"Ordinary Discipleship" (Jessie Cruickshank)

TITLE: Ordinary Discipleship: How God Wires Us for the Adventure of Transformation
AUTHOR: Jessie Cruickshank
PUBLISHER: Colorado Springs, CO: Tyndale House Publishers, 2023, (224 pages).
 

The Bible has various metaphors to describe discipleship and spiritual growth. In particular, Jesus himself uses ordinary things to depict the Kingdom of God and spiritual growth. There is the parable of the talents to showcase the importance of stewardship. There is the parable of the tenants on the dangers of unfaithfulness. Chief of them all is the parable of the Sower which describes four different types of soil that seeds fell upon. Jesus also shares with us about the responsibilities of discipleship, to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus. All of these point to one thing: Following Jesus means living up to our calling and faithful stewarding of our responsibilities. However, like many churches and church-goers, discipleship is often talked about but meagerly understood. In this book, author Jessie Cruickshank takes us back to the basics of what discipleship means. In a nutshell, discipleship is for ordinary people wanting to follow Jesus in spite of their ordinary circumstances. Using the journey metaphor, Cruickshank maps out eight stages of what she calls, "The Hero's Journey" from ordinary people practicing ordinary discipleship. Disciplemakers are agents of transformation. They do not transform but they are willing channels for God's Spirit to transform people. According to the author, Discipleship is like "about helping people choose to go somewhere they have never gone before or do something they have never done before. It is about helping someone be brave enough to choose to change." It helps us conquer our fears of leaving our comfort zones. It is trusting that as we do what we can and let God deal with the rest, we learn to grow. So, a disciple is one who is willing to change or be changed. A disciple-maker, with the help of the Holy Spirit, facilitates that process. This map is listed as follows:

1. The believer is called.
2. After a period of hesitancy, the believer obliges.
3. They answer the call
4. They team up with others
5. As they learn new things, they also encounter new challenges
6. They move forth in faith and learn to deal with the ups and downs of the journey
7. Finally, there is the revelation experience that leaves them changed forever
8. Changed lives change other lives.

Written like a guidebook, this book shows us some fundamental tools that we can use in our journey of discipleship. Each chapter goes into detail with Scripture as a guide with discussion questions,  inventory lists, examples, and suggestions. At the end of each chapter, there are prompts to help us note any revelation or insights. 

My Thoughts
Books on discipleship are a dime a dozen. For those of us with limited time but who want to practice discipleship, we want to have the best discipleship resources that we can get. Unfortunately, we all have different expectations of what "best" really means. After all, for those who have never experienced what discipleship entails, how could they possibly know what is best for them? For the uninitiated, let this book spark your journey of discipleship. The title of the book helps us lower our suspicion that this book is only for the spiritually mature or established. It is targeted at the ordinary believer who just wants to make a change in their spiritual growth. In the process, it is also about the desire to follow God's calling. Contrary to what some might think, discipleship is not an option. It is a command. It is a calling to be obeyed. This book lays out a clear map for us to navigate the journey step by step. There is little theological jargon. Instead, it is written in simple language that we can all follow. The strength lies in the regular prompting for the reader to do a "personal reflection." This is a critical component because it helps internalize our learning development. 

How do we use this book? Read it. Answer the questions laid out. Assemble a group of like-minded individuals to take the same journey. As the famous Chinese saying goes, the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Take the first step of faith to embark on this journey of discipleship. Just do it. In fact, we don't even need to wait until we finish the last page. We can read along, reflect, and keep going. Discipleship is never meant to be difficult. What makes it difficult is often due to self-installed mental barriers such as "I don't know," "I am not sure how," and most devastatingly, "I don't want to." Perhaps, this book can help us restart any past efforts toward discipleship. By taking away the superlatives of discipleship and restating it as "ordinary," we would have replaced "Why should I?" with "Why not?"

Jessie Cruickshank is a demonstrated disciple-maker and facilitator of spiritual transformation. She is the founder of WHOology, an ordained Foursquare minister and a nationally recognized leader in the fields of Experiential Education and Educational Neuroscience. She has spent two decades applying neuroeducation research to discipleship, ministry training, experiential education, and organization development. She holds a Master’s from Harvard in Mind, Brain, and Education. Jessie is passionate about creating organic systems that facilitate holistic human and organizational development.

Rating: 4.25 stars of 5.

conrade

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This book has been provided courtesy of NavPress, Tyndale House Publishers, and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.