Okay; so ever since my involvement in ministry and my discipleship class in seminary, I have been evaluating and developing discipleship models from a Biblical perspective, working from the inside out based on how discipleship is defined or understood.
Maintaining a Biblical perspective, but working from the outside in, I heard a quote from a speaker in 1967 that made the following statement: “There is NO disciple making apart from evangelism.” Inherently I knew that, but I was struck by the intensity of the word ‘NO.’
How different would disciple making look if evangelism, rather than being a by-product of discipleship or rather than being something inherently understood, was a primary pillar on which discipleship occurred? Is one a better better fit as a component of the other?
I’m just capturing a thought here this morning, but what are the implications of the statement above? What happens as you move forward through time with evangelism/discipleship, if discipleship was a component of evangelism, instead of the other way around? Are there primary/secondary roles or is there a shift as you move through time? Just pondering out loud.
Visual?
|——————— evangelism ———————-|
|—–> The Cross —- discipleship ——————|
………..| —> ? —> Your Growth
………..| —< ? —< Your investment in others
|——- | ———— evangelism ———————-|me others|—–> The Cross —- discipleship ——————|………..| —> ? —> Your Growth………..| —< ? —< Your investment in othersUm… this might not be working?