Mark Gainey said disciple-making would be simplified for many people if they could think of it as one daily act — moving the people around them one step closer to Jesus.

“I was trained to think of evangelism as an event where I have one conversation and at the end of it I am hoping they come to Jesus,” said Gainey, Alabama Baptists’ lead discipleship strategist and pastor of Fultondale First Baptist Church.

The Bible portrays something different, he said during his breakout session at the Alabama Baptist State Evangelism Conference on Jan. 27 at Lakeside Baptist Church in Birmingham. “In the Bible, we see evangelism as a path to take.”

Lowering the anxiety

Gainey said he now sees evangelism and disciple-making as exactly the same — evangelism is discipling someone to Jesus, and that process continues after conversion as they mature into disciples who make disciples.

Disciple-making evangelism aims to move people who don’t know Jesus toward Him, Gainey said. “If I spend some time with someone over coffee, I’m going to think about that conversation afterward and evaluate it after not as, ‘Did they give their life to Jesus?’ but ‘Did they take a little step toward Jesus?’”

Gainey said disciple making doesn’t happen by accident or from a distance — it happens when you intentionally enter someone’s life.

“When you enter into someone’s life, you’re doing life together. It’s not a class, it’s not a seminar, it’s a very informal process that is more life on life,” he said.

Gainey said taking the path one step at a time “lowers the anxiety for all of us.”

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This article was originally published at TheAlabamaBaptist.org.