A Personal Approach to Go and Make Disciples in 2026

In his immensely popular book “7 Habits of Highly Successful People,” author Steven Covey gives one habit that can be particularly helpful in planning for a blessed and productive 2026:

Be proactive, not reactive. If your life seems more influenced by the latest news cycle, social media trend, or you simply give too much time to checking notifications, it’s a sign you are more reactive than proactive in your life. Being proactive means to take agency over your life, your time, and how you live your life in that time. You focus more on being an encourager, influencing others for good, and on creating more than critiquing. 

Be a Proactive Witness in 2026

Let me apply this specifically to an area all believers should seek to grow in for the new year: our personal witness. This is an area where we can fall quickly into reactionary mode, speaking up for Jesus only to defend our faith when it is challenged or questioned, rather than following the words of Jesus to be going and making disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). 

What if you quietly prayed for the opportunity to initiate a gospel conversation as a part of your daily morning routine? What if you learned the essential ideas and skills to do so? Would that make a difference in your walk with Christ? And if you are a pastor or church leader, what impact might it have on your church if you were more proactive in encouraging your flock to be witnesses, and to give them guidance in doing this?

Here are some ways to do this:

1. Know the Gospel Essentials and How To Communicate Them. 

I have several presentations of the gospel that I memorized over the years. That doesn’t mean that I say what I’ve memorized verbatim when talking to someone, but they give me a platform from which to pull to talk to people about Christ in different circumstances. 

Imagine an athlete, say a football player, or a musician, such as a pianist. The football player learns essentials to play the game: the rules, how to block, tackle, catch, and so on. A skilled linebacker never has to stop to think about how to tackle; he has learned it so well it comes naturally. A skilled pianist knows all the notes, major and minor keys, and can read a piece of music far better than a novice who doesn’t know a treble cleft from a whole note. Learning the content doesn’t teach every melody to the musician, but it makes her far more prepared to play it. 

There is nothing more important or precious for the Christian than the gospel, the good news we have encountered through Jesus Christ. We can learn more about God and his Word than the essentials of the gospel, but we should not know less than this, both for our own good and to help us invite others to experience Jesus as well. 

For example, if someone asked me, “What does it mean to be a Christian?” I can answer them confidently. I will say something like this: “Being a Christian means that God made the world, and he made it good. But we all know something happened because it’s not all good now.”

Of course we call that the fall, but I don’t necessarily use that language with the person I’m talking to, though I will explain how things not being all good comes from the reality that we are all sinners.

Going on, I will say, “And then God sent Jesus into the world,” and describe God’s work through Christ on our behalf, followed by an invitation to respond. 

Another example would be the familiar Roman Road, following: 

1. We are all sinners in need (Romans 3:23). 
2. There are consequences for sin (Romans 6:23). 
3. God did something about our sin in Jesus (Romans 5:8).
4. We can surrender to Jesus as Lord by faith (Romans 10:1-10, 13).

2. Teach Believers How To Share Christ. 

It’s important for pastors to teach congregations a way to share the gospel that believers can use in a moment, including main points they can memorize. There are pastors who take an entire sermon each year to do this, often at the start of the year. 

This is not so they can just recite the words back to a person the way they memorized it; teaching this gives them a way to apply the gospel to the conversation they are having as well as give them a way to recall the truth of the gospel if they get stuck.  

Let’s face it: If our people who are believers can’t clearly articulate the basics of the gospel, we must be teaching them something else as more important. Again, we can do more than know the gospel as we grow in our faith, but we should never know less than that.

3. Teach Believers How To Start Conversations. 

Often believers who know the gospel struggle to share Jesus because they don’t know how to start conversations with other people. 

You can learn an acronym to help here, like the word FIRE:

Family—ask about their family, truly seek to get to know them. 

Interests—ask about hobbies, work, sports or musical interests. You will probably find you have things in common. 

Religious background—Then, ask a general question about their religious or spiritual beliefs, like, Do you have any religious upbringing or spiritual beliefs? Or, when you attend church, where do you attend? (That’s a far better question than, do you go to church?)

Exploratory questions—Here you want to learn more about their actual faith. Examples:

• Someone with a church background: Would you say you know Jesus personally or are you still figuring that out? Or share your testimony, then ask if they have experienced anything like that. 
• Talking with a Muslim: Ask, did you know that Jesus is mentioned in your holy book? Did you know there are actually four biographies about Jesus that are called Gospels? You can offer to read the Gospel of John with them to see who Jesus is.
• Talking with someone who is irreligious or skeptical: Ask them about their beliefs and how their own journey brought them to where they are. You can then share your own story of meeting Jesus.

4. Remind Believers To Share Jesus With Conviction and Compassion.  

First Peter 3:15 tells us that we should always be ready to give a reason for the hope we have in Christ. That’s conviction: Being ready to speak up about Jesus and how he changed our lives. 

It goes on to say we are to do so with gentleness and respect. We are not better than others because we have been changed by the gospel, but we have received the greatest gift (Ephesians 2:8-9); now we can tell others about this gift, with respect, kindness, and gentleness. 

If most Christians in America did this in 2026, we could see a remarkable impact. Let’s be proactive for the gospel this year.