“Discipleship” is getting a second round of buzz today. I say second round because the first round began in the United States in the early 1970s.
Yet few of the books and discussions in the present discipleship movement take into account the mistakes that were made in the 1970s. So those mistakes are being unwittingly perpetuated today.
So what exactly is “discipleship” in the New Testament? And why is it failing in so many quarters today?
In my eBook, Discipleship in Crisis, I sketch out 9 reasons why “discipleship” isn’t working today and why.
The book includes a historical look at the discipleship movement and offers various correctives and challenges so that we quit repeating the same mistakes of the past.
If you’re interested in this subject at all, you’ll want this book.
However, you can’t buy this book anywhere. The only way to get it is by signing up to my FREE Exclusive Update list. You’ll only hear from me once a week with fresh and short articles that are NOT “religiously correct.”
Join the form below and get the free book. (If the form doesn’t show up on your browser, GO HERE).
The Perfect Image For My Rants Against Sectarianism and Elitism
I have been so blessed. A whole new horizon has been opened to me and it gets better and better each day.
Thank you Frank
Excellent articles, Frank. The very word “discipleship” has suffered so many abuses at the hands of modern Christianity. Again its definition is becoming blurred by the “popular Christian culture.” Oh, there is some good teaching out there, but my question is who among those in the current “discipleship movement” are actually making disciples – not just followers of their teaching. I can’t wait to get into your course. It will surely be a blessing.
Hey Frank,
This is a great response to the common problems the church faces regarding discipleship. I love the audios and your article “Discipleship, Mission, and Church”. I plan on recommending both sets of resources next week when I meet with a couple of young church leaders I am mentoring and also in the Mission training program in teach in called SEND North America.
Thanks for sharing!
Joshua
Frank, I’m almost finished with the course and it’s amazing. I’ve been following the discipleship teachers for a long time. They have some good stuff but I wish they, Alan Hirsch, Mike Breen, Lance Ford, Brad Briscoe, Francis Chan, David Platt, for example would go through your course. You talk about things I’ve never heard from them and I think it would strengthen their ministries.
Thanks again.
Jeff
I greatly appreciate your work Frank. I see so many resources that will take me down the path of having a deeper relationship with Christ. and right now it is so overwhelming because I don’t know where to start. I love to grow in my understanding and knowledge of Christ but I also want to walk the walk.
I pray that I take this one step at a time. I look forward to doing the course and reading your books….as I just need to focus and ask the Lord how can I accomplish all this with the list of things I would like to cover.
I’ve always been frustrated that “discipleship” in most evangelical churches is simply a euphemism for Christian Education. We “teach” others how to be disciples through curriculum, bible study and doctrine, so that when one has passed a prescribed course of instruction they may have the moniker “disciple” conferred upon them.
You said it best by making it analogous to the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. Through all your writings one begins to understand that having having a relationship with Christ cannot happen simply on the back side of the desert, but must be in the context of relationship with the rest of Him, the “body”, in the context of fellowship.
One last thought. We in the church have been guilty of trying to make discipleship palatable. Discipleship is life – sometimes wonderfully euphoric, sometime gruelingly uncomfortable as it exposes our humanity and weakness (to ourselves). It is the necessary, often uncomfortable but ultimately exhilarating process of being transformed into His likeness.
Kudos. This message is vital and indispensable for the Church today.
RE Ken Otten
” Discipleship is life – sometimes wonderfully euphoric, sometime gruelingly uncomfortable as it exposes our humanity and weakness (to ourselves).”
The dust of The Rabbi which falls on those who follow closest often rises from the unpleasant places through which he walks!
Ditto Ken.