Liked this book so much I bought a hardcopy for myself and recommended it to our pastors. A new take on discipleship that everyone could read to help them make a difference right where they are.

What is the difference between a regular Church and a Discipleship-Making Church? Of course, most churches will claim to be doing some form of discipleship. The difference lies in the emphasis. Is Discipleship the center focus or is it merely peripheral to the Church? Pastor-Author, Eun Strawser hits the jugular when she points out that most churches tend to put discipleship at the peripherals. By declaring that discipleship is the heart of the mission of the Church, Strawser shows us the way to turning the nominal Church into a discipleship-making Church. This book is about the way to move discipleship from the peripherals to the center of Church life. This calls for a transformation of the Church at all levels. First off, Strawser calls for a shift from programs to pathways, which is a framework for discipleship. This framework is about adopting a life abiding in Christ, to grow in building a discipleship-making community toward fruitful lives that beget others to do the same for Jesus. In brief, it is to do what we can to help others follow and imitate Jesus. The first part is about self-denial followed by some paradigm shifts. We learn the differences between fan vs follower. We learn the emphasis on imitating Christ instead of mere Sunday sermon instructions. The author gives us several differences between what discipleship is and what it is not. This helps us to clear up the foggy Church scene which often confuses actual discipleship with Church activities. We learn about the marks of a mature disciple, which focuses on character, theology, wisdom, and missional living.

In Part Two, Strawser shows us how to develop a discipleship pathway. There are several interesting ideas here. The part on "From Past Recipes to Local Cuisine" is a creative take on "glocalization." In other words, we need to contextualize a global calling into our local communities. We are reminded of the follies in trying to force down a universal model into our local contexts. Some essential ingredients needed are Full Gospel, True Humanity, Thick Community, Heart for the One, and Kingdom Partnership. The details for each are fascinating reads. Then comes the journey of making these ingredients part and parcel of the whole discipleship paradigm. Part Three looks at the underlying assumptions that anchor the discipleship framework. Things like the need for transformation in our thinking and our theological mindsets. In order for change to occur, we need a change in these assumptions. Sometimes, it requires us to abandon old ways in favour of new ways for the purpose of conforming to Christ's vision of discipleship. Part Four then takes us through various ways to implement our discipleship pathways. It also shows us the effectiveness of ongoing discipleship efforts in the midst of unforeseen circumstances, such as the pandemic. When believers are discipled, they are better equipped to deal with disruptions head-on. The author has an interesting take on the four sociological spaces: intimate (like Jesus' inner circle of James, Peter, and John), personal, (like the original twelve disciples), social (like the mobilized 70 disciples), and public space (crowds). This can be used as a metaphor for any of our environments. She anticipates hurdles along the way and supplies some for us to consider getting prepared for. The three main hurdles are the lack of commitment, a culture of complacency, and limitations with children. Following this, we get a chapter about engaging with the culture.

My Three Thoughts
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First, this is an excellent book on discipleship. With a focus on centering discipleship, one can sense the heartbeat of the author and also the excitement behind the drive. Just like the four sociological spaces of influence in discipleship, the book follows the same pattern to move from the individual to the community, from the community to the neighborhood, and then to the public sphere. The big idea of discipleship can be sensed from start to finish, which is a testimony of the conviction of the author in itself. More importantly, Strawser has given us a powerful and practical framework to kickstart a discipleship pathway. It is also important to remember that it is not simply a program but a map to help us practice discipleship.

Second, there is a clear guide and direction. This is one reason why I urge readers not to skip any chapters but to progress along, trusting the author to hand-hold us through the journey of centering discipleship. This is not just done with words. The author uses many different ways to help us understand and apply the lessons. Through comparisons, illustrations, stories, tables, and other examples, readers find the concepts constantly clarified for ease of understanding. Thus, the book can be used as a discussion or training guide for discipleship groups.

Finally, while there are many good ideas in this book, this should supplement the plenty of existing resources on discipleship. It is best used together with books from discipleship gurus such as Bill Hull and Greg Ogden. Of course, the best thing is not simply to compare books and resources. It is to actually practice the art of discipleship. Will I recommend this book for the general readers? Of course. Will I suggest this as a leadership resource? Most definitely. Perhaps, the main thing missing is a form of discussion questions to help readers grasp the concepts better as well as to get people on the same page through an active discussion. Granted that parts of the discussion questions appear within certain chapters, it would be great if the author could expand that to put it explicitly at the end of each chapter or as an appendix at the end of the book. Nevertheless, this is a refreshing treatment of a highly important topic of discipleship. If churches can take this book as a wake-up call, and move the emphasis of discipleship from the peripheral to the central, it would have been worth every cent of this book.

Eun K. Strawser, DO, is the covocational lead pastor of Ma Ke Alo o (which means “presence” in Hawaiian) non-denominational missional communities multiplying in Honolulu; a community physician at Ke Ola Pono; and an executive leader at the V3 Movement, the church-planting arm of the Baptist General Association of Virginia. Prior to transitioning to Hawaii, she served as adjunct professor of medicine at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and of African Studies at her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania (where she and her husband served with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship) after finishing her Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Dar es Salaam. She and her husband, Steve, have three seriously amazing children.

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5.

conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of InterVarsity Press via NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

My husband is an Episcopal priest and I read a lot of books that might help him in his work, and this book was the most fortuitous read of my life. We were discussing exactly the things that Strawser talks about in the first part of the book: feeling like we're not making a difference, going through the motions, etc versus what she sees in her church plant - vibrance, commitment, lives changed. We knew the answer all along (discipleship) but had no idea of how to go through it. The middle section of the book breaks things down in such a way that we can utilize the pathways she outlines and fit them to our context. I've never seen a book do this so well and with the stated purpose that this is a guide, not a quick fix, but something to be worked through together as we put discipleship back at the center of the church. Phenomenal read -- instructive without being prescriptive, funny, convicting, and purposeful. His church leadership is going to read this when it comes out and I've been recommending it to literally everyone I talk to about churchy things. Now, mind you, I'm not a Christian -- just married to one -- but this is the type of book that makes you have hope that American Christianity can finally find its way back to Jesus.

This is not your typical discipleship book. EK Strawser challenges the reader to think beyond our typical Sunday morning services and church routines to make discipleship the center focus....groups of disciples going out into their communities to meet needs and make disciples. Strawser proposes a reimagining of our church structures in a radical way. While I definitely recommend this book and think there is much to consider here, I did have an issue with the presentation of the Trinity as a community. But I definitely agree that we need to reevaluate what we are focusing on in our churches and what our goals are; the Great Commission commands us to "go forth and make disciples" and I fear that the Western church is very anemic in this area. This book really challenges us to think more about the importance and practice of discipleship and what it means to follow Jesus.

I enjoyed reading this book. The author, E.K. Stawser, shares stories from her personal journey as pastor of Ma Ke Alo O, a church in Hawaii focused on discipleship. Stawser challenges the reader to reconsider what discipleship is and how to make it central in a church community. She shares in the book about how often churches are so focused on creating a Sunday worship service, that discipleship itself is forgotten. Stawser’s reflection is that there must be a different way of being church together, creating discipleship communities that multiply and bless the surrounding communities in mission. Although Stawser says it may be easier to start a new church, rather than try to change an existing one, she also discusses ideas about how to help churches transform Sunday schools into discipleship communities on mission together.

This is not the normal “church discipleship program.” This book invites the reader into something more exciting, sharing real stories from experiences along the way.

This is an incredible book, and I don't say that often. This book focuses on a topic that is highly misunderstood in the church, and even outside of it. Our definition of a "disciple" as "someone who attends church regularly and volunteers consistently to work in the worship service" is so far from what Jesus meant when He used the word, and if we ever want to have the kind of Kingdom impact on the world that He called us to, we have to get this right. We have to go back to the days of the first disciples and get this excited "come meet a Man" attitude back, where the world is seeing Jesus through our followership and not just seeing our churches.

The book is practical and easy to connect with; the smattering of real-flesh examples throughout helps to make the connection points stronger. The one drawback, which makes it a bit complicated in places, is that in recognizing how intimate and local discipleship truly is, it's almost impossible to talk about in some contexts in anything but the abstract. So there are some who are going to read this book and say, "Sure, I get that the things you're emphasizing aren't discipleship aren't actually discipleship; we agree on that. But what does real discipleship look like?" In that regard, this book doesn't really give the answers.

What it requires is that the reader engage this book with a sanctified imagination, a holy imagination. You have to come into this dreaming of what your church, your neighborhood, your community could look like if Jesus were right here today walking YOUR streets. You have to have that vision in your own heart and mind; this book isn't going to give it to you. Rather, what it's going to do is encourage you into believing that what your heart is dreaming IS possible. It's possible because it's happening, because it's been happening in places throughout the history of the church. Because persons like you BELIEVE it is possible, and that's the very first step to making it real.

I highly recommend this book.