When Jesus was ascending to heaven, his last statement was that ‘we must go out and make disciples out of all nation’ (Matthew 28:19-20).
When we go out for Evangelism, it is essential to adopt the approach of Jesus.
From scriptures, when Jesus began his ministry, one of the first thing he did, was to announce the message of the Good News in Capernaum (Matthew 4:17).
Then he went from announcing the Gospel to appointing and discipling the twelve (Matthew 4:18-19). We must realise that evangelising without adequate discipleship will hinder the principle of multiplication.
Evangelism, is beneficial for the target audience to hear the gospel however the probability of the message spreading beyond the target audience is very slim.
However, with Discipleship, it prepares and equips disciples with the tools to make more disciples. This is reflected in the approach of Jesus when he chose the first twelve disciples (Luke 6:13) and went further to disciple seventy people (Luke 10:1) and more.
Let us take Apostle Paul as an example. We saw how he adopted the principle of Jesus by discipling men like; Aristachus (Col 4:10), Timothy (1 Timothy 1:18), John Mark (2 Timothy 4:11), Onesimus (Philemon 1:10), Jason, Sociparter, Lucius (Romans 16:21), and Epaphras (Col 1:7).
Brothers and sisters, without adequate discipleship the message of the Good News wouldnt have reached our generation successfully.
We must labour as Pastors, Apostles, Evangelist and Teachers, by investing our time in sufficient discipleship to protect and spread the Gospel to the next generation, before the coming of our Lord Jesus.
I hope you are blessed as you read.
Stay blessed & encouraged!
Written and composed by Ayo Akingbala
Edited by Shola Akingbala