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Ladies and Gentlemen in the right corner, weighing in at 2 tons, the need-meeting, care-providing, sinner’s prayer-saying, heavyweight champion of the church world… EVANGELISM! And on the left, at 50 lbs., but standing 40 feet high, the leadership-developing, people-challenging, vision-carrying… DISCIPLESHIP!
I use humor to introduce this topic, because it’s scary how lopsided the Body of Christ has become. Most churches center around one of these two “champions” of the church world. Some churches live to evangelize, while others exist to disciple. They end up either 100 miles wide and 1” deep or 40’ deep and 1” wide. The challenge comes when you try to do both. God has designed His church to be balanced! Most pastors wrestle with; do I develop the people I have, challenging them to go further, or do I focus on bringing in new people and let things slide? Doing both is difficult.
When you start to hold people accountable and make them disciplined followers of Christ, the evangelistic side of your church becomes upset thinking you have “hurt” the people they brought in. Focus on evangelism, and you end up with a big church filled with people who don’t pay tithes, bills, or live a Godly life. Somewhere, there must be a middle ground, a structure to support both evangelism and discipleship.
My Administrative Pastor raises cattle. Recently, one of his cows had twins. The twins looked and acted very differently. One was wild, running through the fence anytime you came near it (sounds evangelistic doesn’t it), while the other was more attached to its mother (like a good disciple). Yet, the same mother was able to raise both calves. Any farmer that has raised a set of twins can tell you that many cows don’t handle it well. Often the more aggressive calf grows big and the other one falls behind. Even if the cow does have enough milk for both, often she loses too much weight to continue giving effective support.
As a senior minister, I can relate to the mother cow. God has called His church to be the mother of “twins”, and like the calves, the most aggressive twin gets the milk. Many ministers have given up. Because of hurt, frustration, and loneliness many ministers fall into a “survival mode.” They have tried evangelism and were hurt because their structure wasn’t designed to disciple those they reached. Others tried discipleship and people left because they weren’t willing to be accountable. Sometimes, ministers do strive to provide for both, but the strain on the leadership is so heavy that what once was effective, just isn’t enough.
The New Testament distinctively records the great commission differently in Mark and Matthew. In Mark, it says to go into all the world and make disciples, in Matthew it says to preach the Gospel to all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God never intended for the church to choose one or the other. Instead, He called us to be a body that is structured for constant numerical growth through evangelism and constant spiritual growth through discipleship.
We must develop our church structures to support both discipleship and evangelism. Many times the pastors have a great new “initiative” for the church, but to effectively implement God’s strategy in the great commission, demands a church structure with the weight on vision-led teams, not just new initiatives. In Ephesians 4:16 God says that every joint supplies. The growth of the body rests on every joint, not just on the lead minister!
Let me tell you something, God has called you to champion both of them. Where the Lord guides, He provides! If you feel like your pastor is just “surviving,” I encourage you to pray for him. You can change the atmosphere. You can hook up with his vision and support it with your words, time, and money! Show him you are beside him, not just behind him. God didn’t call him to carry the load alone. Let’s turn the power of Evangelism and Discipleship into an effective team instead of competitors!
David Coker is a 1985 RHEMA graduate and the founding apostle of Gateway Believers Fellowship in Carnesville, Ga. He is also the founder of Breakthrough Apostolic Ministries Network (B.A.M.). His ministry can be reached at www.gatewaybelievers.com.
I use humor to introduce this topic, because it’s scary how lopsided the Body of Christ has become. Most churches center around one of these two “champions” of the church world. Some churches live to evangelize, while others exist to disciple. They end up either 100 miles wide and 1” deep or 40’ deep and 1” wide. The challenge comes when you try to do both. God has designed His church to be balanced! Most pastors wrestle with; do I develop the people I have, challenging them to go further, or do I focus on bringing in new people and let things slide? Doing both is difficult.
When you start to hold people accountable and make them disciplined followers of Christ, the evangelistic side of your church becomes upset thinking you have “hurt” the people they brought in. Focus on evangelism, and you end up with a big church filled with people who don’t pay tithes, bills, or live a Godly life. Somewhere, there must be a middle ground, a structure to support both evangelism and discipleship.My Administrative Pastor raises cattle. Recently, one of his cows had twins. The twins looked and acted very differently. One was wild, running through the fence anytime you came near it (sounds evangelistic doesn’t it), while the other was more attached to its mother (like a good disciple). Yet, the same mother was able to raise both calves. Any farmer that has raised a set of twins can tell you that many cows don’t handle it well. Often the more aggressive calf grows big and the other one falls behind. Even if the cow does have enough milk for both, often she loses too much weight to continue giving effective support.
As a senior minister, I can relate to the mother cow. God has called His church to be the mother of “twins”, and like the calves, the most aggressive twin gets the milk. Many ministers have given up. Because of hurt, frustration, and loneliness many ministers fall into a “survival mode.” They have tried evangelism and were hurt because their structure wasn’t designed to disciple those they reached. Others tried discipleship and people left because they weren’t willing to be accountable. Sometimes, ministers do strive to provide for both, but the strain on the leadership is so heavy that what once was effective, just isn’t enough.
The New Testament distinctively records the great commission differently in Mark and Matthew. In Mark, it says to go into all the world and make disciples, in Matthew it says to preach the Gospel to all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God never intended for the church to choose one or the other. Instead, He called us to be a body that is structured for constant numerical growth through evangelism and constant spiritual growth through discipleship.
We must develop our church structures to support both discipleship and evangelism. Many times the pastors have a great new “initiative” for the church, but to effectively implement God’s strategy in the great commission, demands a church structure with the weight on vision-led teams, not just new initiatives. In Ephesians 4:16 God says that every joint supplies. The growth of the body rests on every joint, not just on the lead minister!
Let me tell you something, God has called you to champion both of them. Where the Lord guides, He provides! If you feel like your pastor is just “surviving,” I encourage you to pray for him. You can change the atmosphere. You can hook up with his vision and support it with your words, time, and money! Show him you are beside him, not just behind him. God didn’t call him to carry the load alone. Let’s turn the power of Evangelism and Discipleship into an effective team instead of competitors!
David Coker is a 1985 RHEMA graduate and the founding apostle of Gateway Believers Fellowship in Carnesville, Ga. He is also the founder of Breakthrough Apostolic Ministries Network (B.A.M.). His ministry can be reached at www.gatewaybelievers.com.
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