If there is anything that followers of Jesus Christ should become great at, it’s making disciples who can make disciples (2 Tim. 2:2). But how does a person become great at making disciples? Better yet, how does a person “learn” to become great at making disciples? A great resource for those interested in becoming better equipped at sharing the gospel with others is a book written by Mike Breen and Steve Cockram entitled, Building a Discipling Culture.

Since the Christian marketplace is over-saturated with books that seem to promote every kind of “new” church growth strategy and gimmick imaginable, you might be asking how Building a Discipling Culture is different. In my view, most books written on the subject of church growth focus too much on “numbers” and focus too little on producing authentic disciples of Jesus Christ. Building a Discipling Culture – for the most part – does a good job at focusing on the latter.

Building a Discipling Culture is divided into three parts: (1) Understanding Discipleship; (2) LifeShapes: Our Discipling Language; (3) Using Huddles to Disciple People. Since the version of the book I read was a Kindle editions that had location numbers instead of page numbers, I will outline this review based upon these three sections of the book.

(1) Understanding Discipleship

We have to keep in mind as Christians that Jesus often times turned the multitudes away from following Him. We often forget that Jesus basically invited twelve ordinary men to follow Him. For three years He endeared Himself to training and equipping these twelve men to carry on His mission once He was gone. This concept is what Breen and Cockram call “The Jesus Model.” Basically, what the Jesus “model” is is an “invitation to relationship and a challenge to change.”

Instead of creating some massive evangelism campaign, Breen and Cockram suggest that a better way is by inviting a small group of people into your life and show them through life-on-life experience what being a disciple of Christ is all about. Here, the authors point out that learning to be a disciple happens similarly in the way that a person becomes affluent in a second language or learns to do a trade – that is – through the three phases of learning, (1) classroom and information gathering; (2) apprenticeship; and (3) immersion. The authors state that disciples “learn best when there is a dynamic interplay” between all three of these phases.

(2) LifeShapes: Our Discipling Language

What is the most obvious outward sign that a people share a common culture? Sociologists affirm it’s the language, and so do Breen and Cockram:

For this reason, groups seeking to mobilize their members often insist on their own distinct language…and according to some linguists, languages not only symbolize our culture but also help create a framework in which culture develops, arguing that grammar, structures, and categories embodied in each language influence how its speakers see reality. For example, because Hopi grammar does not have past, present or future grammatical tenses, Hopi speakers think differently about time than do English speakers.

The idea that “language creates culture” may sound strange to some, but it’s actually quite intuitive when examined under the sociological microscope. In all reality, it isn’t difficult at all to create a certain kind of culture. Think about the culture of Corporate America: it has its own system of language that revolves around a core set of beliefs that create a certain type of environment. The same is true for all cultures everywhere, both violent and peaceful ones.

Similarly, the church has its own distinct language. It is centered on the core belief of “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2; 15:1-4). In light of this core belief, the church must have a transferrable language that can be passed on from “disciple –er” to “disciple-ee”. The language that Breen and Cockram propose is a language they call “LifeShapes.”

Although I understood the concept of LifeShapes (using various geometric shapes to teach a spiritual truth), I thought the author’s explanations and diagrams in the book were a bit hard to follow. However they do refer you to audio links on their website just in case you happen to be a stronger “audio learner.” All in all, LifeShapes is good in theory, but for me, they are just not real practical. I want to point people to Christ without having to explain how it all fits inside of a square, octagon, or semi-circle.

(3) Using Huddles to Disciple People

Building upon the foundation of the “Jesus Model” in Section One, Breen and Cockram focus on a concept in Section Three that they believe was central to the personal discipling ministry of Christ – something they call “huddles.”

What is a huddle? According to the authors, a huddle is “a place to directly disciple your current or future leaders in mission and discipleship.” Also, the authors stressed that this is not to be treated as  “small group” Bible study gathering. Huddles are altogether different in that they are not open to “the public.” They are a gathering of people who are are committed to attending each huddle. People often will miss a small group session if something comes up or if they just don’t feel like going. In huddles, the expectation is that you never miss a gathering.

According to Breen and Cockram, another characteristic of a huddle which makes it different than a small group is that small groups typically try to create a warm, friendly environment, with few-to-no challenges and low accountability for those who attend. Whereas, in a huddle, holding the huddle members accountable is high priority. The authors write, “It is not uncommon for the huddle leader to say something that may be difficult for someone to hear, but it is said in love for the sake of transformation.” Breen and Cockram further state that huddles work because they create an environment of learning, language, multiplication, high commitment, group learning, time, balance of invitation and challenge, and continued investment.

In conclusion, Building a Discipling Culture is a must read for anyone interested in investigating impactful strategies where the goal is to cultivate people into becoming committed disciples of Jesus Christ.

If you have read this book, what did you think about it? Please discuss by leaving a comment below.

You can order Building A Discipling Culture by clicking the link below.

________________________________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.