Organic Disciplemaking
Annotated Bibliography
Many contemporary books about discipleship focus on how to be disciples
of Christ rather than how to make disciples of Christ. Such
books focus on personal commitment and spiritual growth. A number of
books have sections on making disciples, but we are aware of relatively
few complete books on the subject. Our bibliography is not exhaustive.
Adsit, Christopher. Personal Disciple Making: A Step by Step Guide
for Leading a Christian from New Birth to Maturity. Nashville:
Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1988.
This extremely practical handbook discusses the basics of disciple making
and gives tools that may aid a discipler in her work. Adsit looks at
the different levels of spiritual maturity: babies, children, adolescents
and adults. He then seeks to prescribe which kinds of spiritual food
each might need. This book has many charts and outlines that could be
taken and used directly in a discipleship relationship. Adsit comes from
a Campus Crusade background, and advances the Ten Basic Steps as
suitable tools for training.
Arn, Win. The Master's Plan for Making Disciples (2nd
ed.) Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998.
Barna, George. Growing True Disciples: New Strategies for Producing
Genuine Followers of Christ. Colorado Springs: WaterBrook Press,
2001.
Barna uses his sociological research to demonstrate the relative absence
of real disciple making in the evangelical church in America. But the
book is not negative as a whole. He goes on to cover several churches
where discipleship is faithfully practiced at some level, and makes a
strong call to return to the biblical ideals in this area. His definition
of discipleship is loose, including things like taking a spiritual growth
class or participating in an online Christian chat group as possible
models, but he has the right idea.
Briscoe, Stuart. Discipleship for Ordinary People. Wheaton,
Ill. Harold Shaw Publishers, 1988.
This book is not about disciple making, but teaches how to be a good
disciple of Christ. It is a useful coverage of what goes into full commitment
to following Christ as his disciple.
Bruce, A. B. The Training of the Twelve. Grand Rapids: Kregel,
1971.
This fairly academic coverage of how Jesus taught his disciples is a
classic, and the basis for several other more well-known books.
Bly, Stephen A. Radical Discipleship: Tough Standards for Spiritual
Greatness. Chicago: Moody Press, 1981.
As the title suggests, this book is about living a radical, surrendered
life for God. He doesn't really teach about discipling others,
although he is very insistent that each Christian find a way to minister
to others. This book is very practical and hands-on, unlike most other
book on this topic. For instance, Bly has lists to fill out that have
people asking, “Who can I minister to?”, “When will
I do this?”, “What is radical fellowship?”, etc.
Coleman, Robert E. The Master Plan of Evangelism. Grand Rapids:
Baker Book House Company, 1963.
While this book says it's about evangelism, it's really about
how Jesus made disciples. Coleman has another book under the title, The
Master Plan of Discipleship, but we prefer this title for learning
about disciple making. This book explores principles essential to effective
disciple making in a way found nowhere else. It is a must-read. Using
the example of Jesus, Coleman expounds on principles like selection,
association, reproduction, delegation, and more.
Comiskey, Joel. Home Cell Group Explosion: How Your Small Group
Can Grow and Multiply. Houston: Cell Group Resources, 2002.
Comiskey studied the cell-church movement as exemplified by Paul Yonggi
Cho's church in Korea. He identified eight other huge cell-churches
and did a survey of the cell leaders as a basis for this book. The cell-church
model is being adopted by a growing number of large churches in America.
The model assumes extremely rapid growth. Most expect their cell groups
to double and multiply in six to 12 months. Leadership development
goes forward in each cell, as assistant leaders are trained by existing
leaders. The central church leadership typically adds a leadership class
of several weeks to a year in length, although with the longer programs,
the students are already leading groups during most of the training.
We found it hard to reconcile his insistence that good cell leadership
training “maintain both the quantitative and qualitative edge.
Both are essential,” with his claim that, “Six months usually
is sufficient time for you to develop a new leader to shepherd a cell.” (p.
63, 64) Apparently, our people are slower learners, or perhaps more sinful
than the people in these groups (seriously). By six months, we just hope
our people have stopped taking drugs and fornicating! Asked about this
discrepancy, Dr. Comisky told me that cell churches compensate for the
lower level of training by increased quality in coaching.
Comiskey, Joel. Cell Church Solutions: Transforming
the Church in North America. Morneo Valley,
CA: CCS Publishing, 2005.
This explanation of cell church theory as it relates to the special conditions
in North American culture makes an excellent case for why cell churches
will work anywhere. Disciple making plays a key part in multiplying cell
groups in this model, and this book includes helpful chapters on making
disciples, training, and coaching. Comisky includes numerous examples
of churches in America where the cell-based strategy is bearing impressive
fruit.
Coppedge, Allan. The Biblical Principles of Discipleship. Grand
Rapids: Francis Asbury Press, 1989.
This simple and straightforward book again does not teach how to disciple
other people. Rather it explores what the Bible has to say about being
a disciple of Christ and why God wants us to be disciples. Coppedge looks
at both the Old Testament and the New, proposing that God has always
been interested in having a people who follow him and glorify him.
Eims, Leroy. The Lost Art of Disciple Making. Colorado Springs:
Navpress, 1978.
An excellent introduction to the idea of disciple making, this book includes
a few study guides in the back that could be used in a cooperative study
with disciples. Eims is passionate to persuade people of the value of
disciple making. The only unfortunate thing about this book is that it
is brief, and only covers the early stages of this lost art.
Forman, Rowland, Jeff Jones, and Bruce Miller. The Leadership Baton:
An Intentional Strategy For Developing Leaders In Your Church.
Grand Rapids, MI.: Zondervan, 2004.
This group writes from the perspective of the Fellowship Bible Church,
founded by Gene Getz. FBC is one of the exceptional equipping churches
in America, not only growing to great size using a “mini-church” or
house church model, but also successfully planting dozens of other local
churches mostly in Texas, Arkansas, and the Rocky Mountain states. They
have founded the Center for Church Based Training which propagates the
FBC approach to leadership development. Their excellent training material
is interactive and suited for use in small groups and classes. The book
has a section on personal mentoring that is brief but good.
Foss, Michael W. Power Surge: 6 Marks of Discipleship for a Changing
Church. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000.
This is not a book about personal disciple making, but about moving churches
from a “membership model” to a “discipleship model” of
church affiliation. Foss speaks from the perspective of a mainline pastor
in a Lutheran church who realized he needed to move his church from a
paradigm where the members saw the church as meeting their needs, to
one where they saw themselves as disciples there to accomplish the church's
mission. He frames this shift as one where the pastor moves from caregiver
to leader, and where members shift from being maintained to being mobilized
to ministry—in other words, decentralizing ministry in the church.
One example involves the women who have taken it upon themselves to organize
a church-wide garage sale that raises $60,000 a year for the poor. His
chapter on leadership development advances the idea of a Young Leaders' Forum,
where leaders can be trained, mentored, and held accountable. He gives
an example of one new leader successfully trained to lead celebration
of the sacraments. Although operating from a different perspective than
ourselves, Foss' thrust is certainly in the right direction.
Fryling, Alice, ed. Disciplemakers' Handbook: Helping People
Grow in Christ. Downers Grove Ill: InterVarsity Press, 1989.
Fryling is a staffer for Intervarsity, and speaks from long experience.
This book covers the basics of friendship building, modeling, and instruction
that go into building up disciples. Her focus is more on grounding believers
than on leadership development.
Hanks, Billie Jr. and William A. Shell. Discipleship: The Best Writings
from the Most Experienced Disciple Makers. Grand Rapids: Zondervan
Publishing House, 1981.
This anthology of readings includes writings from Robert E. Coleman,
Leroy Eims, Walter A. Hendrichsen, Gary Kuhne, and more. These writings
are all taken from authors who specialized in writing about disciple
making.
Hendrichsen, Walter A. Disciples are Made, Not Born. Colorado
Springs: Cook Communications, 1974.
This short but comprehensive overview begins with information on being
a disciple of Christ personally, and then moves to cover evangelism and
follow-up. Hendrichsen discusses the stages of the disciple making process,
including selection, imparting basics, and then multiplying. Important
themes in this book include developing conviction in others and appreciating
the calling of God.
Hendrichsen, Walter A. How to Disciple Your Children. Wheaton:
Victor Books, a division of SP Publications, Inc., 1981.
Family can be a touchy area, but Hendrichsen approaches hard issues with
such grace and humility it becomes easy to take his challenge. This book
gives us a category for bringing ministry into our homes. More than that,
he suggests beginning our ministries in our homes. This challenges
the idea that ministry is done with other people's families, and
our time at home is “me time.” Although this book puts forth
good concepts, it would be nice to have more practical ideas on how to
incorporate his ideas.
Hull, Bill. The Disciple making Pastor. Grand Rapids: Baker
Book House Co., 1988.
Unlike his more general works on disciple making, this title is geared
towards leaders. Hull begins by stressing the importance of discipleship,
challenging the traditionalist view that the pastor is the only one capable
of doing important ministry. Later he focuses on how pastors can coach
their people toward a successful multiplication ministry.
Hull, Bill. Jesus Christ Disciplemaker. Grand Rapids: Baker
Books, 1984, 2004 (20th Anniversary Edition).
This is a fine analysis of Jesus' work in making disciples. Anyone
interested in making disciples should read this careful study which is
full of insight on how Jesus formed character and understanding in his
followers.
Kuhne, Gary W. The Dynamics of Discipleship Training: Being and
Producing Spiritual Leaders. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing
House, 1978.
This book is focused on the importance of self-discipline, and instilling
a value for discipline in disciples. Themes include the importance of
time management, hard work, and discernment. A very brief study course
is included in the back of the book that helps to cover the basics of
Christian growth.
Krallmann, Günter Mentoring for Mission: A Handbook on Leadership
Principles Exemplified by Jesus Christ, ( Waynesboro, GA: Authentic
Media, 2002)
This is a well-researched study of Jesus' method of mentoring.
Written by an experienced missionary-practitioner, his insights are deep
and highly useful. Although hard to find, this book deserves careful
study by serious disciple makers.
Longenecker, Richard. Patterns of Discipleship in the New Testament. (Grand
Rapids, MI, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996)
This is a scholarly discussion of how the idea of discipleship is used
by different authors in the New Testament. It does not explain how to
make disciples.
Moore, Waylon B. Multiplying Disciples: The New Testament Method
for Church Growth. Tampa: Missions Unlimited, 1981.
This book is very motivating, and one of our favorite titles on making
disciples. Moore does an excellent job raising tension and demonstrating
how essential the disciple making ministry is to the Christian mission.
In most of the book, he describes the value of multiplication and the
accessibility of this ministry. “Anyone can multiply!” is
his battle cry. The remainder of the book speaks to some of the character
qualities a disciple maker should posses.
Neighbor, Ralph. Where Do We Go From Here? Houston, TX: Touch
Publications, 1990.
This is not a book on disciple making, but on ecclesiology. Neighbor
advances a model for cell churches which he argues is more biblical than
today's “program-based churches.” He advocates the
Yonggi Cho model of cell church, including some associated assumptions
with which we do not agree. He implies that church programs are largely
unnecessary and often harmful. We think both cells and programs are necessary
for a well-rounded church, and both are seen in the New Testament church
(e.g. the relief project for Judea mentioned in 2 Cor. 8, 9). We agree,
however, than when programs become the center of church strategy, we
have moved away from the New Testament pattern. Overall, the book is
well worth reading, and paints an appealing picture of a church based
more on lay empowerment for ministry than on centralized programs and
celebrities. He has short sections on personal discipleship, as each
cell leaders is responsible for developing an assistant leader, usually
within the (in our opinion) unrealistically short period of six months.
Ogden, Greg. Discipleship Essentials: A Guide to Building Your Life
in Christ. Downers Grove Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1998)
This is Greg Ogden's study guide for use in discipleship triads
(see below).
Ogden, Greg. Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples a Few at
a Time. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press,
2003.
This is an important, high quality, recent work on disciple making from
a long-time practitioner who has served as a pastor and seminary teacher.
Ogden surveys the low condition of discipleship in the modern church
before analyzing Jesus' and Paul's approaches to making disciples.
His analysis is rich in principles and useful insights. Then he provides
a section on practical strategy for making disciples in the modern church.
He correctly stresses the relational dimension of disciple making, and
clearly explains why programs cannot deliver the real life transformation
needed. Ogden advances a method based on triads, where three meet together.
We have also had good results with this approach at times, although we
find the one-on-one model has advantages of its own. Ogden makes a good
case for the efficacy of three-way discipleship, but his claim that three-way
meetings lead to multiplication, while one-on-one meetings don't,
contradicts our experience. We have seen large-scale multiplication using
both models. We suspect that discipleship with younger people (students)
might benefit from a one-on-one format. Most of the stories he tells
are about adults of family age or higher. We also suspect that, although
Ogden's increased success in multiplication coincided roughly with
his move to three-way discipleship, his success may be partly the result
of other factors. Separating individual causes is notoriously difficult
when studying ministry.
One major difference between Ogden's approach and our own: his
multiplication involves multiplying triads, while ours involves multiplying
house churches and cell groups. This partly accounts for why we hold
to a higher standard of training and experience before disciples would
be considered duplicated. It also results in a somewhat different paradigm
in general, where the focus in duplication is on the church more than
the individual. This is a complex and subtle difference that should be
explored more.
Ogden includes a wonderful section on building slowly and solidly (127,128).
But even his patience-oriented approach envisages duplication after less
time than we propose. But for existing believers, a year and a half may
be sufficient, while new believers with lots of problems (like most of
our people) may take a lot longer if we hold out for leadership qualifying
character. His section on getting started on page 190 says pastors should
begin with those in their churches who are already most mature, while
in our church, those people were discipled long ago.
We feel that Ogden's dread of leader/follower roles in discipleship
is somewhat exaggerated (although he allows for directive leadership
in coaching and spiritual guide roles). We certainly have biblical examples
where the disciple maker takes a leading role, and as mentioned earlier,
our experience has not duplicated his failure to see multiplication in
leader-follower dyads. We agree that any perception of hierarchy should
be minimized.
Petersen, Jim. Lifestyle Discipleship: The Challenge of Following
Jesus in Today's World. Colorado Springs: Navpress, 1993.
This is a great book on disciple making from an experienced discipler
working within the Navigators' organization. Like most books on
disciple making, he focuses mostly on establishing young believers, and
teaching them how to walk with God. Only a few pages near the end refer
to leadership development. But this is a well worthwhile read that grapples
with most of the central issues involved in spiritual growth. His last
chapter on time priorities contains helpful points for busy disciple
makers.
Rabey, Lois and Steve. Side by Side: A Handbook. Colorado Springs:
NavPress, 2000.
This anthology of discipleship resources includes organized readings
by many of the great Christian minds of today and yesterday. Many focus
more on how to be disciples than on how to make disciples. There are
quotes from many authors, including John Stott, Ravi Zacherias, Andrew
Murray, Martin Luther, Oswald Chambers, Madeleine L'Engle, and
C.S. Lewis.
Robinson, Martin, and Dwight Smith. Invading Secular Space: Strategies
for Tomorrow's Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Monarch Books,
2003.
Written by two missions and church planning experts, this interesting
book is written for mission and church leaders considering how to foster
church planting movements like those already flourishing in many parts
of the world today. Their last three chapters contain elements needed
to empower the laity for ministry and personal discipleship figures prominently.
But the book is more a theoretical reflection than a practical study
on how to raise up disciples.
Sanders, Oswald J. Spiritual Discipleship. Chicago: The Moody
Bible Institute of Chicago, 1990.
Originally published under the title, Shoe-Leather Commitment,
this book is an extended description of what it means to be a true disciple
of Jesus. It focuses on committing your own life to discipleship rather
than on how to make disciples of others. It is good for inspiration,
and for getting a vision of committed Christian living.
Schroeder, David E. Follow Me: Discipleship by the Book. Camp
Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 1992.
A book on being a disciple, not on making disciples.
Stanley, Paul D. and J. Robert Clinton. Connecting: The Mentoring
Relationships You Need to Succeed in Life. Colorado Springs: Navpress,
1992.
This classic discussion of mentoring brings the expertise of two important
authorities on leadership development to the table. Their discussion
tends to widen the field when they consider mentoring to include a variety
of different relationships. Essentially, any relationship that involves
one person benefiting another could be considered mentoring. They even
discuss “occasional mentoring” such as teachers, counselors,
and “passive mentoring” such as role models. So mentoring
is not exactly a synonym for personal discipleship. In fact, their definitions
are so broad they include secular mentors in business or professions.
Their coverage of the discipling role again involves mainly grounding
believers in their walk, as opposed to leadership development or multiplication.
Practical suggestions for how to make personal disciples are limited
to two pages.
One of their most important points is that most Christian leaders name
more than one person as having key influence in their lives, often in
different roles. The discipler, the coach, and the spiritual guide are
the three most intentional types of mentors. Readers will notice we have
incorporated all these roles into the single notion of disciple making.
But we agree that God will often use others to fill in areas where a
given disciple maker may need help. We certainly are familiar with many
cases where multiple disciple makers have given input to the lives of
the same believers. When making disciples in the context of good community
we should frequently see others investing meaningfully into the life
of any disciple with whom we work. But we continue to believe that someone
should ideally take the lead, or the responsibility to see that any promising
and willing young believer received the help he or she needs.
This book ends with a stirring study on finishing well. The authors reveal
disturbing findings that most leaders fail to do so.
Watson, David. Covenant Discipleship: Christian Formation Through
Mutual Accountability, Wipf & Stock Publishers 2002.
According to a reviewer, this is an introduction to the way United Methodists
and other “mainline Protestants” have attempted to reclaim
the practice of giving and receiving counsel in the context of what is
most often called “covenant discipleship groups.” In this
book, Watson provides instructions for how to go about creating such
a group, explains what is involved with fostering the kind of accountability
in which members can “advise, reprove, comfort, or exhort,” and
even offers a “Sample Group Meeting” (154-161). Watson and
company invoke the Pietist notion of the ecclesiola in the ecclesia (“the
little church in the big church”) to explain how it is that small
groups can seek to have a more enriched life together in the midst of
a wider surround of a congregation that is not committed in the same
way. Watson & company encourage contemporary Methodists to seek renewal
in ways analogous to what the earliest generations of Methodists did.
Wilkins, Michael. Following the Master: A Biblical Theology of Discipleship.
Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992.
This is a fairly academic analysis of discipleship, both from the standpoint
of being a disciple of Christ and raising up disciples. Although Wilkins
has been a practitioner, he is now a professor. We wish he had more practical
teaching in this book.
Wright, N. T. Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship. Grand
Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995.
This book is not on making disciples. His 12 meditations explore
what it means to be a true disciple today. We think Wright is soft in
some key areas.
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