“Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion - it is a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ.” – Billy Graham
There was a time when Billy Graham was criticized for his emphasis on conversion and deemphasis on continual conversion. Christian leaders were concerned that many, if not most, of the persons who accepted Christ as Savior at a crusade never accepted Christ as Lord of their daily lives. At one time, there may have been some legitimacy to that criticism. It is a pitfall of any evangelistic ministry that emphasizes reaching the lost.
When a church turns it’s eyes outward into the community and intentionally serves people in Jesus’ name, offering them Christ, they celebrate when the lost are found, when sinners repent, when people who are heading in self-destructive directions turn toward God’s direction of wholeness, as they should celebrate. Far too many churches in our culture are inward focussed, thinking only of the needs and wants of their members. Someone once said the local church is the only organization in the world that exists for the benefit its non-members. When a church decides to join God in what he is blessing and turn the focus outward, God richly blesses their efforts and that church will see new followers of Jesus.
The opposite mistake some churches make, however, is focussing solely or mostly on numerical growth through evangelism. There is no doubt, that the local church is commanded to go out into the world and share the Good News. However, when the goal is simply bumping up the numbers of conversions, a neglect of discipleship may develop. Jesus commanded us to “make disciples,” not simply to make “converts.”
A church must strive to grow deep and wide at the same time. As we grow deep, we learn that Jesus is Lord and that means we have a responsibility to follow him into the world to share the Good News with the least, the last, and the lost. As we are obedient to him, as we are growing deeper in our relationship with him, we automatically go wide. To not go wide is to not be a disciple. So we go wide, we introduce people to the Good News and we make disciples as persons commit their lives to Christ, as both Savior and Lord.
How are you growing more and more like Christ? How are you more and more adopting his attitude of humility and grace? How are you reaching out with the Good News to the least, the last, and the lost? Let’s go deep and wide!
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