Monday Reflections....Evangelism larger, Discipleship smaller?

As someone who pastors a local body of believers of the God's family, His church, I am faced with these two words weekly, if not daily.  The words are "evangelism" and "discipleship."

Evangelism seems to be larger while discipleship appears to be smaller.  Evangelism can be an appeal to the larger crowd to hear the gospel message of God sending His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in our place so that we might obtain His righteousness to stand before a holy God.  Evangelism can be one on one but it seems to make itself known every Sunday for me as I stand behind a pulpit on a platform.

When I think of evangelism, I think of Billy Graham standing in New York City's Times Square behind a microphone and sharing the message of salvation to the thousands upon thousands who are crowded into the streets.  I also think of the many summer evening camp meetings in an old barn with sawdust on the floor.  Benches have been brought in to sit upon; a piano a little out of tune; and a very inadequate sound system but not matter, the evangelist brought in to speak has plenty of volume to beller out his "come to Jesus" message.

Evangelism is exciting because it usually involves a crowd and some type of invitation that could result in many making a step toward responding to God's call.  They come forward to kneel at an altar or they raise a hand to indicate that they recognize God and their rightful, sinful position before Him.  They need this Savior, the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.

Evangelism speaks of the Savior and a specific event of His resurrection but discipleship, which is desperately needed after the responding to God's invitation, can be happening before the appeal is given.  Discipleship can be occurring as the saved person lives out a God honoring life before those who are yet to know Christ.  Many who kneel at an altar or raise a hand in response to the hearing of God's message of salvation have been discipled quietly by committed Christians involved in their lives.  They have been observing how saved people live who say that Jesus is their Lord.  

Discipleship kicks into another gear when a repentance, confession, submission, and obedience are displayed in the life of the new convert into God's family.  Discipleship is necessary to growing from a babe in Christ to a life long maturing in Christ.

While evangelism is exciting, discipleship is demanding.

Evangelism speaks to the whole crowd but discipleship zeros in on those who say, "I want to know more."  We used to generalize it as say, "Evangelism is Sunday morning and discipleship is Sunday night."  Evangelism is the appeal and discipleship is the appetite.

But I put the title "Evangelism larger, Discipleship smaller" with a question mark as the punctuational ending.  Is evangelism really larger and discipleship really smaller?  Is one more important than the other?  Even though, one seems to focus on a crisis moment in life and the other on a process of life long growth, could the title of this blog post be flipped over or should it be renamed all together?  

If discipleship of God's children is happening then evangelism is going to occur and if evangelism of the Gospel is happening then discipleship is occurring of those who have responded.  These two are so weaved together that declaring one is more important than the other or larger in scale should be rethought.  If anything, I would see evangelism as a fruit of discipleship.  It is what happens when someone is discipled.  They share the message of Christ with another just as it was shared with them by a discipled Christian.

Here is another stab at explaining the two.  How does evangelism occur?  It comes from one who has been evangelized who has been discipled that a follower of Jesus shares His loving sacrifice with others.  This salvation is not be contained by the converted one, hoarded and locked up in a safe, but proclaimed as it was for you.  A very important and essential element of discipleship is to disciple and evangelize those God has brought around us.  We disciple with our very lives lived in a way that glorifies God in word and deed and we evangelize by speaking of Him when we are given the opportunity.  

If the unsaved responds favorably or not, we continue to disciple.  Favorably, it will be to disciple in a way for the new convert to know more of God from His Word in a formal sense like a Bible study. An unfavorable response to evangelism will be to disciple with more life experiences and waiting for another open door of the Holy Spirit to speak again, evangelize, of Christ's invitation.  Discipleship doesn't stop.  

So which one is larger and which one is smaller?  Which one receives the most emphasis in your church?  What does it look like if we have one without the other?  I would content that if we have true discipleship then we will also have true evangelism which leads into more discipleship needed and results in more evangelism happening.  It is a good cycle to be in.

Adam