In what Christians call the Great Commission, Jesus tells his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
Edwards’ organization, Discipling Another, is a response to that Biblical command. It’s also an outgrowth of a program developed during his 30 years as founding pastor of Springfield’s Fellowship Church that expanded overseas in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed.
The mostly volunteer non-profit’s goal is to address what Edwards and countless others see as a pressing concern of Christian evangelism not limited to capital E Evangelicals.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
“Eighty percent of those (who commit to Christ) walk away from faithfulness within the first three months,” Edwards said. “All these people get excited, and then they’re nowhere to be found. What happened, where did they go?”
The answer is usually back to what they were doing before, just like people who abandon diets and exercise programs. And for the same reason, Edwards said.
“It takes three months for people make a significant life change. That’s the average.”
And while people whose diets or exercise plans fail are said to lack discipline, Edwards says the faithful who stray lack “disciplers.”
“All life change groups, recovery groups are huge on mentorship, coaching (and) sponsors,” he said, “and that’s kind of the approach that we’ve taken.”
In one sense, the idea is not new. Churches long have paired newcomers to their congregations with established members who introduce them to members of the congregation, using the term shepherds and shepherding. The goal is the same: To help those joining the flock feel at home and make a home there.
“It models what Jesus did, and you can really connect in the one on one,” said Ellen Dudney, volunteer executive director of the “Go Team” of volunteers supported with $150,000, most through donations but including a grant from the Mission Increase Foundation.
“The fact that I was meeting in this one-on-one relationship allowed for more of a trust- building and sharing,” she said. And the plan for 10 weeks of regular prayer and Bible reading is supported by “greater accountability through the meetings” that encourage discipline.
Being discipled made for “a richer faith experience,” she said, that for the first time has allowed her to feel “much more comfortable” discussing her faith with others.
Edwards developed the program to reach out to youth at Fellowship Church and ultimately took it with him on 100 overseas trips, many of them to Russia to help establishes churches there after the collapse of Communist rule.
Subsequently, he said, “we were invited to the Philippines,” and have since answered calls to Cambodia, India, Thailand and Myanmar, Belarus, Nigeria and Kenya. The program no longer operates in Russia and hopes to re-establish a program in Ukraine when hostilities cease.
Discipling Another books and workbooks are now translated and published overseas in seven languages and for use by a variety of denominations.
Discipling has become Edwards’ sole focus since he retired from Fellowship Church in 2021. That move came after a trip to Israel during which he said he was praying of an early morning by the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus announced the Great Commission, “and I actually felt the Lord nudge me.”
COVID soon added a jolt to the nudge by severely restricted international travel, which changed international evangelizing as it has other enterprises.
Edwards said Google translator isn’t perfect in bridging language barriers but covers the essentials and is much cheaper than international travel. The move last month into new offices in Suite 240 at Commerce Pointe will centralize operations and provided meeting and event space.
The tireless Edwards, who was at Fellowship for 49 years, has sent out nearly 800 blogs since March of 2020 under the heading “Discipling Another” in advancing the cause far and wide.
“From these offices,” he said, “we’re basically influencing the world.”
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