living dangerously

In Building a Discipling Culture, Mike Breen and Steve Cockram call us to a life of discipleship. They boldly assert, “Effective discipleship builds the church, not the other way around. We need to understand the church as the effect of discipleship and not the cause.” Breen and Cockram describe the process of discipleship as beginning with a Huddle, which is a group of eight people chosen by a leader. Those people enter into a discipling relationship with the leader. After a period of around six months, those disciples are encouraged to start another Huddle and continue the process of discipling others. The authors estimate that if this model is followed for a year and a half there will be approximately 248 people being discipled.

Breen and Cockram also discuss key concepts illustrated by eight shapes that strengthen the discipling process. These shapes graphically demonstrate what it means to be shaped by the Holy Spirit into the image of Jesus. The appendix in the book is an instrument that helps the reader understand if she/he is more likely a pastor, teacher, evangelist, prophet, or apostle. These roles are defined and explained by the chapter on Personal Calling.

Once the concepts and shapes in Building a Discipling Culture are understood, the book provides a meaningful and useful resource for building disciples.

Filed under: Book review, church planting, discipleship | Tagged: book review, discipling, Mike Breen, Steve Cockram | Leave a Comment »