He believed the world could be changed by investing in a few.
Dr. Robert E. Coleman spent his life helping the Church return to Jesus’ way of making disciples.
Rather than chasing crowds, he pointed leaders back to the Gospels. Jesus did not try to reach everyone at once. He chose twelve. He walked with them. He trained them. Then He sent them to reproduce what they had received.
That pattern became the foundation of Coleman’s teaching and one of the most influential frameworks for disciple-making in the modern Church.
A voice that reshaped modern evangelism
In 1963, Robert Coleman published The Master Plan of Evangelism. The book traced Jesus’ method of disciple-making step by step and challenged the Church to follow it.
Nearly 4 million copies have been distributed worldwide and the book has been translated into more than 100 languages. Pastors, missionaries, campus ministries, and church planting movements continue to study its principles for evangelism and disciple-making.
Billy Graham once said:
“Few books have had as great an impact on the cause of world evangelization in our generation as Coleman’s Master Plan of Evangelism.”
Christianity Today later recognized it as one of the most influential books on evangelism in the twentieth century.
Dr. Coleman went on to write more than twenty additional books, including The Heart of the Gospel, which explores the theology of evangelism and the core doctrines of the Christian faith.
Teacher, scholar, and global voice for evangelism
Dr. Coleman’s life of ministry combined scholarship, teaching, and global mission.
He attended Southwestern University in Texas on a track scholarship before completing seminary at Asbury Theological Seminary. He later pursued advanced studies at Princeton and earned his PhD from the University of Iowa.
For three decades he taught evangelism and discipleship at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, shaping generations of pastors and missionaries. He later served at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and as Distinguished Senior Professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston.
His work also connected closely with the ministry of Billy Graham. Dr. Coleman led the Institute of Evangelism at the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College and traveled internationally with the Graham team as Dean of the Graham International Schools of Evangelism, helping equip leaders for evangelism across the world.
A teacher who invested deeply in people
Those who studied under Dr. Coleman often describe something deeper than a classroom experience.
He spent time with students personally, inviting them into his life, mentoring them in small groups, and hosting them in his home alongside his wife and ministry partner, Marietta. Many of those students affectionately became known as “his boys.”
They traveled with him, prayed with him, and watched closely how he followed Christ.
His message matched his life:
Disciples are formed through relationship.
A global impact rooted in Scripture
Dr. Coleman’s writing remained simple, biblical, and practical. He believed the Great Commission advances through faithful disciples who reproduce their lives in others.
His work continues to shape:
Disciple-making movements
Church planting strategies
Pastoral training around the world
Evangelism frameworks in local churches
What began as a careful study of the Gospels became a global discipleship legacy.
Preserving the legacy through GO International’s Coleman Project
Today, GO International’s Coleman Project is working to preserve and expand access to Dr. Coleman’s writings for the global Church.
Through digitization and global distribution, these resources are being made available to pastors, missionaries, and leaders who continue to carry forward the mission of making disciples who make disciples.
Because the method Jesus modeled still shapes the future of the Church.
