Deep Discipleship: How the Church Can Make Whole Disciples of Jesus

As a lay-leader at my church, I found this book to be refreshing, convicting, challenging, and inspiring. I immediately emailed my pastors and elders and encouraged them to buy the book, read it, and talk about how our church can benefit from it. I love that JT says that discipleship requires community and learning, and too often our churches focus too heavily on one or the other (usually community). You must have BOTH! And he lays out a case for a robust learning environment that any church of any size can implement. He calls for an active learning environment (asking students to participate through homework and regurgitating what they’re learning to others), accountability (holding people to a high standard of participation), and scale/sequence (bringing people deeper and deeper, continually). The goal is fellowship with God, and as people are being discipled, they will naturally disciple others.This is NOT a book about one-on-one discipleship/mentor relationships, but I believe those relationships will naturally be born out of a culture built on deep community discipleship.My only critique is that sometimes JT will say something, then say the same thing again in a different way. His chapters could have been about 20% shorter if he hadn’t done this. However, some people really benefit from hearing a point from many perspectives. It’s not my preferred style, but the content is too good to let that stop me from reading and recommending it.

JT is a champion for biblical literacy and begins by reorienting our hearts and minds to what discipleship is really about: God. This book is for anyone who is a disciple of Christ to learn what it means to enter into deep discipleship with the one Triune God through studying His word. It is especially helpful for those in leadership positions, but is for every local church member.JT recounts the process of instituting classes at the Village Church. He provides the right questions to ask in order to correctly diagnose and treat the issue of biblical illiteracy in the church today.Most helpful is the case and call for leadership to shift from an either/or mindset to a both/and approach. The local church needs both small groups and classes to complement each other. Deep discipleship happens in community but community is not necessarily deep discipleship.I would also recommend JT’s other resources and his podcast “Knowing Faith” with Jen Wilkin and Kyle Worley.

I've been a believer for 28 years and know the failures of the church and the books that leave you feeling inadequate or wanting more, but I personally watched my friend and pastor charitably live out this book over the last six years and it has forever changed my life. His faithfulness to the Scriptures and his love for people will leave you feeling seen and loved where it matters the most - before a holy God. Praise God for this incredible legacy.

This book offers a solid paradigm for implementing a church-based discipleship program. Its emphasis on learning in the Christian life is key. It is well structured and the main points and questions at end of each chapter are very helpful. Only two beefs. First, the book is highly repetitive. It could have easily been shortened by 30% without losing any of its message. Second, most of the examples are from a mega church setting. The last chapter addresses this concern but it would have been better not to reference his own experience with the Village Church so often. Most churches are small and their leaders could be put off with so many illustrations from a megachurch. Overall, it is worth reading, although you may find yourself skimming a good bit because of the redundancy.

I can't recommend this book enough!!! The aim of Deep Discipleship to retrieve, recover, reintroduce, and reclaim fundamental truths of gospel-centered discipleship within the context of the local church is one of the greatest needs in our time. This book will not only help you to reorient your focus and purpose as a leader, but will fuel your passion as to why we must be disciples of Christ making other disciples of Christ.

This book is a must-read for church leaders of any sort. If you lead kids’ ministry, worship, if you’re a head pastor, if you lead small groups...if you lead in any capacity (and honestly, even if you don’t) you need to see/hear his vision for the local church and his passion for deep discipleship. Your relationship with Christ and the Church (especially your local congregation) will be stronger and richer because of this book. I’ll be gifting it to my close friends.

Every believer who wants to grow individually and wants their church to grow corporately should read this book! He accurately diagnoses one of the main issues within churches with discipleship and then walks through the process of evaluating what effective discipleship should look like. This is an invaluable read for lay members and pastors alike!

JT has written a fantastic work that I pray every pastor, teacher, and lay person gets their hands on. I’m a discipleship pastor in central Texas and I think my community has been guilty of what JT calls a Frankenstein philosophy that often arises because we’re asking the wrong questions. This work doesn’t hold up a specific model of programming, but simply guides you in asking the right questions. For that, I am deeply grateful. Do what I did and by multiple copies of this book. Give them to leaders in your church and begin asking the right questions.

Highly recommend when thinking on anything regarding discipleship in the local church. English has many excellent things to think about and consider.

A great, well structured, well thought through book to help any church think through and implement its own discipleship process