The novice who gets it, the church leader who doesn’t …

I had the chance to share the gospel with Joe (not his real name) early this year, and he was baptized in March. He was hungry to hear the good news, and has had a zeal for Jesus since I’ve known him.

So, shortly after his baptism we began meeting once each week for one-on-one “discipleship,” and in addition to studying the Word together, I equipped him in how to effectively share the Gospel with non-believers.

He began sharing the Gospel with an unbeliever he knew. Then another. And then a couple who also are not Christians. The first two guys will be baptized this weekend, and he’s still in the sharing process with the couple.

Joe is just excited to share the Good News of Jesus!

So he was shocked when a leader of youth and young adults in his church asked him what he spends his spare time doing and, when Joe responded that he’s been sharing the Gospel with people, this “church leader” — who was shocked at Joe’s response — asked him bluntly, “Why would you want to do that instead of just bring them to church?”

The answer is because Joe — like every Christian — has been appointed by God to serve throughout the remainder of his life as an ambassador for Christ. In that appointment, Joe (like every Christian) has been assigned the task of reconciling people to God, and the perfect tool (the Gospel) for achieving that task is available to him. God wants to make His appeal through Joe — and through every Christian. If you don’t believe this, read it for yourself in 2 Corinthians 5:17-20.

The answer to that church leader’s question is also because, even though Joe is a young believer and a “novice” at sharing the Gospel, he takes the Great Commission seriously.

And another very important part of the answer to the church leader’s question is because God never intended for the attractional model (just inviting people “to church”) that most church leaders are addicted to to be the way the church primarily makes disciples.

Joe actually gets it.

His concern, as he shared this story with me, is that this leader of youth and young adults in a church doesn’t get it — he saw no value in individual Christians sharing the Gospel one-on-one with others instead of bringing them to church (where they might … or very well might not hear the Gospel!).

No wonder the church in America is in decline.

A great tragedy in the American church is that too many of its leaders are the single greatest reason why the churches they shepherd are NOT disciple-making churches.

Although Joe was shocked and disappointed by the response of this church leader, it didn’t dent his enthusiasm for sharing the Gospel with the lost. Joe is as zealous and actively seeking opportunities as he was before this conversation — thank the Lord! Unfortunately, the lack of interest in evangelism, and the response this church leader had to Joe’s wonderful example as an ambassador for Christ, can be like a “wet blanket” on the enthusiasm of faithful believers.

If you would like to be trained in the same way Joe was to effectively share the Gospel with unbelievers through relational evangelism, you can contact me at dr.scott@scottfreeclinic.org, as this evangelism training is one of our eight core services. Or, you can check out this same training that is offered free online through an on-demand video training program at https://www.yousharejesus.org.

Scotty