Evangelism isn’t Everything

I’m fascinated by technology. It has been truly remarkable what man has been able to accomplish in the past 100 years. But as a former design engineer I know that things don’t always go according to plan. The Hubble Space Telescope is a good example of this. After delays and cost over-runs, Hubble was finally sent into space and brought online in 1990. But although the original images were good, they were not as spectacular as astronomers expected. After some investigation it was discovered that the main mirror had been ground to the wrong shape. Thus began an effort to install a “contact lens” or corrective lens for Hubble. Finally, after service mission 1 in 1993, with the COSTAR corrective optics package installed the Hubble truly took our breath away with crystal clear images. You can compare the before and after images here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hubble_Images_of_M100_Before_and_After_Mirror_Repair_-_GPN-2002-000064.jpg

            I’ve been a pastor now for almost eight years. It has taken a while but I have finally realized that the church (at least the evangelical church I’m familiar with) needs a corrective lens. We do not see our main mission as clearly as we should and thus are achieving lack-luster, often temporary results. What is the main mission of the Church? The predominate answer of the evangelical church has been something along the lines of evangelism, missions and outreach, or global missions. Evangelism is certainly critical and a major part of the mission of the church. But the mission Christ gave to the Church was to “make disciples”:

^ESV Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

It is a subtle but significant shift in mission to move from evangelism to making disciples. “Making disciples” is the main verb, the imperative in the Great Commission. “Going”, “baptizing”, and “teaching” all fill out and support the “making of disciples”. Or said another way, evangelism is a part of making disciples but not the whole or even the main thing. My roots are mostly in Baptist style churches. I know we’ve done much better at making converts than making disciples. And based on surveys that show similarities between Christians and non-Christians in terms of lifestyle and worldview in America, the American church in general is not doing well at making disciples.

            Why are we decent at making converts but struggling to make disciples? I think it comes down fundamentally to a misunderstanding of salvation. We’ve limited salvation to only justification or forgiveness of sins. Salvation certainly is to be freed from the guilt of sin. But isn’t the grace of God a double cure? Being freed also from the pollution of sin? I.e. the salvation of sanctification? Salvation begins at our conversion but continues in our sanctification as we are saved from our current foolish ways and beliefs. Thus Peter can say: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18) Grace is not synonymous with forgiveness. You might say forgiveness is a subcategory within grace. Peter is not saying “grow in forgiveness” or “get more forgiveness”. He is saying “get more of the dynamic presence of Christ in your life” or “grow closer to Christ” or “tap into more grace to trust Christ more thoroughly and be in sync with Him daily”. When we settle for making converts instead of disciples, we settle for folks whose “train ticket” to Heaven is punched but who know nothing of the journey with Christ or of Christlikeness.

            We need a corrective lens on the mission of the Church. We must no longer be satisfied with professions of faith or even initial actions of obedience – such as baptism. And we must be cautious not to present a truncated gospel – one that limits salvation to forgiveness of sins. In Christ salvation is far more comprehensive. And being a Christian is also a more comprehensive commitment as well, for Jesus says:

^ESV Luke 9:23 And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

This is genuine conversion: to repent and transfer our trust from self to Christ. In the NT converts were necessarily disciples. In our day we desperately need this corrective lens to clarify our understanding and appropriation of salvation. Lord, teach us how to make disciples!