On Making Disciples by Milton Jones

Few people have influenced my thinking on disciple making more than Milton Jones.  He speaks from many years experience as a campus evangelist, pulpit minister,  and college professor.  He’s also walked-the-talk by ministering to AIDS orphans in Africa and discipling young men in Kenyan slums.  Milton currently preaches for the Amarillo South church in Texas.  He also serves as President of The Board of Trustees for Christian Relief Fund, an organization “dedicated to following Christ’s example of ministering to human needs: spiritually, physically and emotionally.”    In addition to reading the article that he’s written for us this month,  you’ll be blessed (and convicted – I promise!) by listening to a sermon on discipling that Milton recently delivered at the North Atlanta church of Christ.   A link to his sermon follows this article.      Make disciples!           mls  11/09

 

Which gun would you use?

A deerhunter tells the story of his hunt. What’s the goal? Obviously, it is to take home some deer.

Upon finding a clearing near a brook, he spots thirty to forty deer grazing. He certainly wants to hit as many of them as possible, so a choice has to be made. He is carrying two guns with him– a 30.06 rifle and a 20-gauge shotgun. Which one will he choose?

If he uses the shotgun, he will hit almost every deer in the clearing. If he uses the rifle, he will probably only hit one or possibly two. Now you could argue that he should use the shotgun because he would hit every one of the deer. It’s all a matter of numbers. If you hit more deer, the odds are that you will have a greater chance to take home some deer.

On the other hand, using the rifle will only result in hitting a few. The numbers aren’t there. But the problem is obvious. If he uses the shotgun, all the deer will be hit, but none of them will be killed. They would all be penetrated but not deeply enough to have one to take home. If the rifle is used, most of the deer will be missed, but there will be one or two hit deeply enough to take home.

The deerhunting story easily applies to our methods of outreach in the church today. Many of our plans are like using a shotgun. Great numbers are touched by the approach, but none are penetrated deeply enough to take home. Churches today need some rifle approaches where some may be missed, but at least a few will be hit to the extent that they will be going to that heavenly home. It doesn’t do much good to touch the masses if everyone is penetrated only to the extent that they are able to leave like the deer hit by the shotgun.

Jesus’ plan for reaching the world was called “making disciples”. To put it simply, making disciples is an educational method where you put a lot of time into a few people to equip them. It is what Jesus did. Jesus didn’t neglect the masses or the multitudes, but His concentration was upon the few. He gave the majority of His three year ministry to equipping the Twelve and especially Peter, James, and John.

Certainly, you should want everyone in the world to find Jesus and do everything that you can to help people find the Savior. But churches today may have such a desire to reach the masses that a proper foundation of making disciples does not occur. You can’t win the world to Christ without paying the price of equipping a few people in order to get there.

With so many church programs trying to reach everyone in your congregation and community, it’s easy to spread yourself very thin in evangelism. And the result of your efforts is that instead of reaching everyone, you reach no one. Your efforts would have been far more effective if you had just reached a few.

When you put in a good word for Jesus, don’t stop with just an initial conversation starter when there is open heart. Keep putting in a good word for Jesus! It may take years. But make the choice to share Jesus until their heart is so penetrated by the gospel that they will be going home  with you to heaven.

 

Paste this link to Milton’s sermon in your web brower:

http://www.nacofc.org/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/applogic+ftcontentserver?pagename=faithhighway/10000/7000/731NO/scmedia&type=mediaplayer&loc=www.nacofc.org/media/media/mediaplayer.php&id=20090804080805EC0496&client_id