"Real Life: A Christianity Worth Living Out" Overview

James Choung's book Real Life: A Christianity Worth Living Out is a great read and has been one of my favorite books read this year. Not only is it a great read but a great practical book that helps Christians understand the connection between evangelism and discipleship as not two distinct activities but are actually closely connected (if not the same activity).

Choung lays out in this book a discipleship/disciplemaking plan that he personally has been working on for some time. He calls it the Real Life Continuum and I think that it sums up how as Christians we can help disciple a person from being a non-Christian into being what Choung calls a world changer. Choung says this about it, "The Real Life Continuum is an offering of what a box top for discipleship might look like. It's an attempt to make sense out of the various pieces of discipleship, pulling it together in some simple and coherent form without losing some oft-neglected pieces."Below is the Real Life Continuum as presented in the book and I will just briefly talk through the parts.

First, discipleship needs to happen in community (that doesn't mean one-on-one shouldn't happen and isn't beneficial) but well rounded discipleship happens in community. Second, every believer is called to make disciples, so no matter where a believer is personally at on the continuum (follower, leader or world changer) they are called to disciplemaking. 

Discipling others happens when we hear-respond-debrief. First, we need to hear what God is calling us and our communities to. Next, we must respond and lastly it is important to debrief. As Jesus shows us in Luke 10 debriefing is encouraging and correcting. Those we are discipling need to hear encouragement but also correction so that they know they are on the right track.

Thirdly it is important to understand that none of this process happens without God, specifically the Holy Spirit.

Briefly here are the stages a disciple goes through.  A skeptic is someone who doesn't trust Christians. The job of the disciplemaker here is to build trust with the person. The seeker is someone who trusts Christians and is wanting to explore their faith and how it is relevant to their life. The job of the disciplemaker here is to challenge them to the next step, eventually challenging them to make a decision about Jesus Christ. A follower is someone who has "pledged allegiance to Jesus and his kingdom." The job of the disciplemaker here is to help the follower learn to recognize God's voice and follow it. As the follower learns to obey Jesus and align their lives after him the follower can follow God's leading into becoming someone who influences others. As a follower becomes a leader it is the job of the disciplemaker to help the new leader gain resources (power) and authority. A good disciplemaker will help a new leader grow in their leadership. Lastly, as a leader begins to understand that they not only can influence their Christian community but the larger world (world here is any area of influence a person has) they become a world changer. The disciplemaker helps the person understand how to impact their world and be a blessing. A disciplemaker does this by helping world changers develop a vision of their calling for this season.

This is a just a brief overview of the book and I hope it is enough to wet your appetite to get the book and read it. It is a fast read, in my opinion. It will challenge you to think about how to disciple others and if you are in a position like me to challenge others in their discipleship.