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Radical Discipleship: Five Defining Questions
The call to discipleship is a call to live an extraordinary life - an extraordinary life that is rooted in an intimate relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.
When Peter and John stood on trial for preaching the Gospel, the crowds were taken by their boldness. Two ordinary men with no formal education, spoke confidently in front of men of authority. What distinguished them was that "they had been with Jesus." Acts 4:13.
Come join Pastor Edmund Chan in the grand adventure of walking with Jesus and changing our world.
When Peter and John stood on trial for preaching the Gospel, the crowds were taken by their boldness. Two ordinary men with no formal education, spoke confidently in front of men of authority. What distinguished them was that "they had been with Jesus." Acts 4:13.
Come join Pastor Edmund Chan in the grand adventure of walking with Jesus and changing our world.
- GenresDiscipleshipChristian
161 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2014
23 people are currently reading
198 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 20, 2015
As a book gifted to me by the church, I suppose if I say I didn't exactly learn anything new, the church has done its job.
There was a phrase which made me do a double-take: "[we] have substituted commitment for surrender". As I read on, it explains that there is too much emphasis on performance than change based on gratitude. But really, the problem does cut both ways — there are Christians who know but don't do, and Christians who do but don't know.
And so the gist of the book is to know Christ, *and* follow Him. Let's not be lukewarm either way.
There was a phrase which made me do a double-take: "[we] have substituted commitment for surrender". As I read on, it explains that there is too much emphasis on performance than change based on gratitude. But really, the problem does cut both ways — there are Christians who know but don't do, and Christians who do but don't know.
And so the gist of the book is to know Christ, *and* follow Him. Let's not be lukewarm either way.
July 23, 2015
Discipleship from biblical view a paradoxical reading short and precise helping readers to move through the words ,The Lord spoke to me through this book and I realized how important radical discipleship is to our community.Easy understandable language,good quotes and verses from the Bible.
I would like to thank God for having showed me this person who gifted me this book.I treasure it and I m planning to read it again.
I would like to thank God for having showed me this person who gifted me this book.I treasure it and I m planning to read it again.
March 6, 2021
Finally finished my first book for 2021. As always, reading a book by Rev. Edmund Chan is like being in a learner's paradise. He could mix a serious topic as this with humor. Imagine him quoting Kung Fu Panda in this book, "the key is that there is no key". The book focuses on discipleship at its core. Not on programs but life change. A book I'd read again and use as reference for my God-given discipleship group.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 14, 2023
4.5 out of 5. It is a life-changing book which prompts leaders to think about what discipleship is all about. It is not a program, it is our lives, being transformed by Jesus - and then sharing our lives with others.
Would have given it 5/5 as I was hoping for more examples/testimonies in the book, however I would definitely recommend this all Christian leaders wanting to learn about what discipleship is all about.
Would have given it 5/5 as I was hoping for more examples/testimonies in the book, however I would definitely recommend this all Christian leaders wanting to learn about what discipleship is all about.
August 23, 2020
I went through this book with a friend from my church small group. A thought provoking book that challenges what discipleship looks like in modern day society. It brings you through the principles using give defining questions. A must read for all Christians.
September 21, 2024
Fantastic little read on discipleship and has rightfully earned its place as not only a classic on this topic but a book that sits at the precipice of discipleship materials
June 11, 2025
Great basic introduction to Biblical discipleship!
Chan does a great job setting a foundation of why biblical discipleship is so important and needed in the church today!
Chan does a great job setting a foundation of why biblical discipleship is so important and needed in the church today!
February 10, 2020
Christians ought to know that the end goal of discipleship is towards Christlikeness
November 27, 2020
Chan, E. (2014). Radical discipleship: Five defining questions. Covenant Evangelical Free Church: Singapore.
At a church camp, a ribbon was awarded to the most humble camper. Soon, it was retracted as he write
wore it proudly every day. - p. 44
1. Why is Radical Discipleship so important?
2. If it’s so important, why’s it so neglected?
3. What is it all about?
4. What makes it so difficult?
5. How can it be best accomplished?
- p. 55
Signs of growth without depth:
1. Leadership burnout
2. Families in trouble
3. Division & heresies
- p. 59-60
Convictions for discipleship to be taken seriously:
1. Jesus is coming again soon...
2. ... so the urgent task is world evangelisation...
3. ... whose key is intentional disciple making...
4. ... whose radical heart is Jesus.
- p. 69
Discipleship priorities: Christ, character, calling - p. 78
What Paul says in Gal 2:20 about Christ-centred discipleship:
•identity: distinct life
•imitation: directed life
•indebtedness: devoted life
- p. 80
Following Jesus fully means: knowing, loving, serving Him - p. 82
D. A. Carson, in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary:
“The kingdom of heaven is worth infinitely more than the cost of discipleship, and those who know where treasure lies joyfully abandon everything else to secure it.”
- p. 83
Richard Rohr, in Adam’s Return:
“All great spirituality is about what we do with our pain.”
- p. 84
The development of character is not by never failing; character is developed through the reality of returning to Christ in the pain of the fall and failure.
- p. 84-85
We assume God’s calling is vocational. So, we seek for the call of God in terms of geography and employer. However, God’s retentive call is firstly a call to intimacy, unto himself. - p. 86-87
“We are settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves, when the central message is actually about abandoning ourselves.” - David Platt, p. 91
Four difficulties of our age for discipleship (Edmund Chan in A Certain Kind):
1. Spirit of consumerism (my rights/choices, leaving church due to conflicts/tastes)
2. Struggle of carnality
3. Stress of compulsiveness
4. Superficiality of conformity
- p. 93-94
Radical discipleship fundamentals:
1. Surrender > commitment: being > doing, character > competence, inward > outward, obedience > operations, submission > strength, illusion of control
2. Discipline > devotion: action > thought/knowledge, reality > intention
3. Empowering > effort: baptism of Holy Spirit > conversion, power > form
- p. 96-105
Radical discipleship is a redemptive not regimental journey, grace not law. - p. 123
Our redemption in Jesus is: complete, eternal, free, transformational (in/through us). - p. 124-131
Humans’ four fundamental longings: justice, relationships, beauty, God - N. T. Wright’s Simply Christian, p. 139
Come clean with God to draw close to Him. - p. 140
Unlike other transport, a plane cannot stand still or reverse; it must move forward for aerodynamics to overcome gravity. Similarly, disciples must move forward and upward. - p. 146
IDMC disciple-making philosophy:
“A person, radically committed to a purpose, through a process, reproducing a product.”
- p. 151
IDMC’s biblical core convictions:
1. Jesus is coming soon (Rev 22:20)
2. World evangelisation is urgent (Mk 13:10)
3. Intentional discipleship is key to evangelisation (Mat 28:18-20)
4. Authentic, biblical discipleship in Jesus (Mat 4:19)
- p. 151
Championing Christ-centred discipleship:
1. Faith worth having: understanding the heart of the gospel
2. Master worth following: understanding heart of Jesus
3. Cause worth pursuing: understanding cross & missions
4. Life worth having: understanding our kingdom destiny
- p. 153-4
IDMC guiding principles:
1. Think big. Start small. Build deep.
2. Kindred spirits are key to a unity movement
3. Kingdom of God > local church
4. Church rise or falls based on leadership
5. Size ≠ health
6. Disciple-making is key to long-term church health
7. No success without successors
8. Life change happens best in small groups
9. Reach out or rust out
10. Spiritual transformation precedes multiplication
11. Spiritual growth takes time
12. We reproduce our own kind
- p. 154-5
A bottleneck I’ve noted is that it starts only with dedicated, able mentors. If we have few of those, it’s important you don’t expand the pool and dilute the quality. Let your growth be determined by whichever mentors are ready, not the growth that you want.
At a church camp, a ribbon was awarded to the most humble camper. Soon, it was retracted as he write
wore it proudly every day. - p. 44
1. Why is Radical Discipleship so important?
2. If it’s so important, why’s it so neglected?
3. What is it all about?
4. What makes it so difficult?
5. How can it be best accomplished?
- p. 55
Signs of growth without depth:
1. Leadership burnout
2. Families in trouble
3. Division & heresies
- p. 59-60
Convictions for discipleship to be taken seriously:
1. Jesus is coming again soon...
2. ... so the urgent task is world evangelisation...
3. ... whose key is intentional disciple making...
4. ... whose radical heart is Jesus.
- p. 69
Discipleship priorities: Christ, character, calling - p. 78
What Paul says in Gal 2:20 about Christ-centred discipleship:
•identity: distinct life
•imitation: directed life
•indebtedness: devoted life
- p. 80
Following Jesus fully means: knowing, loving, serving Him - p. 82
D. A. Carson, in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary:
“The kingdom of heaven is worth infinitely more than the cost of discipleship, and those who know where treasure lies joyfully abandon everything else to secure it.”
- p. 83
Richard Rohr, in Adam’s Return:
“All great spirituality is about what we do with our pain.”
- p. 84
The development of character is not by never failing; character is developed through the reality of returning to Christ in the pain of the fall and failure.
- p. 84-85
We assume God’s calling is vocational. So, we seek for the call of God in terms of geography and employer. However, God’s retentive call is firstly a call to intimacy, unto himself. - p. 86-87
“We are settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves, when the central message is actually about abandoning ourselves.” - David Platt, p. 91
Four difficulties of our age for discipleship (Edmund Chan in A Certain Kind):
1. Spirit of consumerism (my rights/choices, leaving church due to conflicts/tastes)
2. Struggle of carnality
3. Stress of compulsiveness
4. Superficiality of conformity
- p. 93-94
Radical discipleship fundamentals:
1. Surrender > commitment: being > doing, character > competence, inward > outward, obedience > operations, submission > strength, illusion of control
2. Discipline > devotion: action > thought/knowledge, reality > intention
3. Empowering > effort: baptism of Holy Spirit > conversion, power > form
- p. 96-105
Radical discipleship is a redemptive not regimental journey, grace not law. - p. 123
Our redemption in Jesus is: complete, eternal, free, transformational (in/through us). - p. 124-131
Humans’ four fundamental longings: justice, relationships, beauty, God - N. T. Wright’s Simply Christian, p. 139
Come clean with God to draw close to Him. - p. 140
Unlike other transport, a plane cannot stand still or reverse; it must move forward for aerodynamics to overcome gravity. Similarly, disciples must move forward and upward. - p. 146
IDMC disciple-making philosophy:
“A person, radically committed to a purpose, through a process, reproducing a product.”
- p. 151
IDMC’s biblical core convictions:
1. Jesus is coming soon (Rev 22:20)
2. World evangelisation is urgent (Mk 13:10)
3. Intentional discipleship is key to evangelisation (Mat 28:18-20)
4. Authentic, biblical discipleship in Jesus (Mat 4:19)
- p. 151
Championing Christ-centred discipleship:
1. Faith worth having: understanding the heart of the gospel
2. Master worth following: understanding heart of Jesus
3. Cause worth pursuing: understanding cross & missions
4. Life worth having: understanding our kingdom destiny
- p. 153-4
IDMC guiding principles:
1. Think big. Start small. Build deep.
2. Kindred spirits are key to a unity movement
3. Kingdom of God > local church
4. Church rise or falls based on leadership
5. Size ≠ health
6. Disciple-making is key to long-term church health
7. No success without successors
8. Life change happens best in small groups
9. Reach out or rust out
10. Spiritual transformation precedes multiplication
11. Spiritual growth takes time
12. We reproduce our own kind
- p. 154-5
A bottleneck I’ve noted is that it starts only with dedicated, able mentors. If we have few of those, it’s important you don’t expand the pool and dilute the quality. Let your growth be determined by whichever mentors are ready, not the growth that you want.
May 17, 2020
A little book that says a lot.
Dislikes : Quotes and slogan
Like : Clear definition of being a disciple of Christ
Nevertheless it is a good point to start in discipleship.
Dislikes : Quotes and slogan
Like : Clear definition of being a disciple of Christ
Nevertheless it is a good point to start in discipleship.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews