Centering Discipleship

Discipleship without mission is discipleship without Christ. The church often lacks maturity and missional impact because discipleship is at its periphery. In order to get discipleship to the center, leaders need a locally rooted, culturally contextual discipleship pathway to tether disciples who are disciplemakers to the neighborhood or network around them. Pastor and discipler E. K. Strawser shows that when discipleship becomes central to your leadership and community, then discipleship becomes central to congregational mission and cultural renewal. Centering Discipleship is a gutsy practice-based guidebook for leaders who are doing the hard work of re-imagining and re-structuring their churches and communities to turn spectators into missional, mature followers of Jesus.

Reflecting on the practice of disciple making in young adult, college, graduate, and local church contexts, Jonathan Dodson has discerned some common pitfalls. For many, discipleship is reduced to a form of religious performance before God. For others, it devolves into spiritual license and a loose adherence to spiritual facts. Both approaches distort biblical motivations for Christian obedience and are in need of reform. By explaining various motivations for discipleship, Dodson charts a biblically faithful, grace-driven alternative. Additionally, he provides a practical model for creating gospel-centered discipleship groups—small, reproducible, missional, gender-specific groups of believers that fight for faith together. This book blends both theology and practice to inspire and equip Christians to effectively fight sin, keep Jesus central, and make gospel-centered discipleship a way of life. Both new and growing Christians will learn to trust the gospel in community as they fight together for holiness as well as how to start gospel-centered community groups in any local church.

In this masterful work George Gray calls the church to live out the most natural expression of her love and obedience to the Master. Grounded in careful exegesis, comprehensive, and sensitive to the complexities of modern life, Gray examines the Gospels as a script that reveals not only how Jesus shaped the first disciples, but how we must carry on making disciples in His name. David B. Capes, Thomas Nelson Research Professor, Houston Baptist University * * * Discipleship is not about teaching someone to pray and read his or her Bible; it is about learning how Jesus wants us to pray and read our Bibles. Discipleship is not about the doctrine of the Church, but the doctrine of Jesus Christ, the head of the Church. It is not about attending a church service, but attending to the Lord Jesuss view of what it means to be the church. In Discipleship from Jesuss Perspective, author George Gray presents a guide for becoming a disciple the way Jesus intended, that discipleship means adhering to His expressed will. Gray carefully examines Jesuss pivotal statements regarding discipleship and unearths the key principles that transform the art of making a disciple from a subjective guessing game to an objective and definitive master plan. Including purposeful questions and exercises, Discipleship from Jesuss Perspective provides practical steps for following the master plan and applying the commands to everyday life to become a true disciple of Jesus.

A Gospel-Rich, Reproducible Model for Making Disciples as Jesus Intended Biblical discipleship emphasizes encouragement, repentance, and spiritual growth—essential parts of the Christian life. However, well-meaning believers often struggle to follow Jesus, unaware their views are too legalistic, licentious, or individualistic. How can churches and Christians develop a healthy, successful path to disciple-making? In this second edition of Gospel-Centered Discipleship, Jonathan Dodson presents an effective, Spirit-led model for sanctification. Reminding readers that real discipleship is imperfect yet transformational, Dodson encourages Christians to engage more authentically with others as they grow in faith. Drawing from his own failures and successes while following Jesus, Dodson defines discipleship, describes the heart of a disciple, and gives practical guidance for mentor and peer-based discipleship as Jesus intended. Revised and Expanded: Includes three new chapters and new illustrations Applicable: Shows how discipleship can be practical and gospel-centered Theological: Addresses the Holy Spirit's involvement in discipleship Foreword by Matt Chandler: Author of The Explicit Gospel

Contemporary society can be described as splintered: busy and noisy, but also empty and in need of healing. Christians are called to sing the Lord’s song anew to the world but are sometimes confused about whether to prioritize loving God or loving our neighbor. This collection of essays shows that both are needed: mission and spiritual disciplines are actually intertwined and reciprocal. Some contributors to this volume take a theoretical perspective; others write from their experience in ministry. Disciplines discussed include classic ones like prayer and study, as well as novel ones like cruciformity, mindfulness, and neighborhood engagement. Written in accessible language with multiple anecdotes, this book aims to inspire both the practice of spiritual disciplines and the practice of mission. Join us as we journey from the Philippines to American nationalism to a prayer truck in inner city Hamilton, as we engage in quiet contemplation as well as compassionate action. Guided by the Holy Spirit, we dance rhythms of resting and responding, listening and leading, praying and proclaiming. Whether through solitude, discipleship groups, inviting strangers to dinner, speaking out against idolatry and injustice, or simply being present, we join Jesus as he repairs the splintered spaces of our lives.

Despite real progress, women continue to be silenced, wounded, and relegated to the sidelines in our churches. But we can learn to do better. Exploring the history and culture of sexism in our contemporary evangelical world, Heather Matthews offers simple, practical steps for how Christians can actively fight sexism in its many forms.

We suffer today from a crisis not of confidence, but of trust. With the constant barrage of lies, untruths, and alternative facts, all words are dubious, all deeds are debatable, and all motives are suspect. To tell the truth in such a world requires fortitude. To believe the truth demands even more. In Freedom and Imagination, S. D. Giere recovers the idea of faith as trust and of faith in Christ as trusting what God has done through him. Tending to faith is like tending to the heart and, thereby, the health of the whole. By trusting Christ, one is free to live without the fear of sin and death, free to live in love toward the friend, the neighbor, and even the enemy. Faith reveals the cosmos as it is: a world reconciled to the Triune God. Yet, that freedom frequently conflicts with experience. Only faith can bend the imagination towards seeing the world in and through Christ. Freedom and Imagination recovers faith as the theological heart of the human being's participation in the life of God, and imagination as faith's interpretive lens. Three areas of ministry and life are explored through the imagination of faith: biblical interpretation, proclamation, and Christian freedom.

Climbing the Mountain of God presents a fresh look into the nature of spirituality, mysticism and discipleship. By examining the contemporary thirst for true spirituality in the light of ancient tradition, today's faithful come to understand the nature of God's holiness, and their participation in a journey towards Him.