Jesus tells His disciples to make disciples. That’s our mission. But apparently, only 1 in 20 Christians has even shared the Gospel.
Less than that will ever lead someone to Christ.
Less than that will ever invest time in leading that new disciple toward Christlikeness.
What are we to make of so few disciples actually making disciples? If you’ve never made a disciple (or haven’t in a long time), there are at least 7 factors that might be contributing to your disciple-making slump.
Jim Putnam writes in one of his books that there are five stages in discipleship and you cannot make someone a disciple until the person goes from self focus to others focus.
But when the maniac of Gadera got saved, Christ told him to go and tell his people what had happened. The man had no experience, no theology, no training, but he told his whole village about Christ.
The concept of "witness" means simply telling what has happened to one. Any Christian can do this, no matter how raw and untrained they are. So Peter said, "We cannot but speak of the things we have heard and seen." With that thought, I titled my Japanese personal evangelism textbook, 'Anyone Can' Evangelism.
I believe that the Biblical "making disciples" is soul winning. Consider Matthew's Great Commission. First you "Go and make disciples." Then you baptize, a step that is considered part of "discipling" to many. Then you "teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you," another step that is considered discipleship by many. If "Go and make disciples" is training people to be disciples rather than winning them to Christ, then wouldn't the next two steps be redundant? So I prefer the term "followup" to "discipling."
Thanks, guys.
just wanted to make sure we were all talking about the same thing.
Instead of soul-winning, I like to describe it as leading someone to the Lord, or pointing someone to Christ.
I was taught a "method" of soul-winning, which included the Roman Road and the Sinner's Prayer.
I was taught what to say at each point and how to bring to the point of praying "The Prayer."
I still think the Roman Road is a well-organized way to "point one to Christ," and is useful for those who lack confidence.
And I think that is the main reason some are reluctant to do personal witnessing--fear.
Guys, when you're dealing with eternal matters, the fear of saying the wrong thing is real.
For those folks,
John, I tell them the same thing you do.
Simply tell them what the Lord did to you.
Share your conversion experience.
Don't worry about "winning" somebody.
The Lord Jesus can take care of that.
John, I'm sure you've mentioned this in the past somewhere.
What were your expectations when you went to Japan?
Is the way of reaching people there similar to the way we do it in America?
What kind of adjustments did you have to make for the culture?
And I'm curious?
How long was it before you saw your first conversion?
How did it come about.
I went to Japan all full of vim and vigor to do American style soul winning. I learned that first of all Japan is a Gospel resistant culture, that they are much harder to win to Christ than almost any culture on earth. So I had to adjust my expectations to Japan speed, and realize that God's glory is the main thing, not numbers. I also had to learn that in a Confucian culture (and some other kinds of culture) the most important thing is human relationships, not truth. So I had to learn that in many cases you have to build relationships to get the privilege of winning someone to Christ.
The first person I believe trusted Christ through my witness was a boy of about 12 I met while doing street evangelism at a train station after about 6 months in Japanese language school. The senior missionary was elsewhere, but when he came back he questioned the boy, who appeared to have understood the Gospel and responded to it. With children the relationship is natural and does not have to be built over time. But of course children can't be baptized or even go to church without parental permission, so one can't build a church with children. So I don't believe that boy was ever "discipled."