Over time, Tricia and I want to be sharing with you some of what we are learning here in South Africa. Our primary vision and calling while we are here is to rethink and re-imagine church…to sort through our many questions hoping to give our lives to seeing church be all that Jesus dreams of. Over time, there will be key blogs and sharing that capture the heart of our learnings. This is one.
Disciple to Convert:
For much of our lives, it was glaringly clear that the first goal in ministering to a lost person was to get them saved. Evangelism. Once a person “accepts” Jesus (as if all Jesus wants is to be accepted), then, and only then do we begin actively discipling them. Church that we are envisioning looks more like what Jesus modeled with his disciples. Disciple first, convert later. We start discipling people the moment that we meet them with the understanding that the Lord has already been at work in their lives before they were even born (Jer. 1:5). So, in summary, we are learning that we disciple to convert. We do not convert to disciple. And we leave the timing of their growth and commitment journey up to God. It’s just a paradigm shift. But it is one that changes how we minister.
Disciple to Convert:
For much of our lives, it was glaringly clear that the first goal in ministering to a lost person was to get them saved. Evangelism. Once a person “accepts” Jesus (as if all Jesus wants is to be accepted), then, and only then do we begin actively discipling them. Church that we are envisioning looks more like what Jesus modeled with his disciples. Disciple first, convert later. We start discipling people the moment that we meet them with the understanding that the Lord has already been at work in their lives before they were even born (Jer. 1:5). So, in summary, we are learning that we disciple to convert. We do not convert to disciple. And we leave the timing of their growth and commitment journey up to God. It’s just a paradigm shift. But it is one that changes how we minister.
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