Evangeliving – Before and Beyond Baptism

Last week I wrote to you on difference between membership and conversion, and today I would like you to consider our responsibility for discipling people who are already IN our church. Often we focus on evangelism as bringing OUTsiders inside, yet it is incomplete just because people entered and joined.  The transformation, conversion, spiritual growth is a process that is ongoing.  Jesus disciples spent 3 ½ years with Jesus Christ, and yet needed to be disciple more.  The book of Acts spans some 30 years after Christ’s ascension and you see how Apostles kept of learning & growing.

This past week Adventist Review had published an article entitled “Study Finds Challenges in Nurturing Baptized Adventists.”  An article comes from South Pacific Region (Australia) , which has a similar dynamics of church to Canada – culturally diverse amidst secular culture.

Notice the Great Commission mandate to teach before and beyond the baptism:  "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, continue teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)  Notice, how discipleship/teaching comes before and after baptism.

The recent study reveals that 1 out of 4 had no intentional post-baptism mentoring.   As we prepare for the fall evangelistic campaign, I wonder if some people are thinking of it as a miracle of harvest – not sowing, not watering, not weeding, not doing anything – but harvesting.  It takes work to prepare people for decision.  It takes work of befriending, disciplining, mentoring, teaching, modeling, explaining, serving their needs in order to win their confidence that we have their best interest in mind, before we can bid them to follow Jesus.  And when they start following, it takes more teaching!  Over the past 10 years I had been in London we added 70 people through baptism and 10 by profession of faith.  Most of them are walking with Jesus, some left.  How committed are we to mentor the “new babes” in Christ?  I am asking this question, because it is not enough to invite and add people to our congregation, if we are not ready to personally invest our time in their lives.

The Spirit of Prophecy revealed Ellen G. White this insight: “I have been shown that there has been much of such work done among us as a people. Promising fields have been spoiled for future effort by striking in prematurely without counting the cost, and leaving the work half done. Because there has been a course of lectures given, then stop the work, rush into a new field to half do the work there, and these poor souls who have but a slight knowledge of the truth are left without proper measures being taken to confirm and establish them in the faith and educate them like well-drilled soldiers how to meet the enemy's attacks and vanquish him.”--Letter 60, 1886.  Please consider who in our fellowship needs your mentoring, and engage people to build them up.