Bill Hull. The Disciple-Making Church, Updated Edition: Leading a Body of Believers on the Journey of Faith Baker Books, 2010.
Closely related: Bill Hull and Dallas Willard, Choose the Life, T-Net Disciple-Making
Referenced in: Strategies for Church Renewal: Diagnostic/Prescriptive – Disciple-Making
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
This is one of several volumes authored by Bill Hull built upon a discipleship model of congregational development. The Disciple-Making Church explains the essential philosophy of Hull’s disciple-making strategy. The Disciple-Making Pastor expands on the role of church leaders in fully-integrating the disciple concept into one’s congregation. Jesus Christ: the Disciple-Maker describes in more detail Jesus’ method of making disciples. Revival That Reforms, an older work, shows how these principles express themselves structurally and organizationally in congregational life.
In The Disciple-Making Church, the opening chapters lay out the three foundations to Hull’s approach to disciple-making.
- First is Jesus’ four-phase development plan that incorporates a six-step method: “Come and see” (1. Tell them what, 2. Tell them why) “Come and follow me” (3. Show them how and 4. Do it with them), “Come and be with me” (5. Let them do it), and “Remain in Me and go make disciples” (6. Deploy them).
- Second is the churches that resulted from those Jesus discipled, the apostles. He highlights three dominant examples of these churches: the first church at Jerusalem wherein Jesus’/apostles’ principles were established, the mission church consisting of the congregations Paul planted in the first missionary journey wherein Jesus’/apostles’ principles were expanded, and the discipling church at Ephesus wherein Jesus’/apostles’ principles were matured.
- Third is the distinction between the Christocentric model of discipleship where one, like Jesus, is the master, and the followers, like the disciples are learners.
Hull suggests this approach works only in a few small groups and parachurch organizations comprised of task-oriented people that are fully committed to a clear and narrow goal. Churches, however, have more variety and diversity of beliefs concerning church priorities. As an alternative, Hull proposes the Churchocentric model that emphasizes the corporate giftedness and teamwork of the body of Christ as it works together to create a discipling environment. This is over against the one-on-one discipling model that is popular in other literature on the subject. Hull says, “No individual can fully disciple another, because no one has the full arsenal of spiritual gifts and wisdom to adequately bring another to maturity in Christ.” (35) In a similar way, Hull challenges the idea of individual evangelism to evangelistic teamwork.
The remainder of the book demonstrates the development of these foundations in the New Testament. The final section, Part V, discusses the eight general principles of the discpling church.
Hull’s disciple-making approach is a carefully designed process to take persons from first time visitor to mature disciple, complete with lists of characteristics and skills one might want to see at various stages of development. Some may find it too formulaic and patternistic. Others will appreciate it’s highly prescriptive nature. Previewing the contents of the trilogy, along with the older and less popular but highly valuable work, Revival that Reforms, will help church leaders know if it is the right approach for them. Even if one does not use the approach, other volumes outside of the trilogy, some of which are summarized below, may be of interest.
About the Author
Bill Hull has served as a pastor in the Evangelical Free Church of America and is a popular speaker and the author of many books on discipleship, disciple-making, and spiritual formation. Bill has a BS degree from Oral Roberts University and an MDiv from Talbot School of Theology. Among his books are The Complete Book of Discipleship, The Disciplemaking Church, and Choose the Life. Bill and his wife, Jane, are the parents of two grown sons.
Other books in the Hull Disciple-Making library:
- Bill Hull, The Disciple-Making Pastor: Leading Others on the Journey of Faith, Revised Edition. Baker Books, 2007. As described by the publisher: Part of the Hull library that also includes The Disciple-Making Church, Jesus Christ: The Disciple-Maker, and Revival That Reforms. Obviously one of the keys to building a disciple-making church is pastoral leadership. This volume equips pastors to face the internal and external forces that militate against discipleship, to redefine the pastoral role, to understand what disciples really look like, to realize the pastor’s role in producing disciples, and follow the best practices toward positive change. This is followed by practical ideas on how to integrate disciple making into the fabric of the church.
- Bill Hull, Jesus Christ: Disciple-Maker, Revised Edition. Baker Books, 2004. As described by the publisher: Part of the Hull trilogy that also includes The Disciple-Making Church and The Disciple-Making Pastor. Develops in more detail the four growth phases and six steps of Jesus’ method of disciplemaking.
- Bill Hull, Revival that Reforms: Making It Last. Revell, 1998. This is a less popular volume than others in Hull’s model, and a little harder to find. While not a part of the original trilogy of Disciple-Making Church, Disciple-Making Pastor, and Jesus Christ: Disciple-Maker, it makes a special contribution church leaders will appreciate. It addresses the frustration many feel in trying to make discipleship renewal/revival efforts last over the long haul. Hull argues that this demands a process, which the book describes in detail. The process has three primary dimensions: redefine the mission, redesign the infrastructure, and reassign the personnel. Most ministers who adopt Hull’s model will find this text very helpful.
Other books by Bill Hull on discipleship:
- Bill Hull, The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of Christ. Annotated Edition. NavPress, 2006. As described by the publisher: “The Complete Book of Discipleship is the definitive A-to-Z resource on discipleship for every Christian. It pulls together into one convenient, comprehensive volume relevant topics such as spiritual growth, transformation, spiritual disciplines, and discipleship in the local church and beyond.” Of special interest to church leaders is the brief section toward the back of the book that describes “Five Models of Effective Discipleship,” highlighting five churches that have activated the discipling approaches in their contexts. These models are expanded upon more fully in George Barna, Growing True Disciples.
- Bill Hull and Paul Mascarella, Choose The Life: Exploring a Faith that Embraces Discipleship. Baker, 2004. This volume, along with the companion DVDs and Study Guide, arose out of Bill Hull’s personal “dark night of the soul” where he came to realize the key to discipleship among people is not a strategy or structure, but requires each individual making the commitment to be transformed.
- Bill Hull, Christlike: The Pursuit of Uncomplicated Obedience. NavPress, 2010. As described by the publisher: The key to the spiritual life is cultivation of a spiritual heart. This is what makes the difference between hoping to change “someday” and actually changing our thoughts and behaviors now. Bill Hull says the great teachers of the past (such as William Law and John Wesley) and the best guides in spiritual formation today (such as Dallas Willard and Richard Foster) all agree on the central importance of the intent of the heart. Such a heart is cultivated, writes Hull, in the simplicity of a life fixed on the words and ways of Jesus. In Christlike, the author helps us grow intentionally in “uncomplicated obedience” to Jesus so that “our minds and hearts are in alignment with each other.” But this is not a privatized spirituality. Instead, writes Hull, this simplicity is the key to effectiveness in the larger mission of changing the world for Christ.
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