I have put in hours of thought on how to explain a simple kick that is so natural and obvious to me. I’ve learned to break it down into a four-step process, so as to communicate it clearly. That’s how it is with the gospel: we know it instinctively, but articulating it clearly is a whole other matter.

Recently a famous Christian artist was asked in an interview to explain his understanding of the gospel. And this was his answer:

What a great question. I guess probably . . . my instinct is to say that it’s Jesus coming, living, dying, and being resurrected and his inaugurating the already and not yet of all things being restored to himself . . . and that happening by way of himself . . . the being made right of all things . . . that process both beginning and being a reality in the lives and hearts of believers, and yet a day coming when it will be more fully realized. But the good news, the gospel, the speaking of the good news, I would say is the news, I would say is the news of his kingdom coming, the inaugurating of his kingdom coming . . . that’s my instinct.

Now I actually love his answer because it’s so real. We can hear in his response that this is a guy who is a believer, who loves Jesus, who reads his Bible, who is theologically educated, who likes to talk about his faith, and who has some really good things to say. But we also hear that when it comes to explaining the gospel (which I have no doubt he knows), he is completely unclear. A non-Christian would have no idea what he was talking about.

The problem is that his explanation came out of “instinct”—not practice. Here’s the deal: if you think when the moment finally comes and your friend is ready to listen, that the gospel will flow “instinctively” and smoothly off your lips because, after all, you’ve been a Christian for years, you are wrong! It will come out of your mouth and fall on the floor in a muddled mess.

To be effective witnesses we must work at gospel clarity! We must work at being able to take what we know in our heads and hearts and clearly express it out of our mouths.

Three Disciplines of Clarity
First, memorize a few Scriptures that sum up the key components of the gospel such as Romans 3:23–24; 5:8–9 or Ephesians 2:8–9 or 1 Corinthians 15:1–5. But don’t just memorize these verses; spend time meditating on them noting how they communicate each element of the gospel (God as creator, man’s sin, God’s judgment, Jesus’s sacrifice and resurrection, repentance and faith). If you know just one or two of these verses thoroughly, you will have a great start in sharing the gospel with clarity. In a pinch you will be able to quote one of these verses or write it out for the person with whom you are sharing, and then you can use it as a guide to your conversation, even circling the key words as you explain them. Not only will the content of the verses keep your conversation on track, but also, by simply quoting them to your friend, you will grace him or her with the seed of God’s powerful Word, which the Holy Spirit may implant and begin to cultivate.

Second, make a gospel road map in your Bible. Simply take your Bible and a highlighter and mark a sequence of verses that take you through the gospel. Then, in the margin next to the verses, jot notes about what you want to say, along with the reference to the next verse you need. This way, when the opportunity to share arrives, all you will have to remember is the reference to the first verse of your sequence. And if you can’t remember that verse, just keep it tabbed in your Bible. I am not the best at memorizing verses, so this was my method for years. A good example of this method is what is called “The Roman Road.” It’s easy because it follows Romans 3:23; 6:23; 5:8; and 10:9 right through the gospel. And there are lots of great supporting verses right there in the context of the book of Romans.

Third, learn a rote gospel presentation. Yes, I am talking about one of those presentations that they sometimes offer as an evangelism course at church, the ones that you may think are “canned” and corny and come with a matching gospel tract. You have been avoiding these presentations like the plague because you fear you’ll have to do door- to-door evangelism. I have taken a few of these courses on gospel presentation, and let me tell you what I have gotten from them:

• They help me wrestle with the logic of the gospel.
• They make me memorize key gospel verses, which is reason enough to take the course.
• They  teach  me  transition  sentences  that  help  me  so  that  I  don’t  get stuck in one part of the gospel and can’t remember what comes next.
• They often give me great illustrations that help me explain hard concepts like the nature of sin.
• They  keep  me  on  track  so  that  I  can  get  through  the  whole  gospel message . . . even when my friend keeps asking about aliens or The DaVinci Code.
• They lead the listener to a point of decision.

And the truth is that they only sound canned or awkward if you fumble through them because you haven’t learned them well. Learn them well and the framework will become part of how you naturally think, so that the words and ideas will flow off your lips like they’re your own. It will almost be like you’re speaking out of instinct!

I presently use a gospel presentation put out by some Aussies called “Two Ways to Live.” It’s a series of six boxes that you can draw as you speak. In each box you sketch stick figures and write verses that flow clearly and concisely through the logic of the gospel. (See www.GodlyYoungMan.org.) This framework has become such a part of how I think that even when I am not drawing the boxes, they still guide my gospel conversations. I have even come to the place where I check off (in my head) what box we left off at when the conversation gets interrupted—so that later I can pick it up right where we left off!

So step up your efforts and take a good evangelism presentation class. Put in the work for the sake of gospel clarity! 

This excerpt is adapted from R. Kent and Carey Hughes’ book, Disciplines of a Godly Young Man.

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R. Kent Hughes (DMin, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is senior pastor emeritus of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois where he served as pastor for 27 years. He has authored numerous books for Crossway, including Disciplines of a Godly Man. He is also the series editor and a contributor to the popular Preaching the Word series. Hughes now lives in Washington state with his wife, Barbara, and is the father of four and grandfather of an ever-increasing number of grandchildren. Carey Hughes (MTh, Moore College, Sydney) is senior pastor of Christ the Redeemer Church in Spokane, Washington, and former Junior High director at College Church in Wheaton.

That’s what God did, that’s what Jesus did, that’s what his disciples did—and that’s what we are called to do!

Gospel witness is at the heart of authentic godliness. It’s who God is. It’s what God does!

Now if this truth really gets hold of us, it will mean a radical change in our Christian thinking and living. Evangelism will not be optional—or just for those with the gift! Witnessing will no longer be something that just “happens” if the opportunity presents itself. We will do more than hope people notice the difference in our lives and are magically drawn to Jesus.

No! If we really get it, then we will strive and work at witnessing. Gospel witness will become a discipline in our lives—a discipline of our godliness. In fact, it must become one of the central disciplines of our daily Christian walk.

So what does this look like? What should we be working at in our lives to be better gospel witnesses in this world? Let us suggest two things.

RELATIONAL INTENTIONALITY

Friendships
The first and simplest discipline of witness is to be intentional about our relational circles, about whom we hang out with. For most of us (apart from the inner ring of a few close friends) our social circles just kind of happen through school and work and church. And we don’t pay very close attention to what is going on; we just accept our circle of acquaintances as it develops. But to be an effective gospel witness this must change.

Jesus didn’t just let his relational circles happen. Not only did he give careful thought to the selection of those in his inner circle (the disciples), but he also strategically pursued relationships with unbelievers by entering into their social situations and hanging out with them. He sought out the “spiritually sick” (sinners and tax collectors) so as to bring them the good news. Jesus was constantly on the move to escape the crowds that only wanted their bellies filled or bodies fixed, so that he could proclaim the gospel to those with ears to hear. The apostle Paul did the same. His travels from city to city and frequent visits to synagogues and town halls were not about tourism; rather they were for the very purpose of creating relational opportunities to proclaim the gospel to more unbelievers!

Of course, most of us are not called to be traveling evangelists. But we all should be evangelistically intentional about the social and relational circles we run in. For some of you this needs to start by just seeking to get to know some unbelievers. I often hear from young guys in my church, especially those who attend Christian schools, that they actually don’t know any non-Christians, and they say this without any embarrassment. This is totally unacceptable! It’s our job to know and pursue non-Christians. The fact that they don’t naturally run in your social circles is no excuse. We must pursue non-Christians and be intentional about the relationships we already have with them.

Now, depending on our circumstances, we may need to be a bit creative to make this happen. My father was the pastor of a church of almost three thousand people for twenty-seven years. This put him at the epicenter of layers and layers and layers of Christian circles. He could hardly see pagans in the distance much less hang out with them. He could have said, “Well the Lord placed me here. I guess equipping the saints is my gig and evangelism is for others,” and no one would have faulted him for it! But he didn’t. Instead he made a list! He actually made a list of every non-Christian he had contact with—the mailman, the neighbors across the street, his brother, his barber, the lady at the coffee stand. He then prayed for those on his list and worked to foster those relationships—engaging them in conversation about their lives and inviting them to family or church events. He went to the same barber every month and tried to never miss his appointment. This allowed him to develop a consistent gospel dialogue with the man that continued for years.

In my own life, I’ve chosen to coach boys’ recreation league soccer for the past ten years. I got weary of coaching at about year three, but I keep at it because of the contact it affords me with families outside my regular church circles. Although I have to say that assistant coach, not head coach, is the ideal position, because it allows you to gab with the parents on the sideline—without being blamed when you lose!

If you are so “in” the Christian social scene that you are completely “out” of the unbelieving world, then you are totally missing a key component of true godliness. 

The sad truth is you will never be an effective witness—and things need to change in your life! Perhaps it’s time to quit the Evangelicals United All Saints Soccer Team and disband your Tuesday-night Trekkies for Jesus club and get out! Step out of your comfort zone for the sake of the gospel. The apostle Paul put it this way as he was challenging the Corinthians on how to use their freedom in Christ for evangelistic witness, “I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some” (1 Cor. 9:22).

Conversations
At this point you may be saying, “Hey I have lots of non-Christian friends (maybe even too many).” Great! But here is the question for you: How intentional are you in those relationships when it comes to actual gospel witness?

And I don’t mean “witness” as in modeling it by your exemplary moral conduct. That will only confirm for them that you’re a serious Mormon, or Catholic, or Christian, or Muslim—or prude! (I am the father of eight, so they always guess that I’m Mormon.) By “witness” I mean—what is it that you talk about with them? Have you been purposeful in guiding your conversations toward “God stuff” and even Jesus?

Our evangelistic intentionality must progress from making contact and relationship to making gospel conversation—or we are just wasting our time.

Of course, excellent gospel conversations generally don’t just happen. Your friend isn’t likely to start a gospel dialogue—like you’re sitting there in your flat (or your parent’s basement) with your pagan “gamer” buddy in the middle of a Modern Warfare II all-nighter and he’s suddenly going to say, “Hey man, what do you think would happen if I were to suddenly drop dead tonight and stand before God?” or “Dude, do you really believe in that Jesus stuff? And quit hogging the Doritos!”

The truth is that guiding a conversation toward spiritual things isn’t easy. It takes planning, it takes persistence, and it takes boldness. Just getting things started can be hard.

One of the best tips I know for getting into gospel conversations is this: be ready to give “spiritually leading” answers to common open-ended questions.

Take, for example, your friend asking a common question like, “What did you do this weekend?” We all get that question all the time—and we usually answer out of habit with, “Not much” or “Slept in.” But think what an opportunity that question affords for a “leading” answer such as, “Actually I heard an awesome sermon at church that really got me thinking.” Guys, if you’re ready with an answer like that, your chance of getting into a good conversation rather than the same old bull increases significantly.

Another good example comes from Pastor C. J. Mahaney. Quite often when people ask him “How are you?” he replies “Better than I deserve!” A friend of mine picked that up and used it as a reply to a lady that he had greeted every day at work for years, and it led immediately into a full-on gospel conversation. She couldn’t believe that he considered himself a person deserving of judgment, and she demanded to know why!

Now clearly, spiritually leading answers don’t always work. In response, all you may get is a blank stare or that raised-eyebrow look that I often get from my kids that says, “You’re sooo lame.” A much more sure way to get into a gospel dialogue is by taking the conversational lead by some skilled questioning. A colleague of mine is the mas- ter of this. He can meet a complete stranger after church and within a few minutes have him genuinely engaged in a spiritual conversation. I once asked him how he did it, figuring it just came naturally. But to my surprise he explained that he actually had a series of preplanned questions. He said each question was designed to shift up the intensity of the conversation without stalling it out. Intrigued, I asked him to write them out for me, and he did so in the form of a gear-shifting chart, which we now use for training our church interns in conversational evangelism. (See www.GodlyYoungMan.org.) When you check it out you will see that the questions really aren’t anything special, but they are intentional and flow naturally toward gospel conversation.

These techniques are helpful, but the truth is, the best way into a good gospel conversation is the long way. It is the result of a lot of previous conversations about things that really do matter, conversations in which you have taken the time to get to know a person and listen so that that person knows that you truly care.

If you reach out to your non-Christian friends in this way, entering their world and their lives, there is a good chance they will be the ones who start the gospel conversation.

But remember, whether through “technique” or “time spent,” it takes intentionality or it will never happen!

This excerpt is adapted from R. Kent and Carey Hughes’ book, Disciplines of a Godly Young Man.

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R. Kent Hughes (DMin, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is senior pastor emeritus of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois where he served as pastor for 27 years. He has authored numerous books for Crossway, including Disciplines of a Godly Man. He is also the series editor and a contributor to the popular Preaching the Word series. Hughes now lives in Washington state with his wife, Barbara, and is the father of four and grandfather of an ever-increasing number of grandchildren. Carey Hughes (MTh, Moore College, Sydney) is senior pastor of Christ the Redeemer Church in Spokane, Washington, and former Junior High director at College Church in Wheaton.

The three points above are living realities for me. I lead a church that is socially active, involved in the culture, and located in the buckle of the Bible Belt. These are all great things with many opportunities. But it is crucial that if I want to lead my church well, then I should be intentional about promoting and leading in evangelism.

Below are five ways I try to do this, with the Lord’s help:

Preaching the Gospel Centered Life
The backdrop of all evangelism includes the intentional and consistent preaching and teaching that God, who is eternally glorious, made us for Himself, and we are most human when we are rightly related to Him. Sin is a dehumanizing tragedy because it steals from God the glory we were meant to give Him, and redemption makes us whole again, starting in this life.

This Gospel gives us life so we can lay down our life for the sake of others.

This is evangelism–receiving new life that frees us to lay down our lives for the joy of others and the glory of God. We don’t candy coat our message. We Jesus coat it and dip it in Gospel. We include the joy and the cost, not shying away from calling people to radical discipleship. Discipleship is bound up with, not separate from, a robust view of the Gospel.

Connecting Evangelism with Gospel Gratitude 
Many think of evangelism as a joyless duty. Nothing could be further from the truth. We don’t have to do evangelism. We get to! This is not elite Christian speak. It is a reflection of reality. As we encourage God’s people toward evangelistic faithfulness, we call them to partake in the most profound exchange imaginable, the reconciliation between God and man. This makes evangelism a privilege rooted in the salvation that we ourselves don’t deserve.

If Jesus is not good news to us, then we will never think He is good news for others.

The first step toward leading people to become evangelists is to lead them to the waters of the Gospel. If Jesus is not good news to us, then we will never think He is good news for others. We won’t abandon comfort zones if we don’t first see the superior comfort of Christ. Gratitude to God is the eternal wellspring of willing, joyful, and effective evangelism.

Modeling Evangelism in My Own Life
As a lead pastor, I want to make sure that I ask people to follow me in something I am actually doing, not something I read in a book somewhere. So I am active in personal evangelism, and call our leaders to evangelistic faithfulness in their own lives as well. For those who want to be mentored in church planting or vocational ministry, I make sure they know that they will not get significant time or equipping from me if they are not doing evangelism. This is not so I can be cool and hardcore. Instead, I want to train up passionate soul winners, not men who build churches by stealing people from other churches.

I wonder if many churches struggle with evangelism because their pastors do. Often young leaders transmit the message that being a pastor or church planter is about anything but the hard work of making disciples, training leaders, and building a life-giving church. We need to die to our hunger for productivity, fame, and the approval of others (a slow death) if we are going to lead in evangelism. We need to re-evangelize ourselves with the gospel of Christ, which reminds us that because we have received new life from Christ we can lay down our livesfor others.

Encouraging the Use of Words 
If we or anyone else is going to be delivered from death and transformed to life through the reconciling power of the cross, at some point, they need to hear that particular message in actual human language about Jesus. They need to know what He did, how they can know Him, and what He calls them to. We need to take the “risk” of opening our mouths.

There is no disconnect between living missionally and talking about Jesus. But it is very easy to look missional and never say a word about Jesus. Unfortunately, missional engagement often (incorrectly) means that you will get a pat on the back for having a house show in your living room or feeding the poor at a soup kitchen; but you will be seen as a shallow fundamentalist who doesn’t care about incarnational ministry if you do evangelism, that is, if you talk about Jesus.

Let’s encourage God’s people to speak, to move toward a boldness rooted in the unshakeable reality of the Gospel, where we rely on the Holy Spirit to tell us what to say and when to say it. Without His guidance we will either talk too much or never talk at all. We will awkwardly throw up on people because we think their eternal destiny is up to us and not the sovereign Holy Spirit, or we will never say anything at all because we are waiting for that perfect time when someone is least likely to resist, instead of trusting in the transformative power of the Gospel.

Once again, a willingness to speak comes from a heart that is smitten by the only person in the universe worth talking about, and possibly looking foolish for.

Celebrating the Fruit of Evangelism
When someone becomes a Christian, we make a big deal about it. We announce it on Sundays, and in Parishes. We announce it on the web. We have a public baptism service. We talk about it constantly. Many Christians report never having seen someone become a Christian before coming to our church. It is extremely encouraging for them to see something supernatural like someone “gittin saved.”

In celebrating someone’s conversion, we are celebrating evangelism. People need to know, especially in the Bible Belt, where Christianity is a cultural relic, that the Holy Spirit is alive and well, making disciples and building God’s Kingdom, and that they themselves can be a part of it. This celebration has awakened many to tell others about Jesus for the first time in their lives. Literally, evangelism begets evangelists.

There is much more that could be done and said to promote evangelism in our church. I intentionally keep it simple in our church for teaching purposes. Preaching, Connecting, Modeling, Encouraging, and Celebrating.

What are some ways you are leading people toward evangelistic faithfulness?

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Ross Appleton is lead pastor at Christ Community Church of Denton, TX, where he serves the church by leading in the areas of pastoral care, preaching and teaching, and overall vision. He is happily married to Heather, and has 4 wonderful children: Sophia, Henry, Leona, and Maxwell. He loves learning and discussing theology and philosophy, reading and watching science fiction with his kids, and drinking Folgers coffee at all hours of the day with his wife.

In any given ministry context, we must rethink discipleship and develop a strategy of gospel discipleship that emphasizes Scripture, prayer, and the kingdom. This approach arises because of the importance of each personal interaction in the discipling experience. I call this “discipling in the moment” or DIM for short.

Discipling in the moment is a way of discipling without a program that sees Christians and non-Christians brought closer to their Savior over the course of the conversation or interaction.

DIM arose because I realized that when I meet a new person, I do not know what kind of contact and interaction I will have with them in the future, if at all. I also realized my obligation and duty as a minister of Jesus Christ to see some good come of  our meeting together regardless of the prospects of where they will attend church. Rather than make a high pressure sales presentation about the church or force feed them a four point outline of the gospel, I move forward in faith actively listening for where the three DIM components can be applied. The three DIM components are the Scripture, prayer, and kingdom.

DIM is my way of gospel discipling that puts the priority on the good and benefit of others. I am serving as a spiritual midwife trusting that God will use our interaction to take the other person one step closer to Him and into a fuller embracing of the gospel. When I am discipling in the moment (“DIMing”), authentic ministry and shepherding are carried out and I am truly concerned for their spiritual state, even though I do not know their future commitment to the church or if I will see them again.

The Place of Scripture in Gospel Discipling
Since we understand discipleship as gospel re-presentation, then we must know that the content for a depth presentation of gospel happens in the moment through the Scripture. The Scripture as the Word of Truth is a principle means the Spirit uses in sanctification (John 17:17). The Scripture must be preached, meaning that “God’s redemptive work [must be] the content, the motive, and the power behind all biblical exposition.”[1] For until “people look beyond themselves for spiritual health do they find their sole hope and source of power to do what God requires.”[2]

Not only must the Scripture be preached, but also the Scripture must fill my DIM conversations so that disciples can look beyond themselves for understanding and integration. God uses His Word to call people to believe (Romans 10:17, Galatians 3:2) and His Word is the interpreter of our experience (2 Timothy 1:9). One of the goals of discipleship is to stop living for ourselves and start living for our Savior.

When we seek to understand our life through the lens of God’s Word, our self-orientation is challenged and kingdom priorities become a possibility for us to pursue.

Both in preaching and conversation, I have been impressed with the need to be biblical in discipleship. This means to point people to the Scripture for answers, to read the Scripture to people, and to guide people in looking at the Scripture for God’s plan and purposes. Scripture is at the heart of gospel discipling because it contains the transformative content the Spirit uses to make disciples.

The Place of Prayer in Gospel Discipling
If Scripture is the content of gospel discipling, then prayer is the power for pursuing gospel discipling. Over familiarity with the message of the gospel[3], apathy, confusion, and demonic forces—all obstacles which disciples struggle with—are best addressed when I engage in prayer (Mark 9:29). So often I am tempted to trust and rely on my own resources: verbiage, personality, and gifting rather than the power of God to make His message through the Scripture clear and evident to a disciple in the moment of ministry by the power of His Spirit.

In my current setting, I am meeting new people almost every day. Before I meet with people, as I meet with people, when I shake hands, when I am listening to them, I should engage in prayer for them. I can also pray for them when I share the Spiritual Birthline and hear their story. I can praise God for His work in their life through prayer and I can pray over the Scripture passages I will preach and teach. In praying, the power for gospel discipleship is brought to bear in ministry.

The Place of Kingdom in Gospel Discipling
The third and final component to gospel discipling is the kingdom of God. The Scripture is the content for gospel discipling, prayer is the power for gospel discipling, and kingdom is the purpose for gospel discipling. Participating in the advancement of the kingdom is where discipleship leads and requires that the disciple maker is an expert in how the Holy Spirit works in the lives of people.

It is my role in discipleship to listen, observe, and biblically guide how a disciple can connect with kingdom involvement.

Kingdom involvement connects the content of discipleship with the “nations” of Matthew 28:19. Sitting with people and talking through the implications of the gospel leads to a transformational and missional conclusion that affects family, friends, colleagues, community, city, country, and the world. Inviting people to participate in the advancement of God’s kingdom is where they can be challenged to grow in their reliance upon God as they come into contact with the truth of the gospel.

In the fuller context of kingdom involvement, the disciple orients his life with Christ at the center and is propelled outward in ministry. This centering on the King of the kingdom provides a continual energy of renewal for discipleship that scatters disciples in purposeful living and gathers them again around the Savior to push outward in worship, community, and power (Acts 8:4).

Conclusion
In ministry I have made the journey of discipleship from a one-size-fits-all rigid program to rethinking that approach and seeing emerge a biblical and theoretical framework which is flexible and applicable to any person.

The components of Scripture, prayer, and kingdom are not part of a program and are not sequential. This allows for the components of gospel discipling to be presented in any order and to overlap. For example, we can begin discipleship with an invitation to join in kingdom purposes (a mission trip), followed by the Scriptural basis (John 3:16) , and both driven into the heart by prayer (“Thy kingdom come…”).[4]  A hierarchy of discipleship and Christian pride are avoided since the discipleship process can be started at any point, is perpetual, and less structured. As a result, both the neophyte and the experienced are challenged by the same message of the gospel.

Discipleship is vital to any church ministry. I have been challenged by studying discipleship to seek in ministry to make disciples and not just converts. I have been challenged to enter into the process with people to assist in the Holy Spirit’s shaping them into Christlikeness. I have been inspired to seek to obey Christ’s last command using the means he gives to see him glorified.

This is Part 3 of the 3-Part Series, Discipleship in the Moment by Allen Taha. Here are parts One and Two of the series.

As a pastor and follower of Jesus, how do I communicate and apply discipleship as gospel re-presentation in ministry? The starting point is personal repentance. I have too often found myself lacking the faith to trust in the message of the gospel and the means of God to transform people’s lives. I must turn away from my confidence in my ineffective and supposed “extraordinary abilities and gifts” and trust in the “ordinary” means of God in the gospel which have the power to “destroy strongholds” (1 Corinthians 10:4).

Seeing Myself as a Patient
Discipling is not about being a guru or modeling the all-together life. Where I have not lived transparently, I have communicated that I do not need a Savior. Instead, I must be convinced of the reality that I am a patient and God has called me to be a physician of souls as well. As I look to care for the souls God has entrusted me with in ministry, I see myself as needing the same cure they do.

The remedy that I commend to them in the gospel, is the same remedy I must partake. We must together soak the wounds of our sin, in the living water of the gospel.

Part of being a physician of souls is to carefully examine my own life in the light of Scripture and see where I could be “always able out of Christ’s fullness to select the spiritual remedies required.”[1]  Archibald Alexander noted how he was inspired by the medical students of his day with “the alacrity and perseverance with which [they] attend upon anatomical and physiological lectures” and how “the men of this profession make experiments are highly worthy of imitation.”[2]  Such effort is doubly worthy of pastors and disciple-makers today that we might see the Great Physician cure people’s souls through “inculcat[ing] clearly, fully, and practically, the grace of God as manifested in the Gospel.”[3] For until I learn this skill I can expect “no vigorous growth of piety among professing Christians”[4] or in myself.

Becoming a Spiritual Midwife
In gospel discipleship, my primary role is to facilitate and assist in the work of the Holy Spirit in another person’s life. In this role, I am believing that God is already at work by the Holy Spirit in effectual calling or in sanctification (depending on whether a person is a Christian). This knowledge gives me tremendous confidence in the transformative power of God to affect change in spite of my failings and inability.

The Spiritual Birthline[5] graphically displays the spiritual reality that there is a process or gestation period where the Lord is bringing people to Himself. This gestation period culminates in the new birth experienced in conversion (John 3:3). However, by understanding God’s place in the process we are cured of our arrogance and confusion because we know we are not able to do that which only God can accomplish. Just as the midwife does not create the life or cause the birth, the spiritual midwife is primarily a facilitator of a process initiated and governed by God alone.

The Spiritual Birthline also helps to erase some of the false distinction that has arisen between evangelism and discipleship. This false distinction prevents people from knowing that the power that brought them to Christ, is the same power they need to live for him. In re-presenting the gospel, we are giving someone more of what they truly need. It was the power of God through the gospel which saved them, and it will be the power of God through the gospel which sanctifies them.

Starting with the gospel and staying with the gospel is the reality explained in Colossians 2:6-7: “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

The New Discipleship
The new view of discipleship as gospel discipleship or gospel re-presentation puts an emphasis on a “depth presentation of the gospel.”[6]  This is the presentation and the re-presentation and application of the fullness of all that Christ has done and will do in the life of a believer. The Spiritual Birthline is a helpful tool here. The Birthline assists in helping a person grasp all that God is doing in their life, no matter where they are at spiritually. In addition, I can present the Birthline and ask where a person is in their spiritual pilgrimage as a diagnostic and, in listening to them, build a relationship and get to know them on a deeper level.  Spiritual Birthline interpretation is soaking in the gospel as I assist people in recognizing God’s work in their life.

Giving myself to gospel discipling, begins with the Spirit enabling me to “be a man whose inner life has been gripped through and through by the message of the Cross.”[7]

In being gripped by the cross, I can become the pacesetter, “who motivates an ingrown church to outreach by setting the example.”[8] How does this happen? It is a transforming work of the Spirit who utilizes the meditation on gospel truths in Scripture, prayer, and faith-filled experience in ministry, to revive my own heart and renew my pastoral and leadership abilities.[9]

As I lead out from being centered on the gospel and Christ, the effect overflows into the faith community. Our confidence rests with God’s sovereign calling, so we are engaged in the process of seeing faith form in others. We do not feel the pressure to coerce or manipulate decisions for Christ, but give people the freedom to belong before they believe.[10] We can be tremendously open and hospitable as a church plant, or established church, and yet maintain our commitment to the “exclusive nature of the Christian faith.”[11]

When we embrace our calling as a faith forming community, the distinction between evangelism and discipleship disappears.

People are welcomed into the process of becoming a follower of Jesus and we affirm that the way we come to Christ is the way we live for him. Our emphasis shifts from narrowly defined Damascus road type testimonies to embracing diversity in the process of coming to faith.[12] We shepherd and midwife the people who are in process from the understanding that both the greatest resource for evangelism and the greatest resource for discipleship is the gospel.

This is Part 2 of the 3-Part Series, Discipleship in the Moment by Allen Taha.

They shared life in the rhythms of working, eating, suffering, and serving, like a family.

So how do we go about making disciples?

Mentor Discipleship
Paul describes discipleship through two primary relationships: brother to brother and father to son. Perhaps more people are familiar with brother discipleship relationships, where you have shared life and the gospel with your peers. All too often these Christian relationships stop at sharing life. They don’t go deep into the gospel, mining grace through conflict, suffering, and mission. The other disciple relationship God has given the church is the father to son or mother to daughter. This relationship is not peer-based but mentor-based, sharing not only life but also gospel wisdom.

I’ve had the privilege of sharing life and wisdom with some great mentors. Tom & Julie Steller shared their lives and the gospel with us our first year of marriage. We lived on the first floor of their home, which was connected to their floors with a winding staircase. We popped in on one another, talked in the front yard about life, and occasionally shared meals. The Stellers gave us an example of marriage during our first year. Julie intentionally prayed for Robie and walked with her through some trials. Tom also helped me fumble through the first year by sharing wisdom with me, not just life. He was the first person to show me that, when 1 Peter 3:7 calls us to “live with our wives in understanding way”, it literally reads “dwell with them according to knowledge.” In other words, husbands should be students of our wive’s needs, hopes, fears, and dreams. We should know them intimately not just provide for them financially. This insight has compelled me to love my wife over the years by asking her questions about her joys, fear, concerns, hopes, and dreams. I’ve passed it onto many.

How to Speak Wisely
Mentors speak wisely in a variety of ways. There’s not a one size fits all way of sharing wisdom. Paul discipled through speech by exhorting and encouraging. He wrote to them saying: “For you know how, like a father with his children”exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory” (2:11–12). A fatherly mentor observes his disciple and takes time to exhort, encourage, and charge others in the faith.

A mentor observes his disciple and takes time to exhort, encourage, and charge others in the faith.

Tom exhorted me to understand my wife as a display of the gospel to the world. Doug Birdsall encouraged me in seminary. We met together regularly but he also took the time to attend the Sunday School classes I taught, in both my first year and my last year. Then, after each class he would pull me aside to specifically tell me how I had improved. When I began writing, published author and mentor, Steve Macchia, encouraged me to keep writing even when my article queries were turned down. He insisted that I had a voice and something to say, and that one day, I would get published. He endorses my first book, which comes out in March. Exhorting and encouraging can and should happen in peer discipleship relationships too, though exhortation and encouragement from a mentor carries a particular weight. Use it wisely.

The discipleship crisis can be redressed if we will simply take the time to be disciples who share the gospel and our lives with others. If this kind of discipleship had stopped with Paul and Barnabas, Christianity would have gone nowhere. But Barnabas discipled Paul, Paul discipled Silas, who discipled the Thessalonians, who discipled others. Four generations of disciples. The church grew, in depth and number, through the multiplication of shared life and wisdom. What if this kind of discipleship had stopped with the Thessalonian church? Where would we be? If it had stopped with me, my now friend and fellow pastor would not be discipling others. When I first met him, he was a burned out musician and recovering alcoholic in need of shared life and gospel wisdom. After taking in some gospel steroids, sharing life, and devouring wisdom, he’s discipled others. Now he’s not only a peer disciple but also a mentor to others.

Life and Gospel
What would happen if you and your community took the opportunity to share life and the gospel, not just as peers but also as mentors to one another? You could stave off the crisis and advance the church.

Jesus wasn’t born, crucified, and raised just so you could go to church; he came so you would go make disciples.

Good discipleship relationships share life and the gospel. Sometimes they take the form of brotherly relationships and other times they take the form of mentor relationships, father to son, mother to daughter. Everyone needs a mentor but not everyone is promised a mentor. However, everyone can be a mentor to others. If you know Jesus, you know more than enough to disciple someone.

It is these discipling relationships that cause the gospel to spread, for disciples to multiply. What would it look like for you to invite one person into your life, to share just 25% of your time with? Who has God sent you to? Are you intentionally making disciples? Who could you deliberately pursue to share life and the gospel with? Jesus wasn’t born, crucified, and raised just so you could go to church; he came so you would go make disciples. Don’t just go to church; go make disciples!

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Jonathan K. Dodson (MDiv; ThM, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) serves as a pastor of Austin City Life in Austin, Texas. He has written articles in numerous blogs and journals such as The Resurgence, The Journal of Biblical Counseling, and Boundless. Dodson has discipled men and women abroad and at home for almost two decades, taking great delight in communicating the gospel and seeing Christ formed in others.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, 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)

How is the church doing with respect to accomplishing Jesus’ final command? Are we making disciples? Jim Peterson, of the Navigators ministry, makes the startling statement at the beginning of his book on discipleship, “Thirty years of discipleship programs, and we are not discipled.”[1]

What has happened to discipleship? How is it that Christianity in America is so shallow, given the accessibility and availability of resources and knowledge? Where is the power of Jesus in the lives of Christians? I need look no further than my own experience and journey in discipleship to see the failure of programs to accomplish Christ’s commission. As I trace my own journey in exploring what discipleship is, I must rethink discipleship for the advance of the gospel in order to see the emergence of a new discipleship framework.

Discipleship as Program?
Previously, I viewed discipleship as a program. Discipleship was a set body of information, usually the basics of Christianity, taught to a disciple in a structured academic environment. Once a person converted, discipleship was sharing information to produce behavioral conformity to evangelical Christianity. This view was established in my campus ministry experience with a parachurch ministry. In fact, once a person came to faith and went through one semester of Bible study, they were assimilated into a second Bible study which we called a “discipleship group.”

When discipleship is a program, there is a defined beginning and end with a distinct accompanying methodological emphasis.

Following the proven methods of discipleship to reach the end goal was key. Deviating from this method was not encouraged.  Deep down I knew something was amiss in this one-size-fits-all approach, but I was too young in my faith to articulate it and there were no other presenting alternatives.

I eventual came to see that utilizing a program made the end goal of discipleship not so much following Jesus and becoming like him, but the goal was self-perpetuating the particular parachurch ministry. This goal was accomplished by recruiting laborers from our pool of disciples. Progress in discipleship was more measured by involvement in and commitment to the parachurch ministry, rather than following God’s call to give Him glory in whatever vocational sphere into which He has called us.

I knew that there had to be more to discipleship and the Christian life than recruiting other parachurch staff. In time, I left the parachurch ministry and headed to seminary. My desire was to continue serving in ministry, but I knew I needed to not only grow in biblical knowledge and ministry skill, I needed a new paradigm found in the gospel.

Discipleship NOT as Program[2]
Through seminary and the following years of ministry, I vacillated when it came to discipleship. My past parachurch ministry experience was still my tendency, even though I knew something of the rich diversity of experimental religion. It was because I knew something of the grandeur and sovereignty of God, that I refused to force a program on people. So discipleship was no longer a program I followed, but having lost the intent and structure of a program, I resorted to a haphazard approach. Having come into contact through seminary with the gospel of grace in a fresh way, I knew discipleship was more than working hard as a Christian and checking off godly behaviors.

During these years in ministry, I frequently met with spiritual hungry Christians and personally directed them spiritually. I would informally ask questions and discern how people were doing. Based on their answers or struggles, I would give some sort of guidance or comfort based on my knowledge of the Scriptures. Often I would evaluate a person intuitively to discern what they needed to hear and then gauge the effectiveness of my discipling efforts on how well they listened and obeyed. While this was no longer a rigid program, it was still highly informational. I knew people needed contact with the Word of God and exposure to the truth, but my downfall in terms of discipling effectiveness was becoming an informational guru rather than an incarnational reality.

Discipleship as Gospel Re-Presentation[3]
If discipleship is not a program, if it is not a body of information, if it is not a class[4] to take, if it is not sitting at the feet of a guru, what is it?

Discipleship is presenting and applying the truths of the gospel in a way that cultivates the transforming knowledge of our Savior and results in following him.

The knowledge a person gains in knowing and trusting Christ is transformative because of the work of the Holy Spirit[5]. The Spirit’s work is to reveal the depths of knowledge (John 17:3), that we would look into the mirror of the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:1-6) and see God’s glory reflected there. In discipleship the gospel is unfolded and “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3) are discovered in Christ.

Though discipleship can be defined as growth in knowledge, it is not an academic exercise or reducible to book learning. The intimate and relational knowledge that the Spirit uses to transform lives is centered on Christ. Jesus Christ is the gospel by virtue of His position at the center of it.[6] He is the object of our faith (1 Timothy 1:14) and the mediator of the message (1 Timothy 2:5) which is the “power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16).

The New Testament pattern for discipleship is the presentation and re-presentation of all that Christ has accomplished.[7] So to disciple is to teach and model all that Christ has done and will do. To disciple is to remind and explain how the Scriptures proclaim the good news (Isaiah 61:2, Luke 2:11, 4:19) and the implications of that news for godly living.

Discipling begins and ends with the good news of the gospel.

The gospel is our starting point as the Father effectually calls people towards conversion, and the gospel is our end point as we continually experience the transforming and renewing power of the Spirit by faith in Christ. We start with the gospel in discipleship, we stay with the gospel, and we end this life and begin eternity with the knowledge and power the gospel supplies.

This is Part 1 of the 3-Part Series, Discipleship in the Moment by Allen Taha.

Following Christ Should Change Our Lives
We’ve been talking about the elements of discipleship ad nauseum for years. Bible study, surrender, the Holy Spirit, giving back… no one would disagree with these marks of a disciple… but most people never transfer these practices from the church campus to an actual life.

According to our role model, Jesus, surrender meant death in every possible way: materially, relationally, and physically. He surrendered until there was nothing left but redemption for a broken world.

The Holy Spirit is a blazing fire, charring every remnant of selfishness and pride left in our souls, an unquenchable fire that cannot be ignored or denied. Giving back means giving all; any inferior definition is pure deception. Our money, our resources, our gifts, our time, our dreams, our selfish ambitions, our comfort – these we give back in their entirety. Anything less is not discipleship at all. It is simply a clever substitution by a crafty enemy who has figured out how to use our own weaknesses against us, rocking us to complacent sleep with a consumeristic version of the gospel, knowing all the while he is making goats out of sheep.

Earlier today I sat down to start this chapter on how social action impacts discipleship when I was interrupted by a call from my wife. She said seven words, “Brandon. Come home. We got our referral!” Then she hung up.

Nearly a year ago we started the long journey of international adoption. After spending some time in Africa with The Eden Reforestation Projects, and falling in love with the children of Ethiopia, our hearts were affirmed that that’s where we were to adopt.

Jen handled the whirlwind of paperwork like a pro. It’s like applying for 20 mortgages at the same time. Quite a process: Family history, addresses, references, financial reports, physicals (even the dog), fingerprints, and home studies. We submitted our dossier. Made the payments thanks to some incredible friends and supporters. And we waited. I tried my best not to think about it too often, hoping the time would pass. Jen’s strategy was a little different; adoption blogs, facebook groups, email chains, and the adoption agency website were a daily obsession for her.

Today we were given the names, faces, and heart breaking stories of a beautiful little 5-year old girl and 7-year old boy we were going to adopt.

There are experiences in life that simply change us. Some are good. Some are tragic. But they literally change who we are and what we’re about from that point forward. While we’ve yet to realize the full impact adoption will have on us, this is certainly one of those experiences for us. Life will never be the same.

Following Christ should change our lives. We should not be the same. Discipleship should be transforming.

Yet when we think about our spiritual development, it’s easier to see a change in our practices than in our passions. We continue to add things and replace things, yet our hearts remain the same. We seem to think discipleship is an agreement to knowledge instead of a commitment to a gospel that makes all things new.

I share my story because I want you to know that my hope is completely different today than it was a handful of years ago. I’ve seen the same in others. While I know I have a ways to go, I can honestly say that the way I think is different. The way I feel is different. The way I love is simply different. My faith journey is now a joy. My church experience is life-giving. And for the first time, I actually do life with the people I’m in biblical community with.

When the Church Makes Jesus Public
Jesus was clear that his followers were the salt of the earth, a light to the world, and a city on a hill that could not be hidden. Being a visible city or a shining light does not mean that we should talk even louder when no one is listening to us or that we should wave our arms and jump around when we aren’t seen, just to get in someone’s face. When we are “salt,” saltiness is part of our very nature. If we are indeed “light,” we will indeed be seen in a dark world. Who we are can’t be hidden because light consumes the darkness.

These are images that define the nature of a community that becomes Good News to others. This is something we become because of what we believe, what we value, and what we do. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5 that when people encounter such a community that they will “see” our “good works” and then ultimately “give glory to your Father in heaven.”[ii]

In a post-Christian society, this is what the church needs to become yet again, salt and light to the world. The unchurched community no longer expects much from church; in fact, they often expect the worst. They are jaded. Wounded. And, confused. Yet people are still looking for hope, and no one else can offer what we have to offer them.

Our story made public, the visible witness of our lives together as a whole community, are integral to whether or not our message of hope becomes their message of hope.[iii]

To minister with influence in our current context, we must learn to locate the key differences between what our culture sees and what the Kingdom of God made visible has to offer them. The more the church lives in faithfulness to God and the gospel, the more visible God’s grace will be for all those who long for it. As Darrell Guder wrote in his book, Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America, “Churches that listen to sermons deploring crime may be faithful in attending to God’s call for right relationships among humanity. But the church that sets up victim-offender reconciliation programs and promotes equitable economic opportunities for communities where crime is the main escape route from financial despair is not only faithful but a remarkable light to the world, a city on a hill.”[iv]

Living the Gospel We Proclaim
We’ve already established that the gospel demands both proclamation and incarnation. Proclaiming has many forms, but in the end they are all spoken. Incarnation also has many forms but it is always about how we live.  It’s Good News when we speak the gospel message and share the offer of redemption that is available through Christ. And it’s Good News when we live incarnationally and take on the posture of Christ to others, humbly serving them. Either approach can be productive. But depending on how we engage in these activities, either of them can also be very ineffective.

Proclamation and incarnation are inseparably linked together. A spoken word can quickly be discredited through our actions, and in the same way our actions can quickly validate the message we speak. We can try to argue that our actions and words function independent of one another, without consequence. But one thing’s for certain: our observers never separate the two.

There are circumstances when proclamation is in order. We should always be prepared to speak and give a defense for the hope that we profess. There are moments when a spoken word can bring the conviction of sin and the confidence of reconciliation between a fallen child and a forgiving Father. But there are also times when speaking the Good News must begin by living it out and showing people what it looks like.

Mercy and justice ministry is a life-mate to the spoken Word in this equation. In an increasingly post-Christian and postmodern context where moral authority trumps positional authority, we would be wise to make sure that our deed matches our creed. If our actions and our message do not align, the message we desperately want to be heard will not be heard. At least not in the way we want.

Being Good News as a Way of Life
As a part of the spiritual formation process at Austin New Church, we spend quite a bit of time talking about tangible ways we can become good news as an intuitive way of life. Last night, my Restore Community was having a discussion around the Gospel as being Good News to broken people. I was incredibly encouraged by all the stories of how members of the group were being intentional about the gospel that very week.

After a time of sharing individual stories, I asked the group to think about how revealing, simple, and powerful each story was. And what it’s teaching them about the Gospel. Then I asked them to consider what would happen if a group of people collectively gathered around the mission of being good news as a way of life. What would be the impact on our community?

The immediate consensus was that people would want to be involved. That even those resistant to church would be intrigued. And that it would change the way people viewed us as believers.

They were excited to talk about how that might play out. They were being creative in thinking about ways to bridge new relationships with the hopes of making a positive impact on others. They were talking about how the growth would create the opportunity to form new groups and how together the scope of our service could be exponentially larger.

They didn’t even realize that we were talking about a biblical model of church where the Gospel is central. And they were excited about it growing. They were right in thinking that people would want to be a part of it. Just the idea was refreshing and life giving. Everyone was intrigued. Everyone smiling. And our affections were on the mission and the relationships, not the numbers.

Transforming the Way We View Success
I’ve heard it said that the more things change, the more things stay the same. I disagree. The more things change, the more things should change along with it. We should hope for transformed lives, increased hope, life-giving relationships, and for all things to be made new. This is the type of change I desire as a Christian. And honestly, I think it’s the type of the change the world is looking for.

Change is a good way to measure success. Often change itself is the success. Mostly because it’s the work of the Spirit that creates real change. Another way to think about it is transformation. If we were to really evaluate transformation in the church as evidenced by our lives, our relationships, our joy and peace it would certainly change what we view as success.

“It is not enough to fill our churches; we must transform our world. Society and culture should change if the church has been truly effective. Is the church reaching out and seeing lives changed by the Good News of the Kingdom of God? Surely the numbers of Christians will increase once this happens, but filling seats one day a week is not what the Kingdom is all about. We do Jesus an injustice by reducing His life and ministry to such a sad story as church attendance and membership roles. The measure of the church’s influence is found in society—on the streets, not in the pews.”[v]

This is an excerpt from Brandon Hatmaker’s book, Barefoot Church: Serving the Least in a Consumer Culture.

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Brandon Hatmaker is pastor of Austin New Church and a missional strategist & coach with Missio. He is married to author and speaker Jen Hatmaker and is father to five children, two via adoption from Ethiopia and three “the old fashioned way”. To find out more about Brandon and his ministry check out www.brandonhatmaker.com.

Teaching “Along the Road”

This is not to denigrate the importance of formal teaching times at church but rather to emphasize the need also to bring teaching out of the pulpit and embed it in life. Just as the Law defined Israel’s identity and shaped her life, so the word of God is to define what we are as the church. And that process of definition occurs in the mundane setting of everyday life and relationships. The gospel word should be central to a formal meeting, but it also has to be the heart of all we do as the people of God and how we relate to the world.

The teaching along the road in Deuteronomy 6 is seen in the ministry of Jesus. He taught as he met the sick, as he answered questions, as he ate with people, as he walked along the road. Chapters 9–10 of Mark’s Gospel are an extended explanation of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. And all this teaching takes place along the road. And it is not any old road. It is the road to Jerusalem. It is the way to the cross. And that mirrors the teaching.

To be a disciple, as Jesus keeps reminding the twelve, is to follow the way of the cross.

We should be teaching one another the Bible as we are out walking, driving in the car, or washing the dishes. People should learn the truth of justification not only in an exposition of Romans 5 but as they see us resting on Christ’s finished work instead of anxiously trying to justify ourselves. They should understand the nature of Christian hope not only as they listen to a talk on Romans 8 but as they see us groaning in response to suffering as we wait for glory. They should understand the sovereignty of God not only from a sermon series on Isaiah but as they see us respond to trials with “pure joy” (James 1:2). We have found in our context that most learning and training takes place not through programmed teaching or training courses but in unplanned conversations—talking about life, talking about ministry, talking about problems.

Let us make a bold statement: truth cannot be taught effectively outside of close relationships. The reason is that truth is not primarily formal; it is dynamic. The truth of the gospel becomes compelling as we see it transforming lives in the rub of daily, messy relationships. Jay Adams says, “A whole person will affect whole persons on all levels; that is the goal of discipleship training. . . . It all involves commitment to God. Therefore, truth incarnated in life is the goal. For reaching this goal, only one method is possible—the biblical one—discipleship. Whole persons must teach whole per- sons; the Word must be made flesh.”8

You could start simply by telling someone today about your relationship with God or your struggles with sin. Tell him or her about how God has encouraged you, answered your prayer, spoken to you through the Bible, and given you opportunities to share the gospel or serve other Christians. And then ask that person about his or her walk with God. Make it a habit to talk about these things together “along the road.”

Training “Along the Road”
The same principles apply to training people for leadership roles. Alongside teaching “along the road,” we need training “along the road.” We are not against theological colleges, but we need a big switch of focus from the isolation of residential theological colleges to apprenticeships in the context of ministry. This is how Jesus trained people. This is how Paul trained people. In residential colleges the academy sets the agenda. With on-the-job training, ministry and mission set the agenda.

Colleges also suit a certain type of person, and this then shapes a view of what it means to be a church leader. Most church leaders today are middle-class graduates who were trained in a college and whose qualification for ministry is a degree. The first apostles were from very mixed social backgrounds, most with no education. They trained by accompanying Jesus, and their qualification for minis- try was that they knew Jesus. When the Jewish leaders “saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). One of the reasons we have middle-class churches that are failing to reach working-class people is that we have middle-class leaders. And we have middle-class leaders because our expectations of what constitutes leadership and our training methods are middle-class. Indeed working-class people only really get into leadership by effectively becoming middle-class.

Paul had the highest education possible (Acts 22:3). It is not bad to be highly educated. But the qualities he outlines for Christian leaders are not skills-based but character-based. The focus in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 is on the character of leaders—their godliness, their maturity, their example. The only skill needed is the ability to teach—and that does not necessarily mean giving forty-five-minute sermons. It is the ability to apply God’s word to the life of the church and the lives of its members.

Having caught a glimpse of the benefits of mentoring when I was much younger, I made the decision early in my ministry to provide a number of young people with the opportunity to work alongside me. The aim was to see lives changed by the gospel and people equipped for gospel ministry. Integral to the process has always been relationship. These young people not only worked for me, they worked alongside me. They witnessed firsthand both how I conducted myself in public and how I related to my family. It was a life-to-life thing—close, intimate, and demanding. But how can anyone really learn what it means to be a disciple unless he or she sees someone living out his or her discipleship? How can some one learn the need of grace without witnessing the power of grace using a flawed individual? I have to confess to being skeptical of any approach to leadership training that stops short of this level of exposure and this depth of relationship. Certainly much information can be imparted, techniques can be learned, skills acquired, but without the relational dimension, it will always fall short of true discipleship.

This is an excerpt from Tim Chester and Steve Timmis’s book, Total Church: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and Community.

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Tim Chester (PhD, University of Wales) is pastor of the Crowded House in Sheffield, United Kingdom, and director of the Porterbrook Institute. Chester also coauthored the forthcoming Everyday Church (Re:Lit) and has written more than a dozen books. Steve Timmis is cofounder of the Crowded House, a church-planting initiative in Sheffield, UK, and codirector of the Porterbrook Network. He is also director of Acts 29 in Western Europe and the coauthor of Everyday Church (September 2012, Crossway).