Making Disciples: Developing Lifelong Followers of Jesus

by Ralph Moore, Bobby Harrington (Foreword)

THE SIMPLE STEPS BEHIND A MULTIPLYING MOVEMENT OF 2600+ CHURCHESRalph Moore has spent over fifty years as a master maker of disciple makers. Ralph is the founder of the Hope Chapel Movement, which, like Calvary Chapels and the Vineyard churches, came out of the Jesus Movement in Southern California in the early 1970s. Ralph’s impact has been unprecedented in the last 50+ years of North American church history. He planted disciple making churches that planted other disciple making churches so that today 2,600+ churches have been planted from the disciple making churches he planted. Many are overseas, now touching every continent.

In Making Disciples, Ralph walks through the simple steps behind this multiplying movement. This book will help you explore important questions such

Is every Christian called to be a disciple maker?What makes disciple making different from just another program?Whom should I disciple?Who should disciple me?What problems will I encounter along the way?Ralph helps us rediscover the simple principles and practices that produce disciples who make disciples, who plant churches that plant churches. Along the way, we see how his faithful perseverance in one tiny church has produced multiplying impact to every continent.

—Todd Wilson, co-founder Exponential, Entrepreneurial Engineer for Multipliers and author of How Did We Get Here? Examining 70 Years of the Church Growth Movement

Ralph Moore’s Making Disciples is a timely and clarifying call back to the heart of Jesus’ strategy for changing the world.…This book is both a prophetic wake-up call and a practical roadmap for any leader who longs to see disciples who actually make disciples.

—Dave Ferguson, Exponential CEO & author of How Healthy Leaders Create Lasting Impact

“Hands down the best book on disciple making out there. Practical wisdom from a wise practitioner.”

—Peyton Jones, Author of The Art and Science of Making Disciples

Ralph Moore and his wife Ruby planted a church in 1971 that has now grown into a movement (of movements) that actively plants churches totaling more than 2,600 congregations spread over every continent. Ralph co-hosts an annual conference for pastors, runs a church planter’s website, and spends several weeks a year teaching at church multiplication conferences across the planet.

Genres: Discipleship

203 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2012

About the author

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite God using the author to catalyze powerful Kingdom fruit, I would not recommend this book to anyone seeking to develop a robust and nuanced understanding of making disciples. The book does a good job of elevating the value personal ministry—which is valuable. However, the de facto definition of disciple making the book holds to, “making an intentional investment in the spiritual life of someone else,” leaves much to be desired. Moore holds views on disciplemaking that I strongly disagree with such as: being able to disciple people without their knowledge (or even the discipler’s knowledge), calling those you disciple “my disciples,” basing important disciple making decisions on what’s more efficient, being able to disciple non-Christians, and the list goes on. Overall, the book has some solid practical advice, but it seems to be rooted in Moore’s experience as opposed to Jesus’ example or other Scriptural support. It’s not that this book is going to steer people in morally bad directions, but there are many, many disciple making books that do a better job anchoring the practice of disciple making in Scripture and practices that fit that anchoring.

[Byron Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una lectura muy práctica y directa para cualquier líder que busque revitalizar la visión discipuladora en su comunidad de fe. El autor ofrece una perspectiva bíblica y basada en su propia experiencia ministerial, destacando la importancia de reproducir líderes y multiplicar iglesias de forma orgánica.
El texto se agradece por su enfoque realista y su estructura accesible, llena de consejos aplicables desde el primer momento. Sin embargo, en algunos pasajes puede resultar algo repetitivo o superficial en cuanto a la profundidad teológica, quedándose corto en comparación con otras obras más completas sobre el mismo tema.

[Sally Sommers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a number of books on disciple-making, and this one has some good points to share. I just feel like the way the Lord would have me reproduce myself is going to be unique. And so I've lost interest in these kind of books. Nevertheless, as I said, there are some good points and thoughts to chew on...which I will make a point of doing.

[Michael Bergman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read Making Disciples three times. I love the vision Moore presents. We can over-program what Jesus meant to be natural and relational (though also intentional). If you're new to the idea of disciple-making or need encouragement to be faithful to Jesus's commission, then pick up this book.

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are looking for a Life Application book on the and "how" of discipleship, this is the book for you! It has a lot of great nuggets that you will meditate on for days. It also gives great insight as to what discipleship is to begin with. This book is not a deep theological commentary, but rather a page turner filled with Moore's real life examples built from years of wisdom. I recommend this book be used in conjunction with Wilkins "Follow the Master" in order to balance the life application of Moore with the Biblical foundations given by Michael Wilkins.

[Ken Peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an intensely simple and practical and motivating book on the Biblical mandate of going and making disciples. Moore's premise is that nothing should be more important than making disciples as we live lives of loving God and our neighbours. I had never heard of Ralph Moore, but now I want to read more of his books, and I'm eager to put the principles of this book into practice. It's the kind of book I want to keep close at hand rather than on a shelf so that I can refer back to it repeatedly to keep myself from forgetting what I want to do about what I just read!

[Jonathan E. Sickert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practical "How to" & Why

Easy read. Packed full of practical advice, guidance, and motivation shared through the lens of personal stories and relationships. Inspires reflection and assessment of current discipleship practices.