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Discipleship: Following Jesus in Daily Life
Sometimes provocative but always encouraging, a pastor offers sage advice for leading Christ-like lives amid the stresses of modern life.
Perhaps the hardest thing about following Christ is translating our good intentions into deeds. Christ calls us, and we want to answer him, but time and again we lose resolve. Many of the selections in this book offer answers to specific problems. Others grapple with broader themes such as world suffering, salvation, and the coming of the kingdom of God. All of them pulsate with conviction and compassion, giving fresh hope to those who find themselves lonely or disheartened in the daily effort to follow Christ. Discipleship contains writings, letters, and talks from J. Heinrich Arnold’s forty years of service as a pastor in the Bruderhof Communities. In the tradition of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship and C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, Arnold makes the challenges and rewards of the Christian life accessible to people regardless of their religious background.
This elegant 30th-anniversary edition, with marginal bible references, introduces this Christian classic to another generation.
Perhaps the hardest thing about following Christ is translating our good intentions into deeds. Christ calls us, and we want to answer him, but time and again we lose resolve. Many of the selections in this book offer answers to specific problems. Others grapple with broader themes such as world suffering, salvation, and the coming of the kingdom of God. All of them pulsate with conviction and compassion, giving fresh hope to those who find themselves lonely or disheartened in the daily effort to follow Christ. Discipleship contains writings, letters, and talks from J. Heinrich Arnold’s forty years of service as a pastor in the Bruderhof Communities. In the tradition of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship and C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, Arnold makes the challenges and rewards of the Christian life accessible to people regardless of their religious background.
This elegant 30th-anniversary edition, with marginal bible references, introduces this Christian classic to another generation.
311 pages, Paperback
Published November 12, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 9, 2026
I received this book as part of my membership in Plough, and it's been part of my evening devotional reading for several months.
As a thorough collection of Arnold's writings on the nature and character of discipleship, it speaks directly to one of my core beliefs about Christian community. Our focus, above all other things, must be doing what Jesus asked. Everything else is secondary, and all of the blessings that rise from healthy congregations rise from that awareness. Joyous worship, acts of service, mutual care and hospitality to the stranger, a powerful sense of purpose in life and the resilience that rises from that knowledge? All of those things rise from doing what Jesus requires.
What that looks like, for Arnold, is manifested in the Bruderhof and their radical commitment to an Acts 2 life together. I find his consistent radicality both bracing and challenging, as I've not chosen to live in that way. That isn't to say I resonate with every assertion. Some of his specific assumptions don't jibe with my understanding of the nature of sin, for example. But I find myself, over and over again, agreeing with the underlying principles, and understanding why he comes to the conclusions he does about our essential teleology.
A thought provoking and spirit-stirring read. Four point six, if I must give it a rating.
As a thorough collection of Arnold's writings on the nature and character of discipleship, it speaks directly to one of my core beliefs about Christian community. Our focus, above all other things, must be doing what Jesus asked. Everything else is secondary, and all of the blessings that rise from healthy congregations rise from that awareness. Joyous worship, acts of service, mutual care and hospitality to the stranger, a powerful sense of purpose in life and the resilience that rises from that knowledge? All of those things rise from doing what Jesus requires.
What that looks like, for Arnold, is manifested in the Bruderhof and their radical commitment to an Acts 2 life together. I find his consistent radicality both bracing and challenging, as I've not chosen to live in that way. That isn't to say I resonate with every assertion. Some of his specific assumptions don't jibe with my understanding of the nature of sin, for example. But I find myself, over and over again, agreeing with the underlying principles, and understanding why he comes to the conclusions he does about our essential teleology.
A thought provoking and spirit-stirring read. Four point six, if I must give it a rating.
September 30, 2026
In Discipleship: Following Jesus in Daily Life, pastor and community leader J. Heinrich Arnold delivers a profound 311-page compilation of writings, pastoral letters, and sermons drawn from four decades of service within the Bruderhof Communities. Reissued in an elegant 30th-anniversary edition complete with marginal scriptural references and a warm foreword by Henri J.M. Nouwen, this classic volume confronts the perennial gap between Christian intent and daily action.
Arnold’s strength lies in his pastoral directness and spiritual clarity. Writing in the lineage of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and C.S. Lewis, he addresses both personal struggles such as doubt, loneliness, pride, and interpersonal friction and systemic themes including suffering, peacemaking, and the kingdom of God. Rather than presenting an idealized theology, Arnold offers realistic, actionable wisdom for embodying Christ-like love amid modern distractions, making the radical demands of the Gospel accessible to readers across denominational lines.
Challenging, deeply comforting, and spiritually nourishing, Discipleship is an essential recommendation for pastors, small-group leaders, intentional community members, and devotional readers alongside works by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (The Cost of Discipleship), Dallas Willard, and Henri Nouwen.
Arnold’s strength lies in his pastoral directness and spiritual clarity. Writing in the lineage of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and C.S. Lewis, he addresses both personal struggles such as doubt, loneliness, pride, and interpersonal friction and systemic themes including suffering, peacemaking, and the kingdom of God. Rather than presenting an idealized theology, Arnold offers realistic, actionable wisdom for embodying Christ-like love amid modern distractions, making the radical demands of the Gospel accessible to readers across denominational lines.
Challenging, deeply comforting, and spiritually nourishing, Discipleship is an essential recommendation for pastors, small-group leaders, intentional community members, and devotional readers alongside works by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (The Cost of Discipleship), Dallas Willard, and Henri Nouwen.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews