Jesus bookended his mission with a charge to evangelize. He invited the early disciples to come be fishers of men in Luke 5, and then commissioned them at His departure to go and make disciples of all nations. From His teachings in between we can discern at least two motives for this call to mission. First, the Lord’s vision is to redeem the entire world, all his lost children, so he privileges us to be his hands and feet toward that end. Second, He wants us to walk in faith and He knows that we grow more when we are pushed out of our comfort zones and are forced to depend on Him. We can’t very well share the gospel unless we know the gospel, so the challenge to witness presses us to know Christ and our theology more fully. Once a young believer has seen their life make an eternal impact on someone else, they are hooked, as few things will ever seem as significant.
Pastor Michelle Jones from Imago Dei in Portland, Oregon, is responsible for spiritual formation. She teaches that, “Sharing the grace we have been given is not only evidence of our transformation; it is itself transforming. Every opportunity to share our faith with others challenges us to live out what we say we believe (Reviving Evangelism, p.29).”
Thankfully, Young Life has historically embraced a passion for reaching not only the lost, but the “furthest out kids.” We are all about outreach; BUT, our mission statement reminds us that effective outreach only occurs when we disciple our converts and in turn invite them into this missional calling with us. That is why there should never be Young Life without Campaigners. Just as the Lord delegates to us the responsibility to reach the world, we entrust and equip kids with the vision to reach their inner circle. Even if we could do it without them, we wouldn’t, because it would deprive them of the opportunity to grow closer to Jesus as they put their faith on the line.
Witnessing is a multi-faceted gift from the Lord. I love the story in Luke 8 where the man for whom Jesus cast out the legion of demons begged Jesus to let him go with him. Instead of granting this request for sweet fellowship, Jesus tells him to “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” Jesus didn’t need this man to do His work for Him; rather, he offered him this role for the sake of his own faith development.
Seminaries have gotten a bad rap through the decades for training men and women with head knowledge but too little application. Jesus doesn’t want fat little Christians who are content with fellowship alone – He wants world changers willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of establishing His Kingdom here on earth. Bill Gothard said, “We either send our kids to school as missionaries or they become mission fields themselves.”
Tried and true Young Life theologian, Darrel Guder, speaks fondly of YL as “a witnessing community,” where we are saved in order to be sent. It would be anathema to gather believers without giving them vision for their impact on others because of Christ in them. “Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Written by Rick Beckwith