Expectation

In August 2019, I was on a ministry trip to Haiti.

It was pretty cool, not going to lie. We had a donkey loaded up with rice from the local church, which we distributed to poor communities in the countryside.

Then we’d chat about the Gospel, pray, direct them to the church, and move on.

Only one thing wasn’t sitting right with me.

Our evangelistic approach played out more like a prayer assembly line than honest disciple-making.

Our expectations were in the wrong place.

The Road to Disciple-Making

In all honesty, our Gospel presentation was rather vague. We told people Jesus loved them, that He was God, that they needed him, etc. but the why behind these things was lacking. (Not to mention the fact that it all had to go through a translator as well.)

And while many prayed to “receive Jesus”, I fear we didn’t do enough to tell them what that means.

We talked about this at our team meeting later and, the next day, settled on a more thorough approach. We spelled out the Gospel as clearly as we could and made sure to only do these “conversion prayers” if the people understood what they were doing.

We had less prayers but, in my opinion, deeper and more productive conversations.

The issue we made on our first outing was expecting disciple-making to be quick and easy.

But the reality is usually much different.

The Commitment Involved

Evangelization, witnessing, sharing the Gospel, whatever you want to call it, is more than securing a conversion and then moving on.

This is a common pitfall of Evangelical churches, which emphasize things like altar calls while downplaying what comes after.

This creates the false expectation that sharing the Gospel is about winning as many souls as we can.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love for every person on the planet to be made a disciple of Jesus.

But I would much rather have one genuine disciple than 12,000 at the altar call today then gone tomorrow.

We should expect the process of disciple-making to be long and difficult. We cannot expect it to be about numbers but, instead, about genuine transformation.

It’s not about the altar call. It’s about standing by that person even after they become a disciple and walking alongside them as you both grow in Christ.

If we want to share the Gospel well then we must learn to contextualize with those we speak with, build authentic, meaningful relationships, and hold tethered expectations about what disciple-making actually is.

You don’t need to be an evangelist or missionary to do it - all you need to be is a follower of Jesus, willing to let Him shine in the way you live.

Because, in the end, that’s the stuff God uses to make the best disciples.

For now, be blessed.

Jon,

Theophilus Newsletter