Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Evangelism, Discipling, and Equipping...
The third thing I want in a church is to make the the passion for evangelism and discipling practical. I want to be in church that is completely sold out and committed to reaching the lost of this world. And we must grow people up into the image of Jesus. But to do that we must equip members to be able to do these things.
We must intentionally have structure and avenues for equipping our church to grow. How does the brand new Christian learn how to treat his wife with love and respect instead of anger and violence? How does the new Christian learn to overcome addictions to sex, alcohol, or money? How do they learn to share their faith with friends and family?
How do our children learn to grow up in Christ? For most of us, we had Christian parents to model Christian living in a foreign culture (and our culture is foreign to the Christian). But new Christians do not have that advantage. So we as a body must equip them. I love the passage in Titus 2 about older women teaching the younger women how to be faithful wives and mothers.
How does a new Christian learn to share their faith with friends and family? It is not enough to want to be a Great Commission church. We must be willing to train and equip Christians for the specific task of evangelism. We must train each other to know how to provide spiritual counsel. New Christians must be shown, taught, and expected to learn how to help others come to Jesus and grow in him.
Next time I will explore the implications of this vision in terms of budget, programs, and staff.
We must intentionally have structure and avenues for equipping our church to grow. How does the brand new Christian learn how to treat his wife with love and respect instead of anger and violence? How does the new Christian learn to overcome addictions to sex, alcohol, or money? How do they learn to share their faith with friends and family?
How do our children learn to grow up in Christ? For most of us, we had Christian parents to model Christian living in a foreign culture (and our culture is foreign to the Christian). But new Christians do not have that advantage. So we as a body must equip them. I love the passage in Titus 2 about older women teaching the younger women how to be faithful wives and mothers.
How does a new Christian learn to share their faith with friends and family? It is not enough to want to be a Great Commission church. We must be willing to train and equip Christians for the specific task of evangelism. We must train each other to know how to provide spiritual counsel. New Christians must be shown, taught, and expected to learn how to help others come to Jesus and grow in him.
Next time I will explore the implications of this vision in terms of budget, programs, and staff.
