Evangelism and Discipleship

Recently, I was asked the following question: "How do evangelism and discipleship relate to love and purpose?" My response is as follows.


Jesus called us all to be His disciples not only because He loved us, but because we are to love Him. We are to be disciples of Christ and to do it with love. Jesus was/is the greatest lover of all time and He was/is also the best example of an evangelist that we have. What greater evangelist has the world ever seen? Paul was good, but he cannot even begin to compare to Christ who came and evangelized to the very world that He created(cf. John 1:10). I would argue that evangelism needs to be done, but it needs to be done out of love just as Jesus and Paul did it, for without love the message will be lacking. Our purpose as Christ followers is to love and to worship the Lord for who He is as well as for the high price that He paid for our redemption. Since He has done this we are to be His disciples, living holy and sinless lives. Part of that being that we are to evangelize to the lost, those who do not know Christ as their savior, with love for the purpose of bringing them into the Kingdom of God so that they may become disciples and evangelists as well.


This is just a brief look at this subject. I could go on and on for hours, but the main point is well made.

In conclusion, I have a few questions for us all to ponder.

When was the last time you proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ to a lost soul? When was the last time you were a witness to a non-believer about the mercy and grace our Heavenly Father has shown you? Maybe just as important, when was the last time any of us witnessed to ourselves?