Jonathan Dodson is the lead pastor of Austin City Life church and a leader in the GCM Collective, PlantR and
GospelCenteredDiscipleship.com. Jonathan is also the author of Gospel-Centered Discipleship which recently was published. I stumbled across some of his writing about 2 years ago and have been very impressed with his perspective on the missional church.
I would highly recommend
this book to anyone in ministry because I think you will be challenged on two levels. One, it will challenge you in your own spiritual growth and give you practical ways to recalibrate your life to the gospel. Secondly, it will give you great insight in your personal and ministerial disciple-making.
Below are some highlights from the book. Quotes that are in bold are things that particularly stood out to me. Additionally, you can read and transcript of an interview I did with Jonathan. Also, you can read another short blog that was inspired by the book.
Disciple is an identity; everything else is a role. Our roles are temporary but our identity will last forever.
A disciple is rational (learner), relational (family), and missional (missionary).
If making disciples happens through gospel-centered going, baptizing, and teaching, the semantic distinction between evangelism and discipleship is superfluous. Disciples are made, whether for the first or the fiftieth time, through the gospel. Jesus’s real concern was not evangelism versus discipleship, but the good news. Both are a product of the gospel.
The Great Commission is not evangelism or discipleship centered; it is gospel centered. Rightly understood, the gospel calls the evangelized to more than belief to obtain a ticket, and disciples to more than spreading an anemic gospel which must be beefed up through spiritual disciplines or social justice.
Some disciples focus on piety, a category that includes spiritual disciplines and personal holiness. Others prefer to focus on mission, a category that includes social justice, evangelism, and cultural renewal. Gospel-centered discipleship radically alters our approach to both Christian piety and mission.
Believing the gospel is not a passive, one-time decision; it is an active, continual fight for faith in what God says is noble, true, and good.
Repenting Christians are growing Christians. Tim Keller underscores the role of repentance when he says: “All-of-life repentance is the best sign that we are growing deeply and rapidly into the character of Jesus.”
This chapter will argue that the gospel converts disciples three times, not just once—converting us to Christ, to church, and to mission.
Many of our sins can be traced back to a deep belief in a lie. These false promises of acceptance, approval, satisfaction, self-worth, beauty, and significance motivate our sin.
Cultivate a habit of looking beneath your sin to expose the lie underneath it. We need to get to the lie beneath the sin.
