Deep Discipleship
As a lay-leader at my church, an adjunct and a researcher, I found this book to be refreshing, convicting, challenging, and inspiring. I immediately emailed my pastors and elders and encouraged them to buy the book, read it, and talk about how our church can benefit from it. I love that JT says that discipleship requires community and learning, and too often our churches focus too heavily on one or the other (usually community). You must have both! And he lays out a case for a robust learning environment that any church of any size can implement. He calls for an active learning environment (asking students to participate through homework and regurgitating what they’re learning to others), accountability (holding people to a high standard of participation), and scale/sequence (bringing people deeper and deeper, continually). The goal is fellowship with God, and as people are being discipled, they will naturally disciple others.
This is NOT a book about one-on-one discipleship/mentor relationships, but I believe those relationships will naturally be born out of a culture built on deep community discipleship. My only critique is that sometimes JT will say something, then say the same thing again in a different way. His chapters could have been about 20% shorter if he hadn’t done this. However, some people really benefit from hearing a point from many perspectives. It’s not my preferred style, but the content is too good to let that stop me from reading and recommending it.
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