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What Jesus Started: Joining the Movement, Changing the World
Outreach Magazine Resource of the Year Sometimes we get so caught up in the power of Jesus shouting from the cross, "It is finished!" that we forget that Jesus started something. What Jesus started was a movement that began small, with intimate conversations designed to build disciples into apostles who would go out in the world and seed it with God's kingdom vision. That movement grew rapidly and spread wide as people recognized the truth in it and gave their lives to the power of it. That movement is still happening today, and we are called to play our part in it.
256 pages, Paperback
First published November 14, 2012
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124 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 14, 2022
Here’s the thing with this book: it has lots of good, factual information on church planting movements modeled after the life of Jesus and origins of the church found in Acts. Though it was very educational, I found the writing to be choppy, jumping from fact to fact, so it was not an easy read (think textbook like). I really enjoyed the final chapters that had practical applications and the intermittent stories of church planting movements through out history. However a lot of the information in the beginning of the book I felt could be learned just as well with an independent study on the book of Acts. Overall, good info but not the easiest read (hence why it took me over 6 months to finish 😅).
December 3, 2017
Best book on church growth I’ve read.
February 10, 2019
This is a handbook for church planting- but I think it is useful for every serious Christian who wants to be more confident and effective in evangelization. It reviews the methods for making disciples found in the lives of the apostles and of Jesus himself, and provides additional contemporary examples of how these methods are still effective today. Both challenging and inspiring, and suitable for small groups interested in evangelization and missions.
April 3, 2018
What a super read! And really simple as well. Can't wait to start sharing Jesus in this way and bringing others along for the ride. The implementation guide at the back is really useful too.
January 1, 2020
Great message, really helpful, but very redundant...
December 18, 2024
Really thinking about this one
April 6, 2015
Good. Wanted More. Buy It.
I need to start this review positively because I don't want someone to read my thoughts and be dissuaded from reading this book. If you are a church planter, cross-cultural worker, or even a 'normal' disciple of Jesus Christ looking to make the most of your efforts at discipleship, then this book is a good place to start. Addison walks, in great detail, through the Scriptures and shows exactly what Jesus did as He started His ministry and it continued to be fleshed out in the decades after His death, resurrection, and ascension. For any thoughtful believer reading, there are vast depths of knowledge and wisdom to be plumbed from Addison's insights into the Word.
However, from the very beginning, based on what I was told about the book, I think I expected more from this book than it had to offer. I came into the book expecting a much more detailed plan of how to make disciples in a European, post-modern, post-Christian context. Apparently, this is Addison's personal experience. Don't get me wrong, he does give details and specific stories about how church planting movements have popped up around the world. It was inspiring to read them. There is even a plan at the end for walking through your first groups in a T4T type model of church planting and applying the principles of the first 3/4 of this book in your own small group setting.
But it wasn't much more, if at all, than I had read, seen, and heard in other books. That's all. My expectations were higher than they ought to have been and I came away a little disappointed. As I said earlier, this book is a good place to start.
So, for you, debating whether to purchase this book, I have a suggestion: Buy it quickly. Read it thoughtfully. Let it challenge you to think through how you make disciples (or to actually make them if you aren't). Let it inspire you to make changes in your own disciple-making and/or church planting techniques based on what Jesus actually did when He walked among us.
I need to start this review positively because I don't want someone to read my thoughts and be dissuaded from reading this book. If you are a church planter, cross-cultural worker, or even a 'normal' disciple of Jesus Christ looking to make the most of your efforts at discipleship, then this book is a good place to start. Addison walks, in great detail, through the Scriptures and shows exactly what Jesus did as He started His ministry and it continued to be fleshed out in the decades after His death, resurrection, and ascension. For any thoughtful believer reading, there are vast depths of knowledge and wisdom to be plumbed from Addison's insights into the Word.
However, from the very beginning, based on what I was told about the book, I think I expected more from this book than it had to offer. I came into the book expecting a much more detailed plan of how to make disciples in a European, post-modern, post-Christian context. Apparently, this is Addison's personal experience. Don't get me wrong, he does give details and specific stories about how church planting movements have popped up around the world. It was inspiring to read them. There is even a plan at the end for walking through your first groups in a T4T type model of church planting and applying the principles of the first 3/4 of this book in your own small group setting.
But it wasn't much more, if at all, than I had read, seen, and heard in other books. That's all. My expectations were higher than they ought to have been and I came away a little disappointed. As I said earlier, this book is a good place to start.
So, for you, debating whether to purchase this book, I have a suggestion: Buy it quickly. Read it thoughtfully. Let it challenge you to think through how you make disciples (or to actually make them if you aren't). Let it inspire you to make changes in your own disciple-making and/or church planting techniques based on what Jesus actually did when He walked among us.
March 14, 2013
I enjoyed this book.
Part 1&2: Simply are summaries of the gospels
Part 3 is a summary of the book of Acts and the letters
Part 4 is where the book gets interesting as Steve tells stories of how the church is multiplying today.
He challenges us to obey the commands of God.
He invites us to consider simplifying our disciplemaking process by encouraging us to start a multipliciative movement of disciples that make more disciples.
He gives practical steps to discipling people.
There is an implimentation guide that is a sort of field manual for training disciples. Very helpful. We are currently in the process of creating a new training for our key regional training event. We will be using some of this material. It's good.
Part 1&2: Simply are summaries of the gospels
Part 3 is a summary of the book of Acts and the letters
Part 4 is where the book gets interesting as Steve tells stories of how the church is multiplying today.
He challenges us to obey the commands of God.
He invites us to consider simplifying our disciplemaking process by encouraging us to start a multipliciative movement of disciples that make more disciples.
He gives practical steps to discipling people.
There is an implimentation guide that is a sort of field manual for training disciples. Very helpful. We are currently in the process of creating a new training for our key regional training event. We will be using some of this material. It's good.
February 3, 2016
Addison has created a fairly simple and reproducible model for how gospel movements happen. The first half of the book is an exploration of how Jesus' ministry and then the subsequent expansion of the gospel in Acts follows this model.
Addison is not stretching to try to present something new or fancy. It is clear that his earnest effort is to create a sustainable, transferrable picture of mission that will allow disciples and churches to multiply exponentially. I believe he has done precisely that with this book.
Addison is not stretching to try to present something new or fancy. It is clear that his earnest effort is to create a sustainable, transferrable picture of mission that will allow disciples and churches to multiply exponentially. I believe he has done precisely that with this book.
December 2, 2014
Steve Addison does a great job of taking the ideas of others and making them practical and easy to implement.
April 16, 2017
Best part for me was showing how Jesus and Paul both conducted ministry in the same manner.
May 1, 2017
One of the best books written in view of church planting. I liked the book's approach. After presenting six principles putting them in a simple sketch (which helps me personally to have a mental image), the book goes back and reviews each on a different angle. Jesus, the early church, Paul and modern day make for four rounds in which he reads his six principles: 1) See the end, 2) connect with people, 3) share the gospel, 4) train disciples, 5) gather communities, and 6) multiply workers. Sometime they overlap and I am not sure you can justify them be separate, but a good path to follow.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews