Assignment #3

Points Possible: 50

The title of this class is "Evangelism and Discipleship." So, it seems appropriate that we jump in at this point with a few definitions.

EVANGELISM

Wikipedia, which has no particular bias in the discussion, gives us a fair enough general description of evangelism.

Evangelism is the preaching of the Christian Gospel or the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others with the object of conversion. The term is not restricted to any particular Christian tradition, and should not be confused with Evangelicalism, a common term for a wide range of "Evangelical" Protestant churches and groups.

The word evangelism has its roots in the Greek εὐαγγέλιον (euangelion). It means "gospel," "good message," or "good news."

An evangelist, then, is someone who specializes in sharing good news. But historically speaking -- and I apologize for jumping ahead to a future assignment -- the most effective evangelists were not really specialists. Rather the good news of Jesus has spread by word of ordinary mouths. That is, the task or call of evangelism belongs to the whole church (including ordinary Christians) rather than to the few who are uniquely gifted in evangelism. It is something in which all Christians are involved on a regular basis. We are all called to evangelism.

But what exactly is the good news that we share. And this is where things get a little sticky because there is a lot of misunderstanding about the gospel floating around in the modern church. Concisely, many evangelicals believe that the gospel is that the Jesus died for our sins and that if we make a decision to accept him we will be saved from hell and go to heaven when we die.

Scot McKnight is fond of calling this the "soterian gospel." (The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited, Zondervan, 2011). ("Soterian" is from the word σωτηρία [sōtēria] or having to do with salvation.) And McKnight quite convincingly argues that

...we are focused on the wrong thing. Most of evangelism today is obsessed with getting someone to make a decision; the apostles, however, were obsessed with making disciples. Those two words -- decision and disciples -- are behind this entire book. Evangelism that focuses on decisions short circuits and -- yes, the word is appropriate -- aborts the design of the gospel, while evangelism that aims at disciples slows down to offer the full gospel of Jesus and the apostles. (McKnight, p 18)

The other day I read a great one line critique of this soterian approach -- "The soterian gospel is too short and too shallow."

For McKnight, and those of us who function out of a more missional theology, the gospel has to do with Jesus' kingdom (his agenda for the restoration of fallen creation -- including humanity). And the good news is that through the cross and resurrection of Jesus redemption is accomplished! And we are invited to share in that redemption -- in all its aspects. That is, we can become participants in the new life. We can follow Jesus in his mission.

The good news is that the more we submerge "salvation" into the larger idea "gospel" the more robust will become our understanding of salvation. (McKnight, p. 39)

This in no way diminishes the promise of eternal life. It does not devalue justification by grace through faith alone. It simply puts those aspects of God's generosity in perspective. They are included in the gospel message but they are not primary. The evangelistic call is thus primarily tied into the call to discipleship. The good news is that God is saving the world through Jesus and when we follow him we have a stake in it.

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. Jesus came near and spoke to them, “I’ve received all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go 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 obey everything that I’ve commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.” (Matthew 28:16-20, CEB)

When we evangelize we are telling people about what God has done and is doing through his son Jesus and we are inviting them to follow him -- to join the ranks of active disciples. Of course, there is by definition no such thing as an inactive disciple. Either you are an active disciple following Jesus or you are not a disciple. Either you are engaged in the Jesus mission or you are not a disciple.

When Jesus started his active public ministry one of the first things he did was to gather a group of disciples. He created a community of twelve. Now, I've heard some people say that there is strategic significance to the number twelve and that if we could each focus on twelve people we would be able to multiple those numbers exponentially. See for example Robert E Coleman's The Master Plan of Evangelism (Fleming H. Revell Company, 1963, pp 24-25). Likewise, Joel Comiskey, a leader in the cell church movement, even has a book entitled Groups of 12: a New Way to Mobilize Leaders and Multiply Groups in Your Church (Touch Publications, 1999).

And while I can certainly see the strategic advantages of working closely with twelve disciples each, it seems to me that the original followers of Jesus would have understood the number twelve as an indirect reference to the twelve tribes of Israel. In gathering a community of twelve ragtag disciples Jesus was forming a new Israel. Might we even say a new kind of Israel? The new Israel would truly be a work of God as Jesus chose to build his discipleship core with misfits and marginalized people. This again points to the restorative nature of the gospel mission.

DISCIPLESHIP

The word "disciple" is used over 200 times in the first five books of the New Testament. It is a translation of the Greek work μαθητής (mathetes). In the first century it was a common enough word. Lot's of people had disciples or were disciples. For the word simply meant "student" -- or even better -- "apprentice." An apprentice is a particular kind of student. It's someone who follows a teacher around, does what the teacher says to do, and imitates the teacher.

C.S. Lewis

In the modern world a disciple is often thought of as an adherent. That is, a disciple is someone who believes certain things about the teacher or movement. But this is such a small definition compared to what Jesus was doing when he called people to be his disciples. Discipleship isn't simply a matter of believing that Jesus was the Son of God and the Savior of the world. Discipleship involves that but it is also a matter of doing what Jesus does and looking at reality in the way that Jesus looks at it. It's a matter of embracing Jesus' agenda as our own and allowing him to reshape our thoughts and attitudes so that we are "little Christs." C.S. Lewis actually uses that description several times in his book Mere Christianity.

Sometimes the term "little Christ" is attributed to Martin Luther. But I haven't yet come across a place where Luther actually calls followers of Christ that. But in Luther's early book The Freedom of a Christian he says:

Hence, as our heavenly Father has in Christ freely come to our aid, we also ought freely to help our neighbor through our body and its works, and each one should become as it were a Christ to the other that we may be Christs to one another and Christ may be the same in all, that is, that we may be truly Christians. (p 25, Yale Divinity School, The AdHoc Image and Text Database on the History of Christianity)

That is, if we are truly Christians we become Christs to those around us. And this makes sense because as followers of Christ -- as his disciples -- he through the Holy Spirit actually takes up residence in us. And this is a major difference between the common use of the term disciple in the ancient world and the sense in which Jesus uses it. Yes, a disciple is a follower or a student but there is also a mystical connection or union between master and disciple.

• "Remain in me, and I will remain in you." ~ John 15:4 (CEB)
• "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in my body, I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son, who loved me and gave himself for me." ~ Galatians 2:20 (CEB)
• "Say hello to Andronicus and Junia, my relatives and my fellow prisoners. They are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before me." ~ Romans 16:7 (CEB)

To be a follower or disciple of Christ is to be "in him" as he is "in us." And this is why and how we can "do" what he does. This is how we become "little Christs" in the world.

It is unfortunate that modern discipleship is often reduced to a study program where you memorize some Bible verses, learn some basic facts about Jesus, and maybe even fill in some blanks in a workbook. These might be helpful tools at times but they are not really in the fullest sense discipleship. Discipleship is a matter of doing what Jesus does because we are in him.

And frankly, no one is ever really fully "discipled" (past-perfect). Rather discipleship is a lifelong journey of spiritual formation as we live into who were are in Christ.

R. Thomas Ashbrook writes,

The word disciple should have a far greater meaning than it often has. Our limited view of  discipleship has meant being a student of God, "doing" the right things such as daily Bible reading and memorization, praying for others, practicing moral behavior and witnessing, attending a local church, believing the right things, and maybe for the really serious undertaking a short-term missions trip. We talk about a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ," but more often than not we just teach people how to work for a God up in the sky. We can imply that these practices are all there is to the spiritual life. The question remains: Does that kind of discipleship produce the kind of personal transformation needed to live meaningfully and dynamically in the world today? When we're really honest, we have to answer no. There has to be more. (Mansions of the Heart: Exploring the Seven Stages of Spiritual Growth, Jossey-Bass, 2009. Kindle location 425)

There has to be more. This is true of both evangelism and discipleship as it popularly exists in the contemporary church. And it begs the question, will we become deep disciples and evangelists or will we be satisfied with a gospel that is too short and too shallow?

In preparation for Assignment #3:

• Read Dallas Willard's article "Rethinking Evangelism"
• Read pages 1-72 of The Complete Book of Discipleship by Bill Hull.

I have designed this assignment to milk your creativity and stretch your thinking. In light of the thoughts I've shared above and those presented by Willard and Hull:

1. Write a short 300 word (minimum) reflection describing a concept which you had not before considered. It might actually be something with which you disagree. Whether you agree or disagree, explain what and why.
2. Write your own personalized definitions of the two words evangelism and discipleship.
3. The leaders in your church have heard that you took a seminary class on evangelism and discipleship. They ask you to meet with them because some people in your church have been complaining that they aren't being discipled and they want your input. After listening to the leaders explain their concern they invite you to give them five suggestions for improving the quality of discipleship in your church. What are the five suggestions that you are sharing? Give an explanation for each suggestion.

After you have completed this assignment, embed it in an email (NO attachments please) and send it to me at bboydston@piu.edu.