Do we have a universal model for how to obey Christ’s command to “go and make disciples of all the nations”? Do we have a universal model for obeying Christ’s command to “Go, and make disciples?”

We do! Christ gave us a mandate, message and model for how to incarnate and proclaim the Good News of God’s forgiving and transforming love in our broken world.  Our model for outreach, our paradigm for evangelism is the doctrine of the Incarnation. The incarnation is a theological prism through which we view our entire missional task in the world. Our inspiration, motivation and practice must come from understanding the unique act in history where God entered into our world and our human condition in the person of Jesus Christ. The God/man who assumed our full human nature, though without sin, while still remaining God.

Jesus said “As the Father sent me into the world, so I send you.” Jesus is telling us that our mission in the world is to resemble his. Just as he entered our world, so are we to enter other people’s worlds as he did.  What are the central impulses of the Incarnation that will aid us in our understanding of personal evangelism?

1. The Kingdom of God is all about relationships : Get the Story Out!   God is a relational being - three beings in One who share each other’s life in perfect love. Jesus said the essence of the Law is this: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself” (Lk: 25-28). That means the Kingdom of God is all about loving relationships - to God, to others and to self. A true follower of Christ is one whose life bears the stamp of profound love relationships not merely a life of religious activity.  Imagine the implications this has for evangelism! The trinity reveals that loving relationships are everything. When we reach out and express love to others we are reflecting the deepest reality of all - the very triune nature of God!  What did God reveal when he sent Christ to earth? What did Jesus constantly model when he lived among us? That everyone is someone to God. There are no little people. God loves the sinful, the lost, the maimed, the marginalized - and so must we! Emulating God’s compassion must be at the heart of everything we do and it is fundamental to our understanding of evangelism.
2. Jesus’ model: Radically Identified and Radically Different   But how do we demonstrate God’s love to unbelievers without compromising our identity? The incarnation of Jesus is the supreme example of identification without the loss of identity. Jesus demonstrated that to be properly related to the world we must be both radically identified and yet radically different. People in Jesus day thought holy men could only be found in Synagogues - but Jesus went to the Market Place. He had a “go-to-them” not a “come-to-us” approach. Jesus moved into the neighborhood and we must follow his example. That is where evangelism starts: by first prayerfully asking God “Show me where you are at work. Who are the people You are seeking who are in my life already - in my neighborhood, in my work in my extended family?”