We now come to the final post in this series on discipleship and church planting. I want to encourage you church planters to write and publish more in this area. Excellent resources are greatly needed for teaching people obedience in the community of a new church with new believers.
I case you missed the first five posts in this seres, you can find them here:
Discipleship and Church Planting: Part 1-Set the Example
Discipleship and Church Planting: Part 2-Keep It Simple
Discipleship and Church Planting: Part 3- Begin at the Individual Level
Discipleship and Church Planting: Part 4-Teach Obedience
Discipleship and Church Planting: Part 5-Teach Healthy Disciplines As Soon As Possible
Since the Holy Spirit is a missionary Spirit, it is no wonder that whenever someone comes to faith in Christ, he or she generally has a great amount of zeal to share this new good news with others. In the Scriptures there are examples of this occurrence. Andrew found Simon and brought him to Jesus (John 1:40-42). Philip located Nathanael and shared the Messiah with him (John 1:45). The Samaritan woman returned to her village with the news of the Savior (John 4:28-29). On several occasions, I have either witnessed or heard of new believers sharing their faith with family and friends soon after their conversion. It is very important that church planters realize that new believers need to be encouraged to share their faith with others immediately.
As soon as I have the privilege of seeing someone come to faith in Jesus, I ask him or her, “Who do you know who needs to hear this message of good news?” Upon finding out the name of a person, I challenge the new kingdom citizen to share this message with that person within the following twenty-four hours. I then say that I’ll be praying for them both and promise to follow up later in the week.
Church planters must hold others accountable for evangelism. The longer new believers are not involved in personal evangelism, the easier it is for them to remain in disobedience in this area of their lives. If church planters begin with the expectation that a disciple is an intentional witness, then they are teaching new believers the significance of obedience to the Great Commission from the beginning.
Questions to Consider
1) Do you have concerns with returning new believers to the field immediately following their conversions? If so, why?
2) Read Mark 5:1-20 of Jesus healing the man of Legion. Are you surprised that even when the man begged Jesus to let him get in the boat and go with Him that Jesus refused, sending him back to the Decapolis region as a witness? Did Jesus do a foolish thing by sending this man back to his people as a testimony to God’s grace–after all, the man was a new believer and had been possessed by many demons for a long time? What are your thoughts on Jesus’ actions? What can you learn from Jesus’ example to apply to your ministry to new believers and their witnessing?