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Training Men By Being With Them

Posted on April 20, 2016 Written by Patrick Leave a Comment

Jesus’ plan to advance the Gospel to every person was by men He trained. He selected men and trained them. How did Jesus train them?

The Master Plan of Evangelism is a wonderful book that attempts to explain “the Master’s plan of evangelism”, hence the name. There are a lot of things that we take and make better. The first plane flew for only 12 seconds. That plane has been improved upon and made better as years have gone by. I remember watching a commercial that advertised showers in a specific airline’s plane. The Wright Brothers would very surprised at how far the human race has advanced their first flight. The same story can be told in almost any area of technology as well as the advancement in form and function in many areas from beds, to bottles, to books (now we have “paperless” books)! While in many areas we take an original plan and improve upon it, I don’t believe Jesus’ plan for world evangelism can be improved upon. I think we should strive to hold to the plan that Jesus used. That plan of advancing the coming Gospel was through men He trained. Chapter 2 of the book covers the topic of “Association”. Jesus invested His time into those men. I encourage you to read The Masters Plan of Evangelism. Here is a small passage from the book…

Having called his men, Jesus made a practice of being with them. This was the essence of his training program—just letting his disciples follow him.

When one stops to think of it, this was an incredibly simple way of doing it. Jesus had no formal school, no seminaries, no outlined course of study, no periodic membership classes in which he enrolled his followers. None of these highly organized procedures considered so necessary today entered into his ministry. Amazing as it may seem, all Jesus did to teach these men his way was to draw them close to himself. He was his own school and curriculum.

The natural informality of this teaching method of Jesus stood in striking contrast to the formal, almost scholastic procedures of the scribes. These religious teachers insisted on their disciples adhering strictly to certain rituals and formulas of knowledge which distinguished them from others; whereas Jesus asked only that his disciples follow him. Knowledge was not communicated by the Master in terms of laws and dogmas, but in the living personality of One who walked among them. His disciples were distinguished, not by outward conformity to certain rituals, but by being with him, and thereby participating in his doctrine (John 18:19).

 Coleman, R. E. (2006). The master plan of evangelism (pp. 33–34). Grand Rapids, MI: Revell.

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