TRANSFORMATIONAL DISCIPLESHIP: A REVIEW

In June 2010 I wrote a review of Transformational Church which may interest readers. The follow-up book, Transformational Discipleship was recently released with great fanfare and high hopes, two years after its forerunner.  People interested in church leadership and discipleship will want to read Transformational Discipleship. The three authors, Eric Geiger, Michael Kelley, and Phillip Nation traded off writing throughout the book with seamless expertise. As with many books on discipleship, the authors layout their convincing case of why churches are ineffective at making disciples.  They aptly point out that “not all discipleship is transformational” (Kindle Location 159).  They further pointed out that transformational discipleship is the primary job of the church and to be deficient in making disciples means that the church is deficient in her “reason for existence (Kindle Location 173). They stated more clearly and succinctly that discipleship is not disseminating information nor is it behavioral modification (Kindle Location 290).

THE MIND-SET OF DISCIPLESHIP

Transformational Discipleship advances the subject on several points and one is particularly notable. What is the frame of mind or attitude by which many churches are doing discipleship? Is the church on offense or defense? Offensive discipleship equips believers with a strong faith with which to overcome the challenges they will face in the world (Kindle Location 515). On the other hand, most churches are doing defensive discipleship which focuses on protecting Christians from the threats they might face in the world. The difference is stark! Offensive discipleship builds Christian character and prepares Christians to face the inevitable faith challenges while defensive discipleship tends to hope and assume Christians will never face those faith challenges. Churches must adopt an attack discipleship mind-set.

Offensive discipleship builds Christian character and prepares Christians to face the inevitable faith challenges while defensive discipleship tends to hope and assume Christians will never face those faith challenges.

The authors seemed to agree that there is a need for some degree of accountability. They wrote, “Offensive discipleship includes insisting people accept full responsibility for their sin by, as an act of grace, refusing to accept foolish excuses” (Kindle Locations 630-631). They stated that the ultimate result of genuine discipleship must be “a transformed heart (and transformed affections)” (Kindle Location 462). Perhaps accountability may be found in defining whether one has been transformed.

A TRANSFORMATIONAL FRAMEWORK

Transformational Discipleship offers a “transformational framework” that includes three intersecting circles labeled truth, posture, and leaders. The area within the intersection of the three circles is called the “transformational sweet spot” (TSS) suggesting that a church within this cultural point of church health will be effective at making disciples. They wrote, “The TSS occurs when healthy leaders give truth to a disciple who is in a vulnerable posture” (Kindle Locations 950-951). The writers claim they are not offering a model to be followed. In fact they devoted almost a whole page encouraging leaders to avoid seeing the transformational framework as a model to be replicated (Kindle Location 924).

“Please do not view this as a model. Let us say that again: please do not view this as a model. This is not a model. The transformational framework should not become your new mission statement,…” (Kindle Locations 921-923, 926, 938)

TRANSFORMATIONAL DISCIPLESHIP IMPRESSIONS

OVERALL RATING: Four-Stars-      I truly wanted to give a five-star award to Transformational Discipleship as I highly respect the authors and agree with virtually everything stated in the book. That being said, for discipleship ministries I look for practicality and application. The book has some of the same issues I raised in the review ofTransformational Church. Both books expound on the lack of healthy churches and transformational discipleship respectively while falling short of offering immediate solutions for church leaders. In fact I found both books to be “wonkish” meaning that two weeks after reading the material, leaders would not likely remember the specifics of the models—I mean frameworks offered. Granted, these issues are complex and require more than a simple model as assessments and remedies are offered at additional costs. As one pastor said, “We don’t need more books that simply restate the problems; what leaders need are usable solutions.” Perhaps it’s an oversimplification to expect a process out of a book that may be applied by local church leaders. Again, it is interesting that the authors of Transformational Discipleship went out of their way to dissuade people from adopting their framework as a model. If Transformational Discipleship is found to be transformational it will become a model. The fact is that regardless of the desires of the authors, the readers will decide whether Transformational Discipleship is used as a model.

If Transformational Discipleship is found to be transformational it will become a model.

_________________

Using my book review process, the title certainly passed the “stickiness factor” in that it draws readers to initially order or open the book. Transformational Discipleship gets a “FOUR-STAR” review. The only reason it gets a four-star instead of a five-star review is the “practicality” factor. The reading is engaging even as the authors get into their model– (Excuse me! I mean “framework). However with the …framework the connection to the reader may begin to break down as the leader reader is looking for the practical application. Suddenly the book ends with the expectations of the reader being somewhat let down as they are still looking for the practical points that they may use in their own ministries. Even so, it is worth the read if you are interested in church health and discipleship.

OVERALL RATING—        

1. Introduction:       5-Stars
2. Content:                   5-Stars
3. Connection:          4-Stars
4. Practicality:           3-Stars
5. Conclusion:           2-Stars

 

Some people may think that book reviews are purely subjective and arbitrary but there are specific criteria. While subjectivity cannot be removed, this writer makes an attempt to grade each book equally on its own merits.

——————–

Questions:

1.     Do you agree or disagree with the review of Transformational Discipleship?

2.     If you have read TD, do you feel it offers solutions to the problems the authors identify?

3.     What “star-rating” would you give Transformational Discipleship?

——————–

Dr. Tom Cocklereece is CEO of RENOVA Coaching and Consulting, LLC. He is a pastor, author, professional coach, leadership specialist, and is a Certified Coach/Teacher/Speaker for the John Maxwell Team

Email | LinkedIn | Twitter | Web | Blog | Book | Coaching | Leadership

TRANSFORMATIONAL CHURCH- A REVIEW

FROM SIMPLE CHURCH TO TRANSFORMATIONAL CHURCH

Transformational Church by Dr. Thom Rainer and Ed Stetzer arrived by special order to my house and I anxiously began reading. It is probable that many readers of Simple Church experienced the same problem as I did. I found little continuity from Simple Church to Transformational Church. While difficult for me, I found I had to read Transformational Church and consider its merits apart from previous works of Rainer, whom I greatly respect. I realize that writers and researchers grow and evolve their thinking from one project to another, but both Simple Church and Transformational Church largely focus on the same thing…discipleship. Simple Church put words to an age-old problem for which I had been concerned for years, namely churches are ineffective at Christian discipleship. Rainer and Geiger provided four primary characteristics of simple disciple-making churches and based their conclusions on research. A common complaint about Simple Church was that the authors failed to tell leaders how to implement the concepts. The authors seemed to have the assumption that all church leaders could become designers and ministry organizational developers of discipleship ministries for their churches, but few pastors and church leaders have been educated in such things. According to The Barna Group, 92% of pastors failed to know the biblical stages of spiritual growth. Having connected with the challenge of Simple Church, I set out to build what became my own book Simple Discipleship, which provides one modifiable example of a transformational simple church model. After developing the Simple Discipleship process, I began leading seminars for church leaders to help them design their own Christian discipleship processes. I have found that the church leaders had some difficulty making the transition from their old paradigm to the simple church discipleship model. Most ministry leaders do not possess the perspective or the skills to be ministry developers unless they receive some training. At this point I must digress to share some more of the Simple Discipleship story.

SIMPLE CHURCH KEPT IT SIMPLE

I read Simple Church soon after it was released and could not put it down. Disappointed that the authors failed to include transitional steps to become an effective Christian discipleship church, I set out to design a process. I was invited by the Noonday Baptist Association in GA to present a conference titled, Simple Church Plus. I had some trepidation about the title and communicated with both Eric Geiger and Dr. Thom Rainer and both gave encouragement to go forward to help the Kingdom of God.  Simple Discipleship is a simple church disciple-making process that includes one way a church may develop their own Christian discipleship process. I grant churches the ability to modify any part of my material to make it their own so to speak. I want them to use Simple Discipleship as a starting point as they develop a contextual disciple-making model. My book provides them the steps they need to get started, and I impose no specific disciple-making model on them since they may modify it to their own context.

TRANSFORMATIONAL CHURCH REINTRODUCES COMPLEXITY

My point is that many readers of Simple Church expected Rainer’s follow-up book to provide examples or an implementation process, but instead Transformational Church leaves one initially feeling, “Here is one more model for me to learn.” The concepts and research are compelling and the authors provide seamless interaction from one discussion to the next. However, readers cannot expect much continuity from Simple Church to Transformational Church, which may leave some readers feeling betrayed. Four years after Simple Church was published, it remains a best seller in its genre. It is no wonder that many expected continuity as they purchased Transformational Church.

As the author of “Simple Discipleship” which was motivated by “Simple Church: Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples,” again Transformational Church is not what I expected. Rainer and Stetzer, who are marvelous church leaders, seem to contradict much of what was said in “Simple Church.” In Simple Church it was suggested that a logo based on a church’s disciple-making process is important, but in Transformational Church the authors deliberately avoid such issues. In Simple Church the writers stated that a church should clarify an entry point into their specific Christian discipleship process, but in Transformational Church they seem to back off of the idea. Their proposed model and structure is not simple, easy to follow, and it lacks balance. In “Simple Church” and “Simple Life” Rainer listed four essential characteristics of a Christian disciplship simple church: 1) clarity, 2) movement, 3) alignment, and 4) focus. The proposed model suggested at the outset in Transformational Church lacks the first characteristic…clarity. The genius of “Simple Church” was that it was simple and presented concepts that lay-people in the church could readily grasp. The concepts and proposed model in Transformational Church is directed to church leaders, a top down structure which may fail to build buy-in and momentum among church members. While the authors promise many Transformational Church resources, some churches may “hit a brick wall” as they try to implement it as a simple church discipleship process. The discussion in Transformational Church is heavy with research and deeper theology than was “Simple Church,” making it perhaps more difficult for lay people in the churches to comprehend.

SIMPLE DISCIPLESHIP FIRST INTRODUCED A BALANCED CONGREGATIONAL SCORECARD

Transformational Church raises the argument for the need for intentional measurements and evaluation by use of a scorecard. The authors discussed the shortcomings of the old scorecard (vertical measurements) and proceed to offer a new scorecard in chapter 2. However, their scorecard is based around a visual model that is vague at best. What specifics go into the new scorecard? How may church leaders reproduce the suggested scorecard to obtain trustworthy information?  Books that tout a scorecard should include an in depth discussion of the scorecard and its elements, what data is included, how the scorecard is interpreted, along with graphic examples. You will not find these in Transformational Church. The business world has long been familiar with the scorecard concept and it is usually referred to as a “balanced scorecard.” Simple Discipleship published in November 2009 has a chapter on the subject of measuring effectiveness of discipleship and provides an easy to use balanced scorecard for churches. Simple Discipleship goes a step further as the scorecard template is included on the CD inside the book cover.

The writers claimed that they are not proposing a model or framework (32), but a visual of any kind functions as a model and will be received as such by readers trying to apply the Transformational Church principles (33). On page 37 they even admit they are presenting a framework, but this is a minor point.

Another redeeming quality of Transformational Church is that it provides the resulting seven quality characteristics of becoming a simple transformational disciple-making church: a DISCERNING missionary mentality; an EMBRACING vibrant leadership, relational intentionality,  and prayerful dependence; and an ENGAGING worship, community, and mission. (It sounds a little like Christian Schwartz’s “Natural Church Development.”

TRANSFORMATIONAL CHURCH MATURES THE CHURCH HEALTH GENRE

Transformational Church is worth reading and will help church leaders improve their churches’ Christian discipleship processes. In fact, Transformational church may bring maturity to the church health and discipleship genre and from two leaders who understand these fields of study. However, the risk is that it may confuse and confound some leaders as it presents one more in a progression of models. Transformational Church will undoubtedly be a big seller as are all of Dr. Rainer’s books, as he is recognized as a church growth leader of leaders. However, for me Transformational Church suggests a complicated and cumbersome system and not a process for making disciples, which leaves me perplexed. I don’t wish to sound critical of Transformational Church, but perhaps my expectations were set very high after reading some of the other works by Dr. Rainer. Why do the authors of “Transformational Church” seemingly abandon the principles of Christian discipleship discussed in “Simple Church?” Many readers of “Simple Church” who were inspired to become ministry designers will undoubtedly also be puzzled. I plan to read Transformational Church again to see what I missed and will revise my review if after further evaluation I feel I have been too critical. The proof will not be in how many of the books sell, but in how many churches change from mediocrity to being truly transformational. On a positive note I can say…”Simple Church: Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples” tells us the why of Christian discipleship, “Transformational Church: Creating a New Scorecard for Congregations” tells us what of Christian discipleship, and “Simple Discipleship” tells how to become simple and transformational. In fact Rainer and Geiger’s Simple Church suggests the need for a Christian discipleship process but does not offer one; Rainer and Stetzer’s Transformational Church suggests the RESULT of achieving an effective discipleship process but again does not offer one…at least not in the book; my own Simple Discipleship offers a process and the change management steps to achieve a simple and transformational disciple-making church. According to readers of books in this growing genus of books, Simple Discipleship is an example of a transitional book that helps one understand both Simple Church and Transformational Church.

Respectfully,

Dr. Tom Cocklereece