Making Disciples Jesus' Way: Wisdom We Have Missed

by Doug Greenwold

Publisher:

Doug Greenwold

, 2007

Overview

Making Disciples Jesus’ Way is a book for disciples and discipling practitioners. Its purpose is to challenge and provoke our contemporary Western discipleship and spiritual formation paradigms by providing the contextual backdrop of what it meant to “make disciples” in the Gospels. Then it asks, “What are we doing, why are we doing it that way, and what fruit are we getting—or not getting?” The thesis of the book is that when we reconnect with the “make disciples” contextual presuppositions in the Gospels, we can more clearly see the “missing ingredients” in discipleship today.

This book revisits the Gospel record through the lens of first-century context. In developing its themes, the book expands our contextual understanding of Pharisaism, observant Judaism, the Kingdom of God, the Covenants, the competing worldviews of the first century, and related subjects, making it a very helpful contextual backdrop for anyone wishing to understand the issues of the Gospels more deeply.

The volume develops four missing perspectives in our Western approach to disciple-making (chapters 1–4), three patterns of Jesus that seem to be missing in our contemporary discipling methodologies (chapters 5–7), and two oft-missed pieces essential for the fruitful making of disciples (chapters 8–9). Making Disciples Jesus’ Way is ideal for leadership development, discipleship training, small groups, new-member orientation, and adult education classes.

Rediscover the Bible writers’ intended approach to studying the Word of God with the Logos edition of Making Disciples Jesus’ Way. All Scripture passages link to your favorite Bible translation in your library. With the advanced search features of Logos Bible Software, you can perform powerful searches by topic or Scripture reference—finding, for example, every mention of “disciple” or “grace.”

Key Features

• Contextually restores Bible narratives
• Discusses specific passage's in relation to God
• Encourages deeper study to find God’s truth and wisdom

Contents

Top Highlights

“For the disciples of Jesus’ time, the issue was not the content of the Scriptures, for they knew their Bible very well; rather how to apply what they already knew about God’s Word to the oft-perplexing issues of daily life.” (Page 19)

“A Bible-times Hebrew would approach this same question very differently. First, he would not even ask the man if he loved and respected his wife. To a Hebrew, what a person says is not as important as what he does. A Hebrew knows everyone has two sets of beliefs: the one he or she espouses, and the one he or she lives out. Thus, how a person acts is the litmus test that truly reveals what he or she truly thinks, feels and values. As a result, a Hebrew would never even ask, ‘Do you love and respect your wife?’ Rather, he would follow that man around for a while, and observe dozens of interactions between the man and his wife; and he would then know the real answer to that question.” (Page 18)

“The Semitic understanding of ‘believe’ was not based on an intellectual assent to a creed, doctrinal statement, or series of faith propositions. Rather, believe to an observant Jew was a verb in which you willingly submitted to your rabbi’s interpretive authority regarding God’s Word in every area of your life.” (Page 27)

“The essential qualities of first-century disciples were desire and submission—what we would call obedience today—as well as emulation, community and transparency.” (Page 29)

“In general, people have been adequately taught. It’s the experiential reality they are missing.” (Page 58)

Praise for the Print Edition

Doug Greenwold’s book is a long-overdue clarification of what ‘making disciples’ is all about. Read, chew, reread, and rechew this book. It will be a ‘life-changer.’

—Chuck Miller, trainer, Barnabas, Inc.

I always benefit from Doug Greenwold’s teaching and writing. He brings fresh, previously ignored insight; but more importantly, Doug opens up the first-century world and thus the Scriptures take on greater meaning and power.

—Bill Hull, teacher and writer, Bill Hull Ministries

The strength of Doug Greenwold’s book is the way in which he carefully explores the first-century context of Jesus’ ministry and then draws out often-missed insights to make practical suggestions for how disciples are made in our time. This is an important study and deserves wide discussion in Christian leadership circles.

—John Bernbaum, President, Russian-American Christian University in Moscow

Doug Greenwold has the unique ability to bring the Bible to life by placing it in its original historical and cultural context. The result in Making Disciples Jesus’ Way is a thought-provoking exploration of what it means to be a follower of Christ and to fulfill his command to ‘make disciples of all nations.’

—Jeffery C. Geoghegan, author, The Bible for Dummies

Product Details

• Title: Making Disciples Jesus’ Way: Wisdom We Have Missed
• Author: Doug Greenwold
• Publisher: Doug Greenwold
• Publication Date: 2007
• Pages: 126

About Doug Greenwold

Doug Greenwold is senior teaching fellow at Preserving Bible Times, a ministry dedicated to preserving and presenting biblical truth through contextual restoration, where he teaches the Bible in conference, retreat, and workshop settings for church and parachurch ministries. In 1988, Greenwold visited Israel on a study program and realized the importance of integrating the context of the land with the biblical texts. Since then he has been an avid student and passionate teacher of the Bible in its true context.