The book is very simple and a nice approach to discipleship. I enjoyed some of the fresher thoughts regarding discipleship and its mandate and approach. I look forward to purchasing a hard copy.

Cruickshank did a great job of describing Ordinary Discipleship and how we can obtain this through and in our lives. I found the book very interesting and practical.

*I received a digital ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for my review.

This was a really pleasant surprise. I wasn't too sure what I was looking for when I requested this book but am so delighted that I did. Cruickshank is a tremendous guide along the journey of disciple making. She is a disciple who has been discipled, an experienced disciple maker and is a veteran wilderness guide to boot!

Underpinned by Joseph Campbell's Hero Journey and her vast wilderness training, Cruickshank provides a very clear path to how to become a disciple maker. The modern church in many ways has lost this desire and experience: to make disciples. We've confused the salvation experience with making disciples and abdicated the job of disciple makers to teachers and preachers believing structured learning is the key to the practice. Cruickshank rightly points out that the first key to the practice is relationship. We need to connect with others as led by the Holy Spirit and journey with them through their transformation process.

I love this quote: "Deep transformation happens in the unseen" and so it's imperative for someone who seeks to be discipled to have someone walk with them as they move through this miraculous process.

I'm guilt of not being good at it. I haven't prioritised it rather simply choosing to focus on friendship rather than being committed to the spiritual journey with another. I'm keen to make amends.

Even though tremendously practical allowing the reader to personalise the disciple maker experience on reading the book, actually doing it well will take time to learn and grow in. However, having this wonderful resource to refer back to will help sharpen the process, I suspect.

I was very fortunate to receive an early ebook copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley with no expectation of a positive review. However, I will be purchasing my own copy as the early version didn't format some of the tables and boxes for easy reading.

A very introspective look at discipleship. I loved the personal stories interspersed with the historical accounts. I felt the flow was nice with a few places where it broke a little before flowing easily again. It would be a good book for a small group to use to help learn more about discipleship.

I struggled with the book; however, I believe that was primarily because of the differences between my own experiences and interpretations sources against what was presented in the book, that it was difficult to connect to the material. Perhaps to most significance would be the decision to hand discipleship and disciple-making to Dr Campbell’s Hero’s Journey myth; of which I am actually a huge fan, but my understanding of what it is and how it is used seem to be at odds with how the author uses it. It would have worked better for me to simply acknowledge an inspiration before changing the name (eg. Disciple’s Journey) and steps involved (instead of just the latter). An example of a smaller irritant would be the brief discussion about iron “folding" and creating something from the inside out. While I am pretty sure the author meant steel, that type of oversight is distracting for somebody with a material science background. Despite my issues and reservations, the material as presented is generally solid.

This is meant to be consumed as a physical book; layout is a huge part of the presentation with calls-outs and lists liberally distributed throughout the book. In addition, each chapter provides a space for journalling at the end. There are nine (9) chapters with the first introducing the journey steps and the last restating them in review. The intervening chapters are each dedicated to a specific step on the journey. Each chapter opens with a Bible verse, a personal experience, a discussion with call outs for “Personal Reflections” and “Disciplemaker Pro Tips” before ending with discussion questions and journal space/inventory. In addition, the author uses bulleted list to great effect in summarizing many of the concepts covered (making it a very practical guide for discipleship). Overall this gives the whole book a very polished and professional feel (there will also be some additional artifacts available on the associated website, that is currently focused on marketing).

1. Experience the Journey
2. An Ordinary Person
3. Answers the Call
4. Teams with Others
5. Learns New Things
6. Feels the Struggle
7. Experiences Revelation
8. Lives Changed
9. Discerns the Season


I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#OrdinaryDiscipleship #NetGalley

This book has incredible potential. I like the tie-in of discipleship to mountain climbing and think there's a lot there to be mined. Unfortunately, I'm not sure the connection was made strongly enough. The image wasn't presented sufficiently to imprint into my mind, even though I am familiar with climbing and adventure, and so I fear that it will miss entirely for a more general audience. The truths about Jesus that were shared are kind of the same - they are very surface-level, nothing particularly ground-breaking or eye-catching (or heart-catching). These are things I have heard throughout my Christian life so often that they are easy to simply take for granted as obviously true and move on.

In many ways, it feels like this book is written for the novice, for the new believer, for the young person in the faith but the declaration is that it's written for the older, for the guide, for the one who has been on these paths and is looking for a way to bring others in. So there's a challenge in getting past the very young, milk-like language to try to connect it to the deeper, meat-eating level that it claims to be at. As I write this review, I realize that yes, this is the tension I felt throughout the book.

Still, it has potential. It wasn't a bad read by any means. It just didn't feel complete to me; it didn't feel integrated in a way that I was looking for.

That said, I did post a handful of quotes on social media as I was reading, which is not something I do with every book, so there were a couple of nuggets to take home.

The Bible has various metaphors to describe discipleship and spiritual growth. In particular, Jesus himself uses ordinary things to depict the Kingdom of God and spiritual growth. There is the parable of the talents to showcase the importance of stewardship. There is the parable of the tenants on the dangers of unfaithfulness. Chief of them all is the parable of the Sower which describes four different types of soil that seeds fell upon. Jesus also shares with us about the responsibilities of discipleship, to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus. All of these point to one thing: Following Jesus means living up to our calling and faithful stewarding of our responsibilities. However, like many churches and church-goers, discipleship is often talked about but meagerly understood. In this book, author Jessie Cruickshank takes us back to the basics of what discipleship means. In a nutshell, discipleship is for ordinary people wanting to follow Jesus in spite of their ordinary circumstances. Using the journey metaphor, Cruickshank maps out eight stages of what she calls, "The Hero's Journey" from ordinary people practicing ordinary discipleship. Disciplemakers are agents of transformation. They do not transform but they are willing channels for God's Spirit to transform people. According to the author, Discipleship is like "about helping people choose to go somewhere they have never gone before or do something they have never done before. It is about helping someone be brave enough to choose to change." It helps us conquer our fears of leaving our comfort zones. It is trusting that as we do what we can and let God deal with the rest, we learn to grow. So, a disciple is one who is willing to change or be changed. A disciple-maker, with the help of the Holy Spirit, facilitates that process. This map is listed as follows:

1) The believer is called.
2) After a period of hesitancy, the believer obliges.
3) They answer the call
4) They team up with others
5) As they learn new things, they also encounter new challenges
6) They move forth in faith and learn to deal with the ups and downs of the journey
7) Finally, there is the revelation experience that leaves them changed forever
8) Changed lives change other lives.

Written like a guidebook, this book shows us some fundamental tools that we can use in our journey of discipleship. Each chapter goes into detail with Scripture as a guide with discussion questions, inventory lists, examples, and suggestions. At the end of each chapter, there are prompts to help us note any revelation or insights.

My Thoughts
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Books on discipleship are a dime a dozen. For those of us with limited time but who want to practice discipleship, we want to have the best discipleship resources that we can get. Unfortunately, we all have different expectations of what "best" really means. After all, for those who have never experienced what discipleship entails, how could they possibly know what is best for them? For the uninitiated, let this book spark your journey of discipleship. The title of the book helps us lower our suspicion that this book is only for the spiritually mature or established. It is targeted at the ordinary believer who just wants to make a change in their spiritual growth. In the process, it is also about the desire to follow God's calling. Contrary to what some might think, discipleship is not an option. It is a command. It is a calling to be obeyed. This book lays out a clear map for us to navigate the journey step by step. There is little theological jargon. Instead, it is written in simple language that we can all follow. The strength lies in the regular prompting for the reader to do a "personal reflection." This is a critical component because it helps internalize our learning development.

How do we use this book? Read it. Answer the questions laid out. Assemble a group of like-minded individuals to take the same journey. As the famous Chinese saying goes, the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Take the first step of faith to embark on this journey of discipleship. Just do it. In fact, we don't even need to wait until we finish the last page. We can read along, reflect, and keep going. Discipleship is never meant to be difficult. What makes it difficult is often due to self-installed mental barriers such as "I don't know," "I am not sure how," and most devastatingly, "I don't want to." Perhaps, this book can help us restart any past efforts toward discipleship. By taking away the superlatives of discipleship and restating it as "ordinary," we would have replaced "Why should I?" with "Why not?"

Jessie Cruickshank is a demonstrated disciple-maker and facilitator of spiritual transformation. She is the founder of WHOology, an ordained Foursquare minister and a nationally recognized leader in the fields of Experiential Education and Educational Neuroscience. She has spent two decades applying neuroeducation research to discipleship, ministry training, experiential education, and organization development. She holds a Master’s from Harvard in Mind, Brain, and Education. Jessie is passionate about creating organic systems that facilitate holistic human and organizational development.

Rating: 4.25 stars of 5.

conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of NavPress, Tyndale House Publishers, and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.