I've got a question I would like a little help working through. My guess is there are plenty of you out there willing to give me your two cents (or more!) in my quest.
Which is more important? And why do you think so?
1) Getting people saved.
2) Training the saved to grow and get people saved.
Maybe I'll blog some of my thoughts once I get some input.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
I have four cents to put in. I personally think the two should go hand in hand but that's a diifferent story. I believe that training the saved to grow to get other people saved is essential. One person can't do it all alone. The body needs to work together and if part of the body isn't doing it's part then it's broken. We're suppossed to go into all the world and preach the gospel and I don't know about you but I don't speak Swaheili.
I grew up in a training-focused church. We do training session after training session after training session, and after three years of training, you've pretty much weeded out anyone who had a fire to be on the mission field, or those who still have a fire to love people are so afraid of 'doing it' wrong, that they stay home. Training must be coupled with action, or else we run in circles. The best form of training, or at least my best learning experiences were when someone threw me in relatively cold, but walked me through the experience by example. (Seeing that my leaders weren't perfect helped me know it's okay for me to screw up sometimes, too!)
i think that maybe getting people saved is more important- only because if you just get 2 saved and train them up- well, maybe theyll save more...but if you focus on getting people saved, perhaps those who are really saved will read their bible and learn and watch and join the efforts. i guess though, im coming from more of an evangelistics prospective than from a pastor/shepherd/teacher...
They are the same thing. We are a holiness movement. You don't turn to God just once; you turn to Him everyday.
I agree that it is not an either/or scenario but one of AND. I think the church in our century has yet to find a viable balance between the two. Usually we forsake one for the other so I agree with Travis that the two must go hand in hand. As Salvationists, Booth makes our mandate clear: "Go for souls and go for the worst." But I don't think that means we ought to neglect discipleship for the sake of salvation decisions. I think a big part of our decline in raising up effective converts in our current era is the trap of getting more concerned about stats than the status of mens souls.
Thats's my few cents.
Salvation and discipleship go hand in hand. I think in this culture many people are discipled before they are saved
I would think if I wasn't getting people saved then I wasn't very well trained. So both.
how about...loving people no matter what?
The Lord disciplines those He loves.
Post a Comment