What Is Our Evangelism Inviting People Into?

By S. Crawley

Photo by Trevo Creative on Unsplash ‍

There’s an important question we need to ask before we talk about approaches to mission, methods of discipleship, or what spreading and multiplying Kingdom communities might look like in our cities.

It is the question Jesus was pressing on when He talked about wine and wineskins (Mark 2:18-22).

It is deceptively simple: what is our evangelism inviting people into?

The Distinction That Changes Everything

Jesus used the wine-wineskin image in a conversation with the Pharisees — people deeply committed to the “container” of their habits and customs, but who had lost sight of what the container was for.

Jesus’ most fundamental message was the accessibility of God’s reign and rule, and the call for people to receive and align with it (Mark 1:14-15).

The wine He is talking about is the invitation to embrace His reign and rule, to receive Him as the highest authority in our lives, and in doing so, to step into the relationship with Father God that He always intended.

Genesis 1 and 2 show us what this looks like in its fullest form — a life of trust and deep integration with the Father's own life, a daily relational walk with the one who is both King and Father.

How do we do drink this wine? This is where wineskins come in - they are containers for the wine. They enable people to drink it.

In this context, an effective Kingdom wineskin is anything that seeks to facilitate and catalyse that: any structure, tradition, or approach designed to help people experience and grow in a living relationship with the Father-King. A less effective Kingdom wineskin is anything that disempowers or obstructs that relationship.

Either way, God’s emphasis is not on the wineskin itself. He is focussed on the wine it contains.

What The King Is Actually Offering

The gospel is the announcement that the Kingdom of God is here — that the relationship broken in the fall is now accessible through Jesus' death and resurrection, and that the Father is actively inviting every person into it.

He effectively says: "I am your King, and I am your Father." 

The invitation is to receive both aspects of who He is — to live as a son or daughter under His loving authority, in a relationship where He communicates, where He leads, and where He is actively working in our own hearts and lives and in the world around us. 

Pentecost was the milestone where this became universal: God directly available by His Spirit to every single person on the planet, made possible by Jesus' death and resurrection. And the knowledge of His glory covering the earth — Habakkuk's vision, Revelation's vision — is the Father's declared end-state for creation:

sons and daughters reconciled to Himself, walking with Him in the things He is doing.

That is the wine He wants to multiply across every city, every affinity group, every social network on earth.

What We Say Yes To Shapes Everything

Our understanding of the wine shapes what we say ‘yes’ to in our own discipleship journey — and what we invite others into.

If I understand the gospel primarily as a transaction, I will tend to view my discipleship journey in terms of a series of transactions, and that will shape my focus in evangelism and discipleship of others. If I understand the gospel as belonging to the right kind of community, that becomes my measure and my focus in serving others is to bring them into that community.

But if I understand the gospel as an invitation into a living, daily, integrated relationship with the Father — where He speaks and I listen, where He leads and I follow, where I am becoming more fully His son or daughter — then the whole frame shifts.

The questions I bring to my own life change. The conversations I have with the people around me change. What I am trying to help others step into changes: a life increasingly integrated with the Father, and transformation that flows from that relationship, rather than a religious affiliation or a membership decision.

This clarity is the foundation on which everything else rests.

Every Approach Is A Wineskin

Here is the liberating implication: no single method, tradition, or movement approach is itself the Kingdom.

Historically prominent European wineskins, newer approaches like Discovery-based discipleship, different movement methodologies from different streams and traditions — all of them are wineskins.

They are attempts, better or worse suited to different contexts, to facilitate and catalyse the Kingdom of God. God has worked powerfully through many wineskins across history and across cultures.

The questions we bring to all of them are the same:

Does this help people encounter and grow in living relationship with the Father?

Does it help them listen to Him, trust Him, obey Him?

Does it empower them to help others do the same?

Where a wineskin serves those goals, it has something real to offer. Where it has drifted from them, it needs attention — whatever it is called.

We hold the wine tightly. We hold the wineskin with an open hand. And because the wine is the constant, we can be genuinely curious about different containers without becoming possessive of them or threatened when a different container works better in another context.

We can honestly challenge our own wineskins, because the goal was never to defend the container.

The wine is what matters. Everything else exists to serve it.

Getting Practical

As you think about God's vision for your city and/or affinity group:

1) John 17:3 — "Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." What does this passage reveal about what the Father is fundamentally offering people — and how does that shape what you want to pass on to others?

2) Think about the specific people you are reaching or discipling right now. In practice, what are you inviting them to say yes to? How closely does that match the wine — a living, daily relationship with the Father?

3) Think about the wineskin or approach you are most committed to. How would you assess it against this question: does this help people encounter and grow in living relationship with the Father?

---

S. Crawley serves leaders and teams in Asia carrying a vision for their cities and is passionate about helping people grow in authentic relationships. He also knows how to make nachos.

© 2026 S. Crawley. All rights reserved.