The Disciple Making Church

Well, this one took a little longer to read.  It has roughly the same number of pages as the previous two books combined, add that to the fact that it is not nearly as interesting, and you've got yourself a slow read.  The biggest problem that I had with this book is that it was around 250 pages, but it could have easily said what it needed to say in about half of that.  There are a lot of ancedotes and stories that are interesting, but really just fill up the space.

Here are some of the things that I thought popped out to me as I read through it:

• - "It's safe to say that a large majority of Protestant congregations have made attendance, building and cash - as opposed to Christ's Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 to be and to make disciples - their organizational bottom line" (4).
  
• - "When Jesus says that his followers must be spiritually reborn, he's saying that we have no realistic chance of participating in his vision for the future unless we start over again with a new vision, new capabilities, new motivation and an entirely new nature that is capable of responding positively to God" (40).
  
• - "[Jesus' invitation to follow him] means that we aren't helplessly imprisoned by who we have already become" (60).
• - "The church is the only organization that exists for its nonmembers" (73).
• - "Discipling is relational.  People learn how to better love and follow Jesus in the context of a focused friendship" (81).
• - "(1) The task of developing new leaders cannot be set aside, except at our peril, and (2) God is ultimately responsible for calling members of the Body into new expressions of doing ministry - and God will certainly do so" (101).
• - "Surrendering leadership in every area of life is not a 'been there, done that' scenario" (137).
• - "Our aim [in reading the Bible] is not complete mastery.  Few people in history have mastered the Bible's contents.  The issue isn't knowledge as much as transformation - the recasting of our minds according to a perspective that is consistent with the mind of God" (148).
• - "The call of Jesus, however, is that we make disciples, not decisions" (208).
• - "In the disciple-making church, stewardship is a spiritual issue - a heartfelt abandonment of the whole self to God" (233).
• - "Authentic discipleship comes down to imitation of the whole character of Christ, not mastery of a few culturally approved Christian behaviors" (242).

Some good thoughts are scattered around this book.  It is one that I would recommend skimming more than sitting down with pen and paper.  Up next on the book tour: Pastoral Ministry According to Paul, James W. Thompson