Tag: discipleship Page 1 of 2
In the ever-shifting landscape of cross-cultural ministry, sustaining a vibrant and resilient spiritual life is both a personal necessity and a communal calling. As missionaries, we often find ourselves navigating complex cultural dynamics, high demands, and spiritual fatigue. In this context, John Mark Comer’s book, Practicing the Way offers a timely and transformative vision of discipleship—not as a set of beliefs, but as a way of life modeled after Jesus. One of the book’s most practical and powerful tools is the concept of a Rule of Life. It provides a flexible framework for organizing our daily rhythms around abiding in Christ. In this post, we’ll explore a synopsis of Comer’s book and highlight its relevance for missionary teams. I will share some additional resources to help your team craft a shared Rule of Life that fosters unity, spiritual depth, and long-term fruitfulness.
Book Synopsis
Discipleship as Apprenticeship
Practicing the Way… Read the whole post
Most times when I read a book, it leads me to another book. Sometimes the new read is a supporting work that is cited in the first. At other times I am intrigued to read more writings on a particular topic. Reading Gwen Adams’ newly published book Crazy Church Ladies: The Priceless Story of an Unlikely Group Winning the War Against Trafficking was no exception. Gwen mentioned that in her years of leading church ministries, she had prioritized her spiritual growth, but not her spiritual health. Is there a difference and why does it matter? My piqued curiosity then led me to read Emotionally Healthy Discipleship by Peter Scazzero. In short, the book argues that spiritually healthy disciples can only be as mature and deeply rooted as their leaders and disciple-makers are.
As I looked at the chapter titles, I immediately became aware that this book was more than a curious read and was going to be a convicting, challenging study. The book is divided into two parts—the current state of discipleship and the seven marks of a healthy disciple. The book begins with the personal story and experiences of Peter and his wife Geri. It will be familiar if you have read any of their other works. In fact, this book started as a re-write of his previous book “Emotionally Healthy Church”. After realizing 75-80 percent of the content is new, he decided to change the title as well.
In the last number of years, many books have been published about how to engage and do evangelism among Muslim peoples. But few books address the specifics of how to help new believers from Muslim contexts grow in their faith while remaining in their Muslim communities and families. Given that some claim that up to 90% of converts from Muslim backgrounds reconvert back to Islam, discipleship and support of these converts is clearly a critical need in mission work among Muslim peoples.
A few months ago, in this blog, I posted a review of Evelyn and Richard Hibberts’ “Walking Together on the Jesus Road: Intercultural Discipling.” Now, I would like to highlight another book in this same vein, speaking even more specifically to the challenges of disciple-making among Muslim peoples – Effective Discipling in Muslim Communities: Scripture, History and Seasoned Practices by Don Little. This book is one of those recommended on our SEND U pre-field reading list for those preparing to serve in Islamic contexts.
Who are your disciples? Whom have you discipled?
While these questions are helpful in directing our focus on the importance of disciple-making and encouraging us to be intentionally investing in other believers, I think there is an inherent danger as well in these well-intentioned questions.
During my sabbatical last year, I spent a lot of time thinking and reading about discipleship and disciple-making. I became increasingly convinced that in order to be a disciple-maker, we first need to be a disciple. In other words, to learn how to be a disciple-maker, we need to be learning from Jesus. As Dallas Willard so aptly said,
There is a lot of emphasis on obedience in discipleship today and rightly so. Obedience-oriented discipleship has its roots in the Great Commission. Jesus said part of making disciples is, “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20a ESV). However, some advocates of obedience-oriented discipleship seem to minimize knowledge and belief. The dominant question in many discovery Bible study approaches is “What do we need to obey?”. I suggest that we add the question: “What do we need to believe (trust)?” I believe it is reductionistic to separate these questions. It can lead to misunderstanding, specifically leading to merit-based religion. It is a false dichotomy to center discipleship either in trust (faith) or in obedience. Both doctrinal knowledge and practice are part of healthy discipleship.
The Bible keeps faith (trust) and obedience together. In Romans 1:5, Paul says the aim of his apostleship was to bring about “the obedience of faith.” Douglas Moo, commenting on this verse, writes,