Classic works on Discipleship

When Jesus Christ voluntarily gave His life on the cross some 2,000 years ago, He did not die for a cause. He died for people. During His ministry on earth, He “appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach” (Mark 3:14). Just before His death on Calvary, Jesus prayed for His men (see John 17). Over 40 times in that prayer, He referred to His twelve...

A second theme that surfaces when people tell their faith stories revolves around the development of a private devotional life. Somewhere along the way, Christians begin to pray. Alone. They begin exploring the Bible on their own. They memorize their first Scripture verse. It’s not uncommon to hear people speak of getting up a little earlier in the morning to spend time with God. Personal...

Many approaches to spiritual growth assume that the same methods will produce the same growth in different people — but they don’t. Because you have been created by God as a unique person, his plan to grow you will not look the same as his plan to grow anyone else. What would grow an orchid would drown a cactus. What would feed a mouse would starve an elephant. All of those entities need light,...

Do you ever experience a gap between what you know and what you do? Have you ever found that new knowledge and information don’t seem to translate into a new way of life? Ever had the experience of hearing an incredibly illuminating and informative sermon on a Sunday, waking up Monday morning with new resolve and conviction to be different, and already failing by Tuesday night? You are hungry...

What qualities of godliness must be characteristic of his life? Let’s mentally digest a few essential traits of the person who wants to qualify as “a faithful man.” He Has Adopted the Same Objective in Life That God Sets Forth in the Scriptures Jesus said, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33). Rarely did the Lord Jesus ask...

One of the things Dr. Howard Hendricks instilled in me during seminary is that I should always have a group. Specifically, I should always be able to point to a group of men and say, “That’s the group I’m currently pouring my life into.” As I stated in the introduction, I don’t feel like it’s my responsibility to fill anybody’s cup. But I am responsible to empty mine. So I’ve always had a...

As God helps you grow, you will change, but you will always be you. An acorn can grow into an oak tree, but it cannot become a rose bush. It can be a healthy oak or it can be a stunted oak — but it won’t be a shrub. You will always be you — a growing, healthy you or a languishing you — but God did not create you to be anybody else. He pre-wired your temperament. He determined your natural gifts...

One of the great problems in churches today is the perpetual immaturity of the members. Too many Christians grow old without growing up. It is possible to attend church your entire life and never grow into Christlike maturity. It takes far more than sermons to produce a disciple. For thirty years at Saddleback Church we’ve used an intentional biblical and sequential “catechism of life” to move...

As I dig into the first thirteen verses of 1 Corinthians 10, trying to get a handle on this matter of godliness, I am attracted to this section of Scripture because it revolves around a group of people who had every reason to be godly, but they were not. That intrigues me. Why in the world wouldn’t those ancient Hebrews, who were supernaturally delivered from Egyptian bondage under Moses’...

Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men. COLOSSIANS 3:23 Batwing, raglan, dolman, puffed, set-in, butterfly, paned, hanging, bell —these are styles of sleeves worn throughout history. The expression of someone “having something up his sleeve” refers to an Oriental-style hanging sleeve that was also used as a pocket. Hardworking folks can be spotted by their rolled-up...

Christian living comes down to making a handful of disciplines into habits. The disciplines are not Christian living; they are only the scaffolding that support Christian living. Christian living is not about doing certain religious things. Christian living is about walking in grace. It is about walking on purpose. It is about basking in acceptance. It is not about trying really hard to be good....

We want you to see the impact of a ministry that doesn’t just add—it multiplies. God has always been interested in multiplication. In fact, His first command to Adam and Eve in the garden was not to be spiritual, productive, or upstanding citizens of earth. Rather, it was to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28). What God commanded the first humans to do physically is what Jesus commanded...

What do you want? That’s the question. It is the first, last, and most fundamental question of Christian discipleship. In the Gospel of John, it is the first question Jesus poses to those who would follow him. When two would-be disciples who are caught up in John the Baptist’s enthusiasm begin to follow, Jesus wheels around on them and pointedly asks, “What do you want?” (John 1:38). It’s the...

How can we turn our knowledge about God into knowledge of God? The rule for doing this is simple but demanding. It is that we turn each truth that we learn about God into matter for meditation before God, leading to prayer and praise to God. We have some idea, perhaps, what prayer is, but what is meditation? Well may we ask, for meditation is a lost art today, and Christian people suffer...

I have thrown down the gauntlet. I maintain that the evangelical church is weak, self-indulgent, and superficial, that it has been thoroughly discipled by its culture. As Jesus said, “Every one when he is fully taught will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40 RSV). Furthermore, I believe the crisis of the church is one of product, the kind of people being produced. I propose the solution to be...

When it comes to the local church in North America today, something is not working. The big question driving this book is the question of effectiveness. For a moment, resist the urge to defend yourself or your church. Don’t defend your experience in ministry, your seminary degrees, or your genuine heart for seeing people come to know Christ. Don’t defend any of the activities taking place at...

The Problem Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.”4 Enough of the church has accepted a nondiscipleship Christianity to render it ineffective at its primary task—the transformation of individuals and communities into the image of Christ. This Christless Christianity has created leaders who are addicted to recognition and success and...

Cheap grace is the mortal enemy of our church. Our struggle today is for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace as bargain-basement goods, cut-rate forgiveness, cut-rate comfort, cut-rate sacrament; grace as the church’s inexhaustible pantry, from which it is doled out by careless hands without hesitation or limit. It is grace without a price, without costs. It is said that the essence of grace...

I am disappointed with myself. I am disappointed not so much with particular things I have done as with aspects of who I have become. I have a nagging sense that all is not as it should be. Some of this disappointment is trivial. I wouldn’t have minded getting a more muscular physique. I can’t do basic home repairs. So far I haven’t shown much financial wizardry. Some of this disappointment is...

Jesus made it very clear what His church should do: Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew...

Your heavenly Father’s goal is for you to mature and develop the characteristics of Jesus Christ. Sadly, millions of Christians grow older but never grow up. They are stuck in perpetual spiritual infancy, remaining in diapers and booties. The reason is that they never intended to grow. Spiritual growth is not automatic. It takes an intentional commitment. You must want to grow, decide to grow,...

This is our problem of methodology today. Well-intended ceremonies, programs, organizations, commissions, and crusades of human ingenuity are trying valiantly to do a job that can only be done by people in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is not to depreciate these noble efforts, for without them the church could not function as she does. Nevertheless, unless the personal mission of the Master...

From time to time, people ask me, “What was the difference that made the difference at Brainerd Baptist Church?” The answer is easy: discipleship. When I arrived as senior pastor at Brainerd in 2008, only a handful of people were meeting in intentional D-Groups, or a group of three to five people who meet weekly for the express purpose of becoming disciples who make disciples. Beginning with my...

For the next ten years of my Christian life, I focused on the methods of Jesus. I studied to identify His major priorities and analyze them in His life and ministry. I wrote a Harmony self-study, which explained what I consider the strategy of Jesus.2 We trained tens of thousands of youth pastors, pastors, and church leaders in the methods of Christ. Some of those methods included: Jesus was...

What makes great teaching? Great teaching means creating great people. Where there are disciples, great teaching has taken place. We know that Jesus’ teaching was great, not because we find his stories interesting, but because we know that his men turned the world upside down. When our students turn the world upside down, we have done a reasonable good job of teaching. Jesus told us to make...

Two thousand years ago, Jesus walked up to a handful of men and said, “Follow me.” Imagine being one of those original disciples. They were ordinary people like you and me. They had jobs, families, hobbies, and social lives. As they went about their business on the day Jesus called them, none of them would have expected his life to change so quickly and completely. The disciples could not have...

We see that the apostle Paul adopted the same goal and methodology in his ministry that Jesus modeled. Paul’s version of the Great Commission is his personal mission statement. “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works within me” (Colossians...