I was thinking about how a disciple-making mindset differs from traditional evangelism and these 7 statements seem to capture the key differences. I look forward to reading your feedback.
- We don’t try to exclusively evangelize everyone individually. We prayerfully ask the Lord to direct us to unreached people groups and we search for those individuals that are willing to introduce us to their community. Then we allow the Holy Spirit to penetrate the heart of individuals and/or groups.
- We don’t invite people to come to our church to listen to a speaker or join our social club. We go to their home or place of business to meet with their family or friends and form a discovery group.
- We don’t present the gospel immediately in a canned presentation. We pray, serving the community in love, spend time discussing the Bible in a group setting, and help people discover God’s character and way of salvation. Then, at the right time and through the prompting of the Holy Spirit, we invite them to follow Jesus.
- We don’t study the Bible in order to merely gain knowledge about God. We read and discover the truth in the Bible in order to know God and obey Him.
- We don’t plant a church and hope that it will create disciples. We plant seeds of truth among those with open hearts so that small groups of disciples eventually form into a healthy house church that will obey the truth and multiply.
- We don’t rely on a trained minister, special delivery method or lengthy orientation. Although some training may be needed to start the process, we teach a simple format that anyone can replicate for disciples to quickly multiply.
- We don’t develop Christian leaders. We develop Christ followers who are willing to obey God’s truth and make disciples who make disciples.