The Prime Objective

Vision:

Mobilizing Christians unto Evangelism by Incorporating the Evangelist into the Local-church so that All may Hear (Jesus Christ can Forgive them of their Sins).

Incorporating the Evangelist into the Local-church.

The Task at Hand:

Jesus commissioned us, His Church, to make disciples. From the Commission given in Mathew we learn that the Commission’s scope is global in nature and then from the Commission found in Mark we glean that it mandates the gospel is to be presented to every person. Global in respect to every nation and every person. (If you struggle with the validity of the Great Commission found in Mark due to the fact that the particular passage is in question then cross-reference Mathew 28:18-20 with Mathew 24:14 and understand that a better rendition of the word “world” in Mathew 24 would be “inhabited earth” and then you should come to the same conclusion).

Generally when we think of “making disciples” we picture a small group gathered for Bible study and possibly personal accountability. These are productive elements in making disciples yet we should not limit discipleship to a particular pattern that emphasizes these elements. If we limit our understanding to a particular method that has been utilized with great success over the past 50 years then we may discard other forms that have been used by the Church prior to our contemporary method, thus tossing out Church history, and we maybe closed minded to any new approach. For an era we have seen small accountability groups, and the era before utilized Sunday School, before that Church Services without Sunday School, prior to the Reformation masses in large buildings, home churches, so forth and so on. The common denominator was not the structure but rather the purpose; and it is this purpose that is inline with the Commission and that is to “Teach;” teach the Word of God.

Within the Great Commission found in Mathew we discover that Jesus summarized how we make disciples by giving us two broad sub-commands to utilize in our efforts to fulfill the over-all command of “make disciples.” These are to Baptize and to Teach. Modern methods of discipleship do take these two elements into consideration but is this true with the local church structure?

One of the things we derive from Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11-12 is that the primary role of Church Leadership is not that of being workers but rather equippers. And then in 1 Peter 5:3 we learn that Church leaders are to lead by example. By definition a Pastor is a Teacher of God’s Word, an Apostle is one sent from the Church to expand the Church (global in respect of every nation), Prophets cry out against sin in the Church and the World, and Evangelists are to proclaim the Gospel (global in the respect of every person). Yet by the directive of Ephesians 4 we gather that the Church Offices are to equip the Saints to do the work of ministry. Pastors equip by teaching believers the truths of scripture so that a believer may shepherd and nurture other sheep through the truths of scriptures. Apostles equip by going and then helping others to go so that they too can equip others to go. (I have seen here in the Philippines Missionaries coming here to work with established churches as “Missions Pastors.”) Prophets work at purifying the church by helping others be pure so that they too may help others. And Evangelists equip in evangelism so that believers evangelize. Two things each Office (Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor/teacher) does in order to “Equip Believers to Work” is to “role-model” as prescribed in 1 Peter 5:3 (Pastors teach, Evangelists proclaim, etc.) and to make a concentrated intentional effort to “equip” as specified in Ephesians 4:11-12.

Discipleship should be global in respect to every nation as well as every person. Balanced discipleship should include both elements of Teaching and Baptizing. And leadership equips believers to do the work of ministry by role-modeling and equipping.

The Puzzle:

Many of us can conceptualize discipleship including both elements of Teaching and Baptizing. Some may find it difficult once we throw in leaders as equippers and all believers are workers. But few are left standing when we mix in “every nation”. Every person? A complete wash out with none left standing.

That needs not be the case, and here is why. In 2000 Billy Graham held a Conference for Evangelists that had representatives from almost 220 countries and districts (They mentioned to us at the conference that the largest U.N. gathering at the time was represented by only 190 or so nations). These are believers who are active in some local-church from almost every nation and district around the globe. That is to say that the “every nation” aspect is, if not completed, almost completed. That leaves us with just “every person” (many of whom may still not have a Bible in their mother tongue though they live in a nation where the Church is already established therefore the Office of the Apostle is still in need).

Currently my former partner in ministry Dr. Kumar Abraham is working to bring about numerous visions that he is burdened with. Two in particular are relevant with our discourse. One thing Dr. Abraham is working on is to organize an accredited Bachelor of Arts Program for the Evangelist. This will provide an opportunity for college students to train specifically as an Evangelist. This program will be in an already recognized institution here in Asia that draws students from across the whole of the 10/40 window. Also Dr. Abraham is working with representatives from numerous organizations building a global network for Evangelists. These two tasks are in actuality efforts to build an infrastructure that will aid the Office of the Evangelist.

There are two elements within discipleship, baptizing and teaching. Four Offices of Equippers (five if you separate Pastor and Teacher) two of which directly overlap and have jurisdiction over the two elements of discipleship. When you understand that to “baptize” inherently includes all efforts to bring a person to a point of “spiritual baptism” followed by the actual act of obedience then you recognize that evangelism falls under the Churches efforts to fulfill the mandate to Baptize as given in the Great Commission, a mandate that targets “every person.” As the Church strives to fulfill the Great Commission it must target all the inhabited earth with the Gospel. Therefore as local-churches strive to fulfill the Great Commission they must target all of their locality with the Gospel. Hence it is essential that every believer be utterly equipped for the task at hand. And the Office tasked to equip in evangelism is the Office of the Evangelist. The best person to equip others for a job is the person who already does that job.

The Church is by-and-large universal in that it is already to some degree established within every nation. But here is our weak link; local-churches are by-and-large monolistic when it comes to their leadership representation regarding biblical Offices. Most churches have only “Pastors” with no other Office operating within the leadership structure. How many churches have a church Evangelist tasked to proclaim the Gospel through out the churches locality while at the same time equipping the church in evangelism. In heart, yes, but not on the books.

The Church is in every nation. An infrastructure is currently being built that will not only increase the number of Evangelists but also provide opportunity for the enhancement of their ministry skills. The task is before us; every person needs to be evangelized. The piece of the puzzle that is missing is “how do we maximize the ministry of the Evangelist so that every person is reached?” We do this by incorporating the Evangelist into the local-church and empowering the local-church to evangelize their locality. If this paradigm is successful and other churches adopt this local-church leadership structure then we will not only make great steps in reaching every person with the gospel but we will also provide opportunities for Evangelists. The Church does understand that discipleship mandates evangelism yet most local-churches are not fitted in such a way to actually evangelize the whole of their locality. By refitting the local-church structured in accordance with the mindset of evangelizing the whole in response to our Commission and this is done by utilizing the Leadership Office that directly overlaps the task then the Church will be in a more strategic position to accomplish the Commission.

After this we can utilize the infrastructure that is being built to advance the paradigm by giving charge to the Evangelists to work directly with one local-church. Once the Evangelist is reacclimated we will discover an apprehension on the part of local-churches. The means to help local-churches overcome their apprehension is to present them with a working representation of the ministry model that tasks the Pastor/teacher with equipping Saints to work at ministering God’s word to prepare God’s people for service and the Evangelist equips the Saints to evangelize the whole of their locality. A local-church designed specifically to address both elements of the Great Commission utilizing the appropriate Leadership Office. If you seriously stop and consider what we are discussing you may discover that this is the next logical step for the modern missions movement.

My Piece of the Puzzle:

What is needed at this time is a model, or prototype, to be developed so as to be shared. This is my piece of the puzzle. At present Gloria and I are undertaking a church plant where we will incorporate the Office of the Evangelist into the local-church. We are situated in the middle of a two city region and the church will have as one of its goals to fully evangelize the two cities. We will define “evangelize” as “bringing a person to a full understanding of the gospel so that the only thing left for them to do is believe.” We will assume that every person has zero knowledge of the gospel and as a body we will strive to bring every person to a point of complete knowledge.