Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples

I am using Multiply in a small discipleship group I am leading at my church. I want to state at the outset that I have nothing but the greatest admiration for both of these leaders and their heart for building the kingdom. I really think they are on the right track in working to re-orient the church to more closely conform to the original kingdom building focus of the earliest church. I do have a criticism, however.Recently these leaders have come under fire in certain circles for representing what one pastor calls "the new legalism." This accusation is founded on the argument that the call to "radical" Christianity raises a bar that is too high for the average Christian to achieve. I reject this because; if we buy Paul's theology of mystical union ("It is no longer I who live, but Christ live in me." Gal. 2:20) then we have to admit that there is no bar that the life of Christ in us cannot surpass. Yes, we are called outside of the norms expected of life in the post-Enlightenment West and yes we are called far from our comfort zone. But this has been the nature of Christ's call from the very beginning. If we are truly living the life of Christ, how could we expect our lives to be anything but "radical?"But as we are working our way through the first chapter of their book Multiply we cannot help but come away with the idea that the authors' understanding is that every individual member of the church is being called to evangelize. This is based on the Great Commission. Jesus commands his followers to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" (Mt. 28:19 ESV). And you certainly cannot deny that Jesus intended his followers to spread his message to the ends of the earth.The problem I have with this interpretation is that it contains at least the insinuation that Jesus is here addressing individual Christians. And of course this has been and continues to be a huge stumbling block for the Western church. We are hindered by the Enlightenment elevation of the individual over the community, to the point that in the West we have no real conception of community. I think on one level Chan and Platt know this because they are careful to point out that disciple makers must do so in the context of community membership. But I would like to propose that if we reconsider the nature of Jesus' call we can also reconsider how we are to respond to it.What if, rather than imagining Jesus addressing a disparate group of individuals, we assume that Jesus was addressing the seeds of his church? The rest of it falls easily into place: mystical union, the image of the church as the body of Christ with individual Christians as members, (i.e., hands, feet, eyes). To suppose that Jesus was telling all of his followers to be evangelists would be the same as imagining telling all members of the body to do the work of the eye: to see. That's just silly.And I point to the same scripture Chan and Platt point to in supporting their claim: Ephesians 4. Read verses 11 through 16 carefully and you have to agree that Paul is not calling each individual to the same task. Rather, quite the opposite. He points out the diversity of gifts in the body that make it possible for the whole body to come to perfection and do Christ's work of love.We see this again in scripture in chapter 6 of Acts where seven were chose to serve so that the Apostles could continue to preach. The work of the seven, we can assume, did not involve direct evangelism, but their focus on the more mundane aspects of church administration made the work of evangelism possible. So we should acknowledge that not everyone in the body is called to direct evangelism, but all are called to make evangelism possible.Now this is why I think it's important to make this distinction. Many new believers are terrified of this aspect of the faith, and many more ought to be. For most, I think, the idea of evangelism or disciple making conjures up images of standing on the street with signs or knocking on doors looking for converts. I'm not sure that this kind of "evangelism" is ever very successful; I'm pretty sure that Jesus didn't call on his followers to be seen as nut jobs and pests. He does call on all of his followers to reflect his love. But he doesn't call on that many to preach. That's what I meant when I wrote that more people ought to be terrified of preaching; because the example of fired-up but woefully immature disciples making bad examples of the body of Christ tends to do more to detract from the gospel message than to build the kingdom.The last thing I want to point out here is that I am in no way suggesting we ought to see the timidity of some to be identified with Jesus as an acceptable norm for the church. Whether we are called to preach or evangelize or to serve in some other way we are all called to lead lives that are (dare I say it?) radically at odds with the raging paganism we live in the midst of. If we are disciples of Jesus, precisely because of the mystical union with Christ that Paul points to, precisely because our lives are no longer ours but the real life of Christ on earth, we will not be able to be silent about it. Our lives will speak the gospel in the language that Jesus himself used: love.So, kudos to Messrs. Chan and Platt for their devotion to the kingdom and their radicalism. May God bless all of their efforts, so that the church can become the perfected body of Christ, with each indispensable member properly adding to his work of restoration.

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations," Jesus commanded as he ascended into heaven (Matt. 28:19a). This is the mission of the church and the sacred duty of everyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ.So... how do we do it?"Why is it that we see so little disciple making taking place in the church today?" ask Francis Chan and Mark Beuving in their new book, Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples. "Do we really believe that Jesus told His early followers to make disciples but wants the twenty-first-century church to do something different?"None of us would claim to believe this, but somehow we have created a church culture where the paid ministers do the "ministry," and the rest of us show up, put some money in the plate, and leave feeling inspired or "fed." We have moved so far away from Jesus's command that many Christians don't have a frame of reference for what disciple making looks like. (Kindle location 299)In Multiply, Chan and Beuving offer the frame of reference they see is missing. Divided into five parts, Multiply looks at the call to disciple-making individually and corporately, the storyline of Scripture and provides practical guidance on how to study the Bible.Parts one and two serve principally to motivate readers to do the work of making disciples. Chan--whose reputation for challenging the lethargy of the North American church is well-known--pulls no punches in reminding readers that disciple-making truly is the responsibility of every believer. "The pastor is not the minister--at least not in the way we typically think of a minister. The pastor is the equipper, and every member of the church is a minister." (Kindle location 354)"God has not called you to make disciples in isolation; He has placed you in the context of a church body so that you can be encouraged and challenged by the people around you. And you are called to encourage and challenge them in return." (Kindle location 382)This is difficult for many of us to accept, but it needs to be properly understood. If we are Christians, we have a responsibility to the other believers in our local church. "Church" isn't the hour and a half we spend on Sunday--it's something that requires opening up our lives to others and encouraging them to obey Jesus as we are learning to likewise.The interconnectedness of disciple-making is what makes it so difficult in a context where, frankly, you can get away with hiding pretty easily. But the truth of the matter is clear: "It's impossible to `one another' yourself. It's impossible to follow Jesus alone. We can't claim to follow Jesus if we neglect the church He created, the church He died for, the church He entrusted His mission to." (Kindle location 519)Parts three through five offer a thorough overview of the Bible's storyline, as well as solid guidance on how to study the Scriptures. This, honestly, is probably the most immediately practical aspect of what's offered in Multiply. It's also one of the most fundamental aspects. "For a Christian, nothing should seem more natural than reading the Bible," the authors write (Kindle location 946). And yet, so many struggle to do it. We either are distracted, believe the lie that it's hard to understand, or are just so wracked with guilt that we can't bring ourselves to do it.Whatever the case, we have to understand that studying the Bible isn't optional--if we are to make disciples who love and obey Jesus, then they (and we) need to actually know about what God is like, what He's done in history, and what He's promised to do in the future. "God in heaven wants us to know certain things about Himself, and He uses the Scriptures to reveal these things" (Kindle location 1008).For me, reading through the authors' 15-chapter overview of the storyline of Bible was a pure joy. If you've ever read through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, you know how helpful it is to have your reading of the Scriptures grounded in the big story. By providing these chapters, the authors have done readers a great service--in part because of their own obvious excitement about it!You can tell that Chan and Beuving really love the Bible--and they want you to love it to. They want you to feel the sense of urgency about knowing the Scriptures, and knowing the God who is revealed in the Bible's pages. In fact, they made me want to start reading the Bible at Genesis 1 again!Multiply isn't really a book for solo reading--although I benefitted from an individual read, it was when I was discussing the material with others that I found it most helpful (as my wife can attest from me talking her ear off). It really is intended as a discipleship tool and it is a good one, to be sure. I'd highly recommend getting a copy of Multiply, working through it with a friend and beginning to invest in others using the material Chan and Beuving have provided.

Our small group is reading this. Its a great informative study book. Getting a lot out of it

Some good advice, but short on the process of discipleship.I found Ying Kai’s book much more detailed and easy to implement.

The real challenge of this book is not to read but to follow what you read. We have been meeting fortnightly as a group to look at and grow in the challenges this book delivers.

Great book we bought 30 for group study but I decided to download mine my copy do I can have it at hand at all times

Very well written and challenging. Don't buy unless you are really serious about going deeper.

Great