Make Disciples
What does evangelism look like? Many times we see it as a Gospel presentation or a single encounter between a witness and one who needs to know Jesus. But although evangelism or disciple making includes presenting the Gospel, it is as much a process as it is a presentation. Consider the case of Pishti Horvath (as told by Trudy Chun):
Twenty-five year-old Pishti Horvath from Debrecen, Hungary grew up in an orphanage from the age of 3. On the surface he appeared a nice, quiet boy, but underneath anger, hatred, and disappointment were fighting within him. “I hated my parents because they left me alone; I hated God, because He let this happen to me,” he recalls. “I planned that after leaving the orphanage I would join the French Foreign Legion and kill people for a living. I lived in a deep darkness; moreover I enjoyed that darkness.”
One summer day an American short-term missions team came to the orphanage with some Hungarian Christians to do an evangelical baseball program. “I was not interested in that, so I did not visit their programs,” he recalls. “But I listened to them from the distance, and I recognized that they could love the others so strongly, even though this love seemed to be fruitless. This love caught my attention.” But Pishti still had so many questions. The Hungarian Christians kept coming to the orphanage. One day Pishti stumbled upon a little group talking with a missionary about the Bible. “I decided to sit down in the distance and listen to the missionary’s words,” he said. When the members of the group disappeared, he went to the missionary and asked his questions. It became a Bible study.
Pishti began attending all the programs the missionaries planned for the orphanage. “After a while God proved to me through His Holy Spirit how much He loves me. I called God into my life and accepted His Son as my Savior. I understood that His love called me through these missionaries, and I am also part of this love.”
Pishti has continued along the road of discipleship, being mentored by men in the local church. Today his discipleship continues as he seeks to share Christ’s love with countless others.
In Pishti's story, we see disciple making/evangelism as a process not a presentation nor a single event. Gods work in his life began long before he accepted Jesus as his Savior and it continues for the rest of his life. Note also, that God used many people in pointing Pishti to Jesus. Perhaps his story will remind us to be patient and take heart as we bear witness to Jesus and pray for His saving work in the lives of family, friends, and co-workers.
Even though it may seem that our words fall on deaf ears and our Christian influence fails to impact those we wish to see come to Christ, we must remember that God is at work. We do not see all that God sees. We do not know all that God knows. Salvation is a work of God and we can trust Him. Let us therefore commit ourselves to live Godly lives through the power of the Holy Spirit as we share the Gospel with those He brings into our lives and leave the results to Him.
