Discipleship That Fits: The Five Kinds of Relationships God Uses to Help Us Grow

For far too long, the church has tried to make disciples using a one-size-fits-all approach. Some churches advocate 1-on-1 discipling, others try getting everyone into a small group, while still others training through mission trips or service projects. Yet others focus all their efforts on attracting people to a large group gathering to hear biblical teaching and preaching. But does one size really fit everyone?

Based on careful biblical study and years of experience making disciples in the local church, Bobby Harrington and Alex Absalom have identified five key relationships where discipleship happens in our lives. In each relational context we need to understand how discipleship occurs and we need to set appropriate expectations for each context.

Discipleship That Fits shows you the five key ways discipleship occurs. It looks at how Jesus made disciples and how disciples were formed in the early church. Each of the contexts is necessary at different times and in different ways as a person grows toward maturity in Christ:

• Public Relationships: The church gathering corporately for worship
• Social Relationships: Networks of smaller relationships where we engage in mission and live out our faith in community
• Personal Relationships: Small groups of six to sixteen people where we challenge and encourage one another on a regular basis
• Transparent Relationships: Close relationships of three to four where we share intimate details of our lives for accountability
• The Divine Relationship: Our relationship with Jesus Christ where we grow through the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit

Filled with examples and stories, Alex and Bobby show you how to develop discipleship practices in each relational context by sharing how Jesus did it, how the early church practiced it, and how churches are discipling people today.

Alex Absalom leads Dandelion (dandelionresourcing.com), which empowers leaders, churches, and denominations to build more effective disciple-making cultures. He is also the leader of missional innovation at Grace Church Long Beach, CA, an avid tea drinker with his wife, and, with their three sons, a huge fan of Liverpool FC!

Bobby Harrington is the co-founder of discipleship.org and the founding and lead pastor of Harpeth Christian Church (19 years). He is the chairman of the board for the Relational Discipleship Network and the co-author of DiscipleShift, and Dedicated: Training Your Children to Trust and Follow Jesus. He has been married to Cindy for over 35 years and they have two adult children who are disciples of Jesus.