There are two streams of disciple making which could be described as “right handed” and “left handed” evangelism; we need both hands to accomplish the work of God.
Left handed evangelism is a less familiar paradigm of lay driven evangelism, involving lay people going among the lost, making disciples in ongoing relationships, then mentoring their disciples to become missional servants and eventually then disciple makers. (Luke 10:2 And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.) Left hand evangelism organizes individuals to become disciple makers through relationships that become channels or means of grace, and then raise those disciples to become disciples who make disciples who make disciples (2 Tim 2:2). Disciples obey the commands of Christ in a cycle of justifying, sanctifying & prevenient grace.
In the body of Christ, this is the discipleship system; it provides a teleological process of spiritual growth through successive, developmental stages. The discipleship system is a dynamic “go” movement that desires growth/improvement in all things. It is Troeltsch’s sect, Hegel’s antithesis, Senge’s reinforcing loop, Rogers’ innovative minority and Schwarz’ dynamic pole of bipolarity. It is emotional, subjective, right brained, relational, pluralistic, inclusive, decentralized, homophilic and tends toward enthusiasm and differentiation. When visible, it is often seen in small groups that function like spiritual families, where Jesus is Lord and people grow, operating in a social network. One aspect of a discipleship system is equipping and managing disciples in missional service, which is one of five stages in the birth and growth of spiritual children.
It is the muscle for bone; both are alive. And the body of Christ, to live and act, also needs both bone (right handed, structured church) and muscle (left handed, missional/relational body of Christ.)