Book Review: real-life discipleship

No, the title isn't incorrectly typed; the title of the book does not contain capital letters. However, at the risk of sounding dorky this is a "capital book." The subtitle of this book, also in non-capital letters is "building churches that make disciples."

Real-life Discipleship answers three very crucial questions:

• Is your church making disciples?

• Is your church membership dwindling?

• Is your church membership growing at the expense of smaller churches in the area?

Jim Putman, pastor of Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, ID tackles these questions head-on. He does so in such a manner that causes church leadership to re-examine the vision and/or mission statements of most churches. This book is an extremely down-to-earth and practical guide which creates a mindset of making disciples. Pastor Putman is not talking about making converts. He writes a manual for developing every believer in your church to become disciple makers in line with the great commission.

Real-life Discipleship is divided into three sections.

• Part I is designed to set the stage for discipleship. Part I describes three key elements for effective discipleship - an intentional leader; a relational environment; and a strategic process.

• Part II is developed in order to help leadership and churches master the discipleship process. Part II gives you a birds-eye view of five maturity levels of disciples and provides details of their needs and the process which meets those needs through a process Putman calls SCMD (Share, Connect, Minister, Disciple)

• Part III is devised to help the leadership and churches allow disciples to emerge as leaders. Part III answers questions about developing leaders within the church.

Real-life Discipleship is a 187 page book containing fifteen easy to ready, understand, and implement chapters. It also contains four (4) appendixes which are provided as means of helps to supplement the main thesis. The material contained in real-life discipleship is biblical and practical. Pastor Putman does an excellent job in describing a process that has worked well in Post Falls and can be adapted to work as well in any church.

This book was very easy to read and understand. It is written in everyday plain English with little or no technical terminology. Every Pastor, Elder, Small Group Leader can greatly benefit from the simplicity, structure, and substance provided. Not only do I strongly recommend this book to be read I believe it should be a "must-read" tool for every Pastor and Small Group Leader.

"I received this book free from NavPress Publishers as part of their blogger review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own."


***********************************
30 Days of Thanksgiving


I am thankful today for the fact that I have been reminded by a number of sources these past couple of years that a day of Thanksgiving isn't enough or all that its expected of me. I am thankful that we have had a month during November to reflect and share what we are truly thankful for. Thank you Living Water Community Church of Vancouver for 30 days of Thanksgiving, thank you Rebecca Writes, and Kim from The Upward Call, and Persis from Tried by Fire. Thank you for the inspiration that caused me to join in this year and share 30 days of Thanksgiving! (Check out these links!)