Church Partnership
 Evangelism

Disciples Making Disciples

How We Do It
Part 1

Initial Evangelistic Contact.  We start each day by training the participants in personal evangelism and the use of  discipleship material for the purpose of discipling new believers.  Following an hour or so of training, the participants are sent out in teams consisting of one North American and one or two local members to engage in door-to-door evangelism, or to pre-arranged evangelistic appointments.  If a person prays to receive Christ through one of these encounters, they are given a New Testament and the first in a series of 13 follow-up lessons. Then the team makes an appointment  for a follow-up/discipleship visit on the next day or the nearest day possible.

We plan on a five-day event.  On the first day, there is usually 100% evangelism with no discipleship.  On the second day, there may be 80% evangelism and 20% discipleship.  The third day will be closer to 60% evangelism and 40% discipleship. The fourth day might be 30% evangelism and 70% discipleship. The last day would involve 90-100% discipleship.  Using this transitioning scale from evangelism to discipleship, we have averaged around 20 decisions made to receive Christ for every one North American participant.

With that in mind, let us go back through a normal week again.  On the first day, it is not unusual for almost every one to lead someone to Christ.  Let us suppose that you were a team member with a national partner, and on the first day you prayed with someone  who indicated a decision for Jesus Christ.

Setting Up Follow-Up.  You and your partner would then explain your desire to visit  again, and you would ask to visit at a convenient time the following day.  Once a time was established, that time would be prioritized above everything else for the following day.  The next day you would return to do your first follow-up or discipleship lesson with your partner.  When you return, you must have in your mind the understanding that you are beginning a discipling relationship with this person.  About 80% of those indicating a decision will be open to a follow-up visit.

Of those, it is not uncommon for more than half of the contacts to be waiting for your visit together with additional friends and family members.  Let us suppose that when you return to follow up this new convert, there are also several others waiting for your visit---curious friends or family members.  For the purpose of illustration, let us say that there are two more people waiting with this new believer.

At that time, you would set aside your first lesson and once again present the  Gospel to these two people.  As God's network expands, both of those present pray to receive Christ.  Time has run out for the first follow-up lesson, but you leave the two new people the first lesson and their own New Testaments, and you arrange to meet all three at their most convenient time, hopefully the next day or even later that evening.

"Intentionally Think" Cell Group.  When you return to do the first follow-up lesson, you and your local partner must begin intentionally thinking that you are not only establishing a discipling relationship, but that those three new converts along with the local partner are the beginning of a new believer cell group.

This is key.  For evangelism to be effective, it must done intentionally. This is true for discipleship as well---one must intentionally turn the mind and the will to doing discipleship. And again this is true of forming cells and small groups. The new believer participants don't need to know this right off, but the leader should have in his or her mind that they are engaging an initial cell/small group. Remember, where two or three are gathered in Jesus' name, He is there in the midst.

There will be those who will meet for personal discipleship by themselves with a local Christian. This is wonderful, and yet that local Christian should be intentionally thinking about how he or she may get that new believer into a study with other new believers and other Christians as soon as possible.  We suggest that by the fifth lesson, you should begin preparing the individually-discipled new believer to meet with a small group of other believers.

Finally, these new believers and their small groups can be the starting point for a broad and ever expanding network of evangelistic relationships.  And as you faithfully grow with them to reach out through those networks, you will be on your way to planting new churches.

Continue to Part 2

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