Book: "Dysciples" (Krish Kandiah)

TITLE: Dysciples - why I fall asleep when I pray and twelve other discipleship dysfunctions
AUTHOR: Krish Kandiah
PUBLISHER: Milton Keynes: Authentic Media, 2009.

This is a cleverly titled book that blends in 'disciples' with 'dysfunction.' You may think that the author will even try to imitate the numerical 12, as in the 12 disciples of Christ. Well, in the true sense of being dysfunctional, he uses 13. Brilliant. Krish Kandiah lectures at Regent-College's Summer school. This year, he'll be back in Vancouver to do the same.

The essential message is one of recognizing we need to change from 'dysciples' to 'disciples.' In a nutshell, the following gives us a clue what kinds of dysfunctional characteristics we need to be aware of.

1. Dissatisfied: Why I feel I am going nowhere
2. Despairing: Why I shout at God
3. Disoriented: Why I won’t step out of my comfort zone
4. Disgruntled: Why I struggle with Jesus’ teaching
5. Dismissive: Why I’ve heard it all before
6. Disconnected: Why I feel such a hypocrite
7. Distant: Why God seems out of reach
8. Disappointed: Why I can’t move mountains
9. Dispensable: Why I want to be the best
10. Disturbed: Why my mind wanders during communion
11. Dispassionate: Why I fall asleep when I pray
12. Disloyal: Why I can’t tell people about Jesus
13. Disqualified: Why I could never be a missionary

The book aims to help readers move from what they are NOT supposed to be, to what they ought to grow into. For some of us, it is another attempt to inculcate guilt and shame. For others, it is a needed kick in the butt to move from nominalism to passionate discipleship. I prefer to assume the latter.

I recommend this book for Church leaders, teachers for general Christian Education, with one caveat: Show grace throughout.

conrade

p/s: If you are interested, you can download an excerpt of the book here.