Book Review: 'The Disciple Making Church' by Glenn Mcdonald

Nathan Hatch wrote this book to help understand American Christianity and the courses of action that have brought us to the present. The books states that Hatch is a professor at the University of Notre Dame where he teaches history and also works with graduate studies. However, a recent inquiry finds that he is president of Wake Forest University, a position he has held since 2005. A well renowned scholar, Hatch has been very influential in studying religion and history.

Bonhoeffer, Dietrick. The Cost of Discipleship, New York,NY 10022: The Macmillan Company, Published 1959. 344 pp. $1.95

As the Christ-centered Leader of one of the fastest growing Church’s in Houston, Texas, pastor Keion (pastor k.) Dwayne Henderson is No stranger to change or Leadership. He has grown his church by over 3,500% in less than five years. He has spent countless hours preaching the gospel to audiences in the USA, London, Africa, and around the World via television. Pastor k. has become both a pillar of Faith and a beacon of hope for all who hear his message. Pastor Henderson was called to Ministry in 1995 at the age of 14, just Prior to his freshman year of high School. He attended Indiana-Purdue University, Fort Wayne in his home state of Indiana where he distinguished himself as an athlete and campus leader. During his high school Career he won

“The Gospel for Those Broken by the Church” by Dr. Ron Rosenbladt is a presentation that focuses on those who have left the church behind and no longer associate themselves with it. He categorizes those who have left into two sections: “sad” alumni and “mad” alumni. Sad alumni are those people who really wanted to believe but never could really get it right, while mad alumni are those who were “conned” by the church into giving themselves over to Christ and trying to believe and then when things didn’t quite work out, they were tossed away. This presentation focuses on how to bring people like this back to the faith, both the sad and mad alumni.

Thompson presents a very convicting treatise on the significance of relationships in the Christian witness. This book causes the reader to examine their own relationships, as well as their lifestyle, in order to evaluate the degree of the reflection of Christ in their incarnational witness. Through his systematic process of self-examination and relational observation, combined with intercessory prayer and discipleship ministry, Thompson offers a simple, yet profound method of using personal relationships to share the gospel of Christ with family, friends, coworkers, and complete strangers. He expounds on the principle that mankind is a relational being, created to fellowship with God and other humans, to develop his approach to personal evangelism and, equally important, follow-up

In conclusion, it is essential to recognize, that coaches encourage and assist the client(s) to construct better skills, vision, growth through life transitions, guide the client through their spiritual journey and speak the truth in love (Collins, 2009). Also, coaches will help people set goals and plan ways to reach these goals. In other words, when obstacles get in the way, coaches challenge, inspire, and give accountability so the individual (client) can overcome barriers and experience triumph. A Christian life coach is there for you, prayerfully listening to your concerns and making inquiries that will provide clarity on your circumstances, get you past your blocks, recognize your God-given potential, and challenge you to be your best. As a result of the partnership with the coach people, organizations, or churches can formulate a life-vision or life mission statements and makes those come truth.

In John Stackhouse’s novel, Making the Best of It: Following Christ in the Real World, he discusses the nature of being a Christian and what it means to be a disciple of Christ. The primary focus of Stackhouse’s novel is the religious application of following Christ in the real world as indicated by the title of his novel. This book is written by a Christian for Christians to understand the purpose of being a disciple in a world that is full of distractions and sin which attempt to refocus the attention on God to other things. The title in regard to the purpose of the novel is to encourage Christians to, as the title states to make the best of it as a Christian in the real world. The other purpose as Stackhouse emphasizes, is to address Bonhoeffer’s

King’s primary argument is that of the current decline of mainline denominational catechesis, particularly youth through several factors identified by Hart in Deconstructing Evangelicalism (Pg. 30). These factors include Succession, Lack of Tradition, Age Segregation, and Decisionism (Pg. 30, 32, 33, 35). The cumulative effect of these factors is the loss of a consistent catechesis and formation strategy. Our youth, King provides, are prepared and able to handle a variety of complex practices for discipleship that

A sentiment common to almost any organization is that the one fact that remains constant is change. As society changes, and human understanding grows, any organization that maintains a static posture, assures its demise. Churches and Christian organizations are no exception. The gospel may remain the same, but the method for communicating it must speak to the audience to assure understanding. The Christian leader must be prepared to meet this challenge by incorporating an effective model for change into his theology of leadership in order to keep the ministry relevant and effective. Searching for such a change agent can prove to be challenging as well. To aid in this search, four

Once clarity has been made through a ministry blueprint, action must follow. The movement needed is defined by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger as “the sequential steps in the process that cause people to move to greater areas of commitment.” Jesus gave a profound example of what that movement should look like in the book of Luke. In the the first 5-6 chapters, the Lord called his disciples to Himself and provided them with opportunities to experience Him. Next, Jesus provided opportunities designed to test their faith. He allowed them to

Rediscovering Discipleship emphases the importance of both evangelism and discipleship. While the two are different and distinct, both are crucial aspects to building the church. Gallaty gives helpful tips and insight on what discipleship looks like and how to cultivate discipleship groups in a church setting. The three most important things that I took away from this book are the following: thinking Hebraically, encouraging new believers to engage in ministry, and how to cultivate a healthy discipleship group.

The church is in need of major renovation when it comes to making disciples. The concept of making disciples to follow the Lord Jesus Christ seems completely foreign to the church today. In order to achieve the desired goal of making disciples for Christ, training others to go out and proclaim gospel, and helping others to train people to disciple one another, one needs to go back to foundation of the Word of God. It is in God’s Word where multiple examples are found of how to make disciples to follow Jesus Christ. It is my desire to see more people in the church have a passion for discipleship. Therefore, this paper will examine in detail how to make disciples in a ministry context. This will be accomplished by examining the 5 V’s of discipleship—vision, values, views, vehicles, and verifiers. It is my purpose to examine each area in order to have a detailed plan of discipleship that will be used in my own ministry context to make disciples for Christ. I hope that this plan can and will be used to train others in the church to make disciples, and disciple one another, for the glory of God.

While the goal of Christian education and discipleship is spiritual formation of the new believer into a true disciple who makes other true disciples, this concept has been watered down in the American church today by emphasis on programs instead of progressive spiritual growth in every member’s life. There are many

Christ is the central person in Christian discipleship. Without Christ, Christianity would not exist and there would be no followers of Christ. To be true followers of Christ, believers must be willing to learn of the ways and teachings of Christ. Christ is central to Christian discipleship because He is the teacher of His disciples. Through the Holy Spirit and Word of God, Jesus Christ calls His disciples to Him and then

Aim: The congregation will know that, walking with God is essential to their lives. Introduction: “In the Christian walk, our mind is like the rudder of a ship. Whether the flesh or the Spirit control the rudder determines the course your life will”- Bruce Ferris.