Disciple making through relationship

Evangelism and discipleship are core to our work as missionaries. As we have done so, we have learned that the most effective ways of sharing our faith is not in mass efforts such as tracts and crusades.

Instead, we go to places that the crusade cannot go - the people we meet each and every day. We have trained many people and find that every single believer we have taught have come to believe that they too could share their faith confidently and without pressure.

It all starts with true relationships built on sincere concern for the other person. We intentionally find opportunities to tell about what Jesus has done in our own lives using our own words. In this way, we do what no one else can do.

We find that most people have some curiosity in what we believe, and so we have an open door to share. As we share, a number of our friends walk a journey with us, and these become true disciples.

There some key principles:

1) We are respectful. Most people believe that they are being completely logical in their beliefs and that they are living a more or less blameless life. In fact, those that don't follow Jesus have lives filled with darkness, but the devil has blinded them to this. However, starting from a point of condemnation does not draw them to Jesus.

2) We share nuggets of testimony. We keep our testimonies short, maybe a sentence or two. If people don't respond to our nugget, we wait a few minutes, and then try again with a new one. If the other person asks for more, we share a bit more, but being careful not to speak for more than 30 seconds or so without further invitation.

3) We pray. Without prayer, we are wasting our time. We pray for people we know. When we meet new friends, we are praying for them quietly in our hearts. When they have a need, we offer to pray for them. Most people appreciate genuine prayer, no matter what their religion may be.

A key to disciple-making is to make many friends: at work, at our regular shop or with our neighbours. We want everyone to receive Jesus! We don't have to be dynamic speakers - we only need to be genuine friends in times of need.

We also made a point of getting to know our neighbours and the shopkeepers in our area. In this way, we were able to witness many times over to folks who weren't going anywhere.

Some other ideas include:

Language learning: We used the Growing Participator Approach (Thompson Method) to learn language. We had an ordinary person from the community teach us how to speak. This is powerful because learning language became ministry. This was the source for our first convert.

Childrens' after-school centre: This has been our most effective ministry. Parents are willing to send their children to a fun place where they learn English. We make it clear that we are Christian. Some parents withdraw their children quickly, but others let their children stay because they enjoy it so much. These children are our best advocates - they sing and talk about Jesus to their families, friends and the community, opening up further relationships.

Youth ministry: a dynamic outreach to youth is irresistable to those youth who are missing something in their culture and yearn for something interesting and exciting. They listen eagerly, ask questions and have enough time to invest in fun times where they hear about Jesus.

Social media: For a small investment, it is possible to reach thousands of people in your area using FaceBook, Instagram or YouTube.

Language classes: Many people in our town want to learn English. We meet them in conversation classes and steer the discussions to spiritual topics where we witness about the saving power of Jesus.

Ministry to the poor: In every society, there are people that are in desperate situations. The people are more open to the teachings of Jesus because their current religion and culture clearly isn't working.

Coffee shop: People are happy to talk over a cup of coffee, and return to receive more peace and friendship. As they do, they learn about Jesus also.

Crafts: In learning crafts, people are engaged In a positive, creative way. They are ready to learn more. Witnessing about the love of Jesus comes naturally and is readily accepted.

Hospital ministry: In hospital, people are faced with their need for supernatural intervention. In praying for people in hospital, we saw many people healed. This created a positive attitude to the rest of our work.

Community Magazine: As a part-time reporter for a community newspaper, I met many people, including influential people in authority. There were many opportunities for sharing the Gospel. Some of these relationships have endured for many years.

In conclusion, any Christian can engage in one-on-one relationship building aimed at bringing Jesus to those in need. There are many ways available for us to do this - we just need a little creativity and determination to make it happen.

About the author: Bert Inglesmit (pseudonym): We have served in India for the past 11 years. We are South Africans and completed CPx in 2015 in Cape Town. We have been serving the Lord for over 40 years and have shared about his love to hundreds of people from many backgrounds and religions. We have three daughters and four grandchildren.

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