In 1976, my mom and dad settled in Winston-Salem after moving from West Virginia so my dad could start a new job. They were new Christians and someone invited them to an exciting, growing church in the area. For most of their lives, they had only been cultural Christians. But in this church, they preached real discipleship. More importantly, the pastor took a special interest in my dad and made him part of his life, turning him into a spiritual giant.
A few years ago, that pastor went home to be with Jesus, so my dad and I went to his funeral. As we were driving, my dad recounted for me all the ways God had worked in his life through that pastor during those early years.
One comment stuck out: “You know, J.D., I couldn’t tell you the outline of a single sermon he preached. What I can never forget, however, is hearing him pray. What I can never forget is hearing him comfort someone in their grief. What I can never forget is watching him share Christ with the lady at the grocery store. Observing his life impacted me far more than any sermon he ever preached.” And because of that man’s life-on-life investment, my family forever changed.
Many of us think of evangelism or disciple-making as some special activity that we do. But when Jesus gave the Great Commission in Matthew, what he said was, “As you are going, make disciples.” In English, we translate it as “Go,” like it’s a command—“Start going”—but the Greek can also mean, “As you are already going …” The implication is that life already has us going to lots of different places—and as we go, we make disciples. We pursue normal life with gospel intentionality.
If we think of our lives as a pie, with categories like finances, church, family, and work, we might hear “make disciples” and fear that there isn’t enough room in the pie for discipleship to fit. Ugh, how will I trim from these other slices to add the “discipleship slice”? But what if we saw each segment as places God has already given us to make disciples? Disciple-making through our finances, through our family, through our work.
Jesus taught some things formally, like the Sermon on the Mount, but a lot of what he taught was in the moment—helping the disciples process their fears or walking them through errors in their thinking. That’s our role too. We’re not all teachers, but we all live daily lives that others can learn from. Maybe it’s reading the Bible with someone. Maybe it’s offering a ride to church. Or maybe it’s something as mundane as grocery shopping. Whatever it is, live daily life with gospel intentionality.
