The Disciple Making Church: From Dry Bones to Spiritual Vitality

In a recent study, pollster George Barna stated that the number one topic of interest for church leaders today is discipleship. Not growth, not pastoral care, not evangelism. Discipleship.

According to E. Stanley Ott, President of The Vital Churches Institute, There is no person more qualified to address the greatest need in the church today than Glenn McDonald that of showing how the local church can grow vital disciples.

In his easy going writing style, author Glenn McDonald tells the story of how he, as the busy pastor of a large and growing suburban church near Indianapolis was struggling with the ABCs of attendance, building and cash. One evening at the end of another church board meeting one of his elders asked a simple question. How long would it take for someone who visits our church to learn about his or her need for Jesus and to find out what to do about it? From that night forward the entire focus of the church changed. All canned programs for ministry were ended as everything about the church was examined in the light of Christ s charge to go forth and make disciples.

The Disciple Making Church is presented in two parts six discipling relationships and six marks of a disciple. McDonald weaves vivid Scriptural insights and the wisdom of scholars with the experiences of his own congregation and others, and distills it all into one helpful, valuable and enjoyable book. If you ve ever wondered if the busyness of many of today s churches isn t what Christ was talking about, this book will have a lasting impact on your church.

Glenn McDonald is senior pastor of Zionsville Presbyterian Church in suburbanIndianapolis, a congregation he helped organize in 1983. The church was named one of the 300 Excellent Protestant Congregations in America in a recent Lilly Endowment funded study. He is co-author with Ben C. Johnson of Imagining a Church in the Spirit and a consultant on church growth for the Presbyterian Church (USA). He holds a Master of Divinity Degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois.