"IS THE GOSPEL YOU PREACH MAKING DISCIPLES—OR CONVERTS?
Many today preach a gospel that makes converts, but not disciples. This is the result of 'non-discipleship gospels,' which exclude the necessity to follow Jesus from their message. The Discipleship Gospel challenges the church today with a fresh reading of Jesus' gospel—one that we must learn to preach again.
'The gospel you preach determines the disciples you make,' the authors write.
Bill Hull and Ben Sobels use key biblical texts to describe why discipleship is not just an add-on to the gospel, but an essential part of it. The authors define seven essential elements of Jesus' gospel and why you must include each one in your gospel if you want to make disciples, not just converts. In this book, they help you clarify your understanding of the gospel, learn how to contextualize your message, and create a plan to make disciples who embrace the full gospel—in your church and beyond."
"Discipleship occurs when someone answers the call to learn from Jesus how to live his or her life as though Jesus were living it. The end result is that the disciple becomes the kind of person who naturally does what Jesus did.
How the church understands salvation and the gospel is the key to recovering a biblical theology of discipleship. Our doctrines of grace and salvation, in some cases, actually prevent us from creating an expectation that we are to be disciples of Jesus. A person can profess to be a Christian and yet still live under the impression that they don't need to actually follow Jesus. Being a follower is seen as an optional add-on, not a requirement. It is a choice, not a demand. Being a Christian today has no connection with the biblical idea that we are formed into the image of Christ.
In this ground-breaking new book, pastor and author Bill Hull shows why our existing models of evangelism and discipleship fail to actually produce followers of Jesus. He looks at the importance of recovering a robust view of the gospel and taking seriously the connection between conversion-answering the call to follow Jesus-and discipleship-living like the one we claim to follow."
"What if everything you've heard about leadership is wrong?
Secular models of leadership rooted in pragmatic success dominate Christian leadership in the West. It makes our work impersonal and exploitive. And, at worst, it serves the leader rather than those the leader leads.
We need a different style of leadership-one patterned after Jesus. We need to learn to influence others out of our character, for that is what Jesus did.
The Christian Leader is not about improving your church, your work, or your family; it is about changing how you lead. It does more than teach you how to modify your behavior; it shows you how to change the sources of your behavior-your motives and reasons for being a Christian leader. In the end, as everything you know and believe about Christian leadership is transformed, it will lead to transformation in those you lead and serve."
"What is a Christian?
At the most basic level, a Christian is a disciple of Jesus Christ. And yet many Christians today couldn't tell you what a disciple of Jesus Christ is, or would even think of themselves as disciples. And yet in the Great Commission, Jesus specifically called us to make disciples. Everything else is secondary.
The Cost of Cheap Grace is an extended, sweeping, bold, and bracing call to repentance for where we've let secondary things subvert our commitment to discipleship, and a compelling vision for discipleship as the basis of the gospel in all its world-changing, subversive power."
