Current State:
In our churches today it is not uncommon for people think of evangelism as some special program or activity that takes place only when we see people come to faith in Christ, as if the work of evangelism is complete once a person becomes a believer. This idea needs to be gently questioned, and supplemented with the idea that evangelism is more than seeing people trust in Christ in a single finite moment. There is a vital relationship between evangelism and discipleship. You cannot have one without the other in true biblical community.
I am currently working on a MA in Science & Religion at Biola, and in one of my current classes, essential Christian Doctrine, our professor Kevin Lewis made a really important point in the prolegomena where he states that teaching theology is to fulfill the great commission, and this is done through both evangelism and teaching doctrine. The prolegomena stated, "The church is commanded to evangelize and then teach the Faith, that is, give doctrine to the disciples."
I think this is a critical observation and clearly a vital element in discipleship. It is not enough to simply see people come to faith in Christ. We must be growing in our knowledge of Christ, and helping new believers do the same, namely through teaching them sound doctrine upon which they can build Christian living. This sound doctrine comes from a biblical systematic theology. We fail in making disciples if we leave as soon as someone trusts in Christ. We need to see the relationship between teaching doctrine and discipleship. Our sermons and Sunday school lessons must go beyond life coaching. They must drive us deeper into the Scriptures, showing us how to think about God, which in turn equips us to live the true Christian life with both our hearts and our minds.
The Process:
The first step is to evangelize, which is to preach the gospel, and then to teach the faith, which is teaching doctrine to the disciples. Disciples are those who are students of Christ. I love what J.I. Packer notes in his book, The Quest for Godliness,
"The puritan practitioners of evangelism were pastors with captive audiences (for church-going was part of national life in those days), and their evangelism of those who sat regularly in the pews was to the pastors no more, just as it was no less, than a main part of their larger task of building up the whole congregation in Christ. Their program as evangelists was no more specialized than this: to teach and apply the Scriptures in a patient, thorough way, ranging wide in their declarations of the whole counsel of God..." -The Quest For Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life, Crossway, 1990, p299.
This is an incredible insight into what it means to make disciples, first converts to Christ, and then students of the Scripture who seek to understand the whole counsel of God. I believe that when our evangelism is combined with teaching doctrine to the convert, we are effective in making disciples. Seeing people come to faith is only the first step in what it means to be a Christian actively evangelizing.
Rob
