I read the book for one main purpose, to get concrete in my mind the scriptural teaching of how to make disciples. I believe the book does a great job of sharing that message. Now, it isn’t that I didn’t already know how disciples are made but, the problem is this, I believe we have a lot of people who are Christians who are still eating from the bottle, they have not become mature disciples. I will say that I agree with about 90% of the book. No one thought that I would agree with 100% I am sure.
The one thing I would disagree with is that disciples are only made in small groups. Now, I do believe that most disciples are made through the mentoring of people who are more mature in the faith and that is probably what the authors meant. However, what it seems to say is that intentional small groups is the only way to make disciples. I am probably being too technical and literal. To sum it up, this is a great tool and should be read together by the leaders of every established church.
I was mentored by people who were more mature than I was in the faith at times and at times I was really on my own. When I say on my own, there was no one that came alongside me to help me understand the scripture. I had a hunger to learn and I went out and found the information. I read the Bible. I read every book about the Bible that I could read, and still do, 30 years later. There is still a lit to learn and as long as I have breath I hope to be a student of the Bible. I also had friends through the years who together we studied, went to conferences, and sought out preachers on the radio and television by which we could learn and grow. So, all that to say, sometimes a person just has to dig in and grow on their own when no one is picking up the mantle to help.
The sad fact is, I don’t see a lot of intentional discipleship in churches today. We do all that we can to disciple people through the weekly worship service and I think personally at my church we are doing pretty well with this. We are teaching in such a way as to make it plain for everyone. We are also making a challenge to people to go deeper in their walk with Christ. Most recently we have added an intentional discipleship ministry to further help people to grow in their faith and I am pretty excited about that.
This is a Great book and one that will help churches understand better what it is Christ did to make disciples and yes, it is still the best way. The absolutely best and most effective way to make disciples is one on one or personal relationships. That’s what this book is about.
Read it and make some changes.
Ronnie
