Kevin and Sherry Harney: Why It’s a Problem If Our Discipleship Does Not Lead to Evangelism

kevin and sherry harney
Photo courtesy of Kevin and Sherry Harney

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Kevin and Sherry Harney are the cofounders of Organic Outreach International, a ministry that helps Christians share the good news of Jesus in natural ways. Kevin is the lead pastor at Shoreline Church in Monterey, California, and Sherry serves as the spiritual formation and discipleship director. Their new book is “Organic Disciples: Seven Ways to Grow Spiritually and Naturally Share Jesus.”

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Key Questions for Kevin and Sherry Harney

 -“Discipleship” is a bit of a buzzword in the Christian community. What would you say that our typical understanding of discipleship is?

-It seems that too often when people grow in the Lord, they walk away from their unchurched friends. How do we help move them toward evangelism?

-​​What’s the difference between capitalizing on organic structures like family versus over-programming discipleship? Are there other kinds of organic structures church leaders can use for discipleship?

-Does doing discipleship according to your methods impact the culture of your pastoral staff?

Key Quotes From Kevin Harney

“Any time a person takes the hand of another person and helps them grow spiritually to move towards Jesus, I believe you can be discipling someone toward Jesus.”

“The reality is that every person who knows Jesus now was influenced by somebody who took their hand, whether it was a grandparent or a parent who maybe spent decades pouring into the life of a grandchild or a child. Does that count as discipleship if you had a godly father or mother who walked with you daily? I’d say absolutely.”

“We all need to be having people that we can say they take my hand and help me grow. And then there’s other people whose hand I take and help them grow, and I teach them to do that with another generation until Jesus returns.”

“We have all these great movements that grow people towards more Bible studies, more learning, but are they moving people out with the gospel?”

“What Sherry and I have done is we’ve really tried to answer that exact question: How do you move people who love Jesus and know Jesus out with the Gospel?”

“Any Christian can share their faith if they can do it in a way out of how God’s made them.”

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Jessica Lea
Jessica is a content editor for ChurchLeaders.com and the producer of The Stetzer ChurchLeaders Podcast. She has always had a passion for the written word and has been writing professionally for the past five years. When Jessica isn't writing, she enjoys West Coast Swing dancing, reading, and spending time with her friends and family.

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