I remember being asked to teach a Sunday School Class on Discipleship several years ago. I quickly found out that there are not a lot of good books out there on the topic. Thankfully things are changing!
One especially helpful book is Jonathan Dodson’s Gospel Centered Discipleship. I really like this book. In fact, a number of us at Emmaus went through this during the last quarter. Dodson excels at making theology very practical and application very theological.
A big takeaway from the book is the gospel-identity. If you are a Christian then you are called to be a disciple who makes disciples (Mt. 28.19-20). If you are not doing this then there is a problem. In pointing out the selfishness of a lack of discipleship Dodson serves us well by pointing readers back to the indicative of the Gospel and the active, indwelling, controlling power of the Holy Spirit. His chapter on reliance upon the Holy Spirit was very convicting and helpful. He recycles a lot of John Owen with a 21st Century accent. It’s gold.
I think most people would be pleasently surprised by this book. If you think Dodson is another young pastor trying to be hip and grow a megachurch then you’ll be encouraged to see that he is not about that at all. He is a pastor who is slugging it out in the trenches with the other guys, whether they drink fair-trade or Quick-Stop coffee. And if you think this is another book by a funny, hip guy that you can just breeze through, watch out—he’ll hit you up with theological nun-chucks, quoting Edwards, Luther, Calvin and Owen.
Finally, I like the book because it was derived organically from the local church. Here is a guy who had a burden to disciple so he did it. Then he wrote about how and what he did. I wish I had met Dodson before my Sunday School Class!
Pick up the book at Amazon or Westminster Books.