4 Chair Discipling: What He Calls Us to Do

by Dann Spader

Dann Spader is a disciple-maker who has spent his adult life exploring what it means to take someone from being a seeker to making disciples themselves. Over 750,000 people in 80 countries have been trained to make disciples through organizations he has led. Through studying the life of Christ and His disciple-making methods, Dann developed 4 Chair Discipling, a simple picture for others to follow. Jesus’ last words on earth had a few very specific Go, make disciples, baptize, and teach.But what does that mean for us today? Well, it’s not easy. But it is simple. Teacher and leader Dann Spader explains disciple-making as a process of moving people through four chairs, from someone seeking to know more about Christ to someone who makes disciples themselves.

Chair 1: Come and See (John 1:39)Chair 2: Follow Me (John 1:43)Chair 3: Become a Fisher of Men (Matthew 4:19)Chair 4: Go and Bear Fruit (John 15:16)

In the process of His four-year ministry, Jesus realized that different people are at different stages of growth and development, and He works to challenge each of them to the next level. In 4 Chair Discipling, you’ll get a clear and simple picture of how to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and do the same thing.

Learn how to implement the Like Jesus series into your small group, ministry and church to build a culture of disciple-making. Use the Like Jesus App and Digital Access platform for videos, assessment, engagement, real-time metrics are more, download

Genres: Discipleship, Christian, Church, Christian Living, Nonfiction

163 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 1, 2019

Reviews

[Cale Manley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was of great help to me. Very practical and biblical. If I didn't get anything else out of the book, chapter 2, "The Full Humanity of Jesus," was worth it all. Spader's passion for discipleship is contagious. One quote particularly stuck out: "I have found through the years that if you only champion discipling you may not end up talking about Jesus. But if you champion Jesus, you always end up talking about making disciples!"

[Dr. David Steele · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the summer of 1991, I was introduced to Dann Spader and Sonlife Ministries. Spader’s philosophy of ministry would have a profound impact on my life and ministry that extends to this day. His most recent book, 4 Chair Discipling: What Jesus Calls Us To Do explores Jesus’s pattern for disciple-making and is a summary of what I learned almost thirty years ago in my introduction to Sonlife.

The four chairs represent four seasons in a person’s life. Each chair includes a challenge and an ultimate aim. Acknowledging these seasons help disciple-makers reach out to the needs of people and respond to them appropriately.

Chair one represents an unconverted person. The challenge is “Come and see” (John 1:39). The ultimate aim is to see this person turn from his sin and trust Christ for his salvation.

Chair two represents a new believer. The challenge is “Follow me” (John 1:43). Such a person learns the basics of the Christian life in the second chair.

Chair three represents a worker, a growing believer. The challenge is “Follow me and fish for people” (Matt. 4:19). This person learns about ministry opportunities and is equipped to minister to the needs of other people.

Chair four represents a disciple-maker. The challenge is “Go and bear fruit” (John 15:16). The respective chairs combine to form a philosophical framework for disciple-making that includes the categories of win (chair 1), build (chair 2), equip (chair 3), and multiply (chair 4). The author notes, “The growth from Chair 1 to Chair 4 is God’s great design for disciples of Jesus. This development can only be accomplished in the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Spader’s philosophy of ministry has been great boon to my ministry and has provided a biblical framework for disciple-making. 4 Chair Disciplining is a worthy explanation of the philosophy that made Sonlife so successful and breathed life into the heart of countless youth ministries around the world.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.

[Elysia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a genuinely helpful framework for how we as Christians can look at Christ as the model for how we make disciples. I may have some small differences with a few of Spader’s interpretations (I say that with caution, and I hope, humility), but I think the emphasis on looking to Christ as our example, and not neglecting the Great Commission is helpful. A practical little book to help us graciously and appropriately address seekers, new believers, and maturing Christians to grow in maturity and fruitfulness.

[Deanna Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book if you’re new to the idea of discipleship. I liked the amount of scripture he used to identify the clear mission of Jesus and how we should reflect that as Christians. I don’t love books that put discipleship into such a structured outline or a box, but in the last chapter he explains that discipleship isn’t linear, and it’s more about being a family and understanding everyone is at different stages of learning, which I appreciated.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the author studied the life of Christ, he found that Jesus guided the people around Him through four stages of disciple-making. He shares the stages through chairs: Seeker, Believer, Worker, and Disciple-Maker. He then asks, "Which Chair Are You In?"
I read this for a church leadership group and found it challenging to identify where I am in making disciples. Many great tools and thought-provoking suggestions.

[Kyle Haack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thin book, in length and depth.

[Bradley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love the 4 Chair model of discipleship. The description of chair each is helpful. However, the author builds this framework on a faulty Christology in which he argues that Jesus in his humanity never used his "God card." He emphasizes this point to encourage Christians that they can do what Jesus did because Jesus was fully human.

Jesus is fully God and fully man. While acknowledging this fact, the author nevertheless treats the incarnate Christ as if he was only human and fully and completely set aside the use of his divinity during the incarnation. Nevermind that this is a complete failure to understand the Chalcedonian Definition, Scripture teaches that Jesus did in fact use his "God card" during his earthly ministry. He was holding the universe together (Col. 1:17), knew all about Nathaniel under the fig tree (John 1:46-41), and forgave sins (Mark 2:5) to name a few examples.

I wish that I could use this material for discipleship in my church, but I cannot endorse this book because of its kenotic Christology.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good discipleship resource! It focuses on what Jesus did and how we are called to imitate Christ.

It is similar in concept to Real Life Discipleship by Jim Putman. Highly recommend!

4 Chairs: Moving people from seekers, followers, coworkers, and disciplemakers. Spiritual dead, infants/children, young adults, parents.

Available, Faithful, Teachable, Enthused about the things of God, Responsive to leadership. Come AFTER me Jesus said.

You do not have in mind the things of God, but human things. Jesus said. We must take up our cross and follow Jesus in order to be his disciple.

Definition of disciplemaking: Out of my love for God, using my gifts and talents, to multiply the character and priorities of Christ, in as many people as possible.

[Jordan Shirkman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four Chair Discipling gives a clear, practical framework for understanding how Jesus made disciples. Rooted in the life of Christ, the “four chairs” represent stages of growth: from seeking, to following, to fishing, to multiplying. It’s a framework that helps Christians identify where they are, where others are, and how to help people move forward in faith.

Spader is honest about how people get stuck in one chair, often because they’ve never seen disciple-making modeled. He repeats an essential truth throughout the book: “You can only reproduce what you are.” If we want to see transformation, we have to become people deeply connected to the person, work, and ways of Jesus.

And as Spader reminds us, “Champion Jesus and you always end up talking about disciples.”

[Jeremy Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent little resource book on discipleship. When we look at the life of Jesus, we typically look at his miracles, his parables, his death and resurrection. But one thing we often miss is how he led his followers, how he developed them from babies to infants to teenagers to adults in the faith. And we can - should - follow his lead when we disciple others as part of the Christian mission. This was certainly eye-opening for me and I fully expect to recommend this to other Christian friends and even study it in our small group setting. Great stuff.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s ok. I don’t think discipleship is linear like Dann describes, & I didn’t like his criticism of how in years of crisis we slip back into comfortable rhythms of the “younger” chairs — he made it sound like it was sinful to doubt or have crises effect our lives. For me a big part discipleship is sitting with those who are going through huge faith crises. Anyway. Not very engaging prose. Very matter of fact, not a lot of nuance. But biblically very well backed.

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jesus modeled a 4-part discipling process that we can discern if we read the ministry of Jesus chronologically.

***
This was a book I would have typically avoided because it's a bit prescriptive. I decided to read it once I realized it might offer insight on some other things I was working on. I appreciated the clear and systematic framework for understanding a discipleship pathway. It also provides a helpful rubric for mapping discipling and leadership development.

[Sierra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spader breaks down discipleship with clear visuals and actionable next steps. This book is a great starting point to equip someone with Biblical knowledge of how to disciple others. It throws a lot of knowledge at the reader very quickly, so it is good that the chapters are bite-sized. It's definitely a good book to read with a notebook on hand, or to own a copy so that the reader can take notes in the margins.

[JONATHAN PEYTON · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. Dann lays out a simple methodology for discipleship and is able to parallel Jesus's life and leadership traits with that of the modern day disciple maker. At the end of the book you'll have a fairly good idea of what chair (or chairs) you are currently in - as well as others around you that are walking down God's path.

[brianna frye · Rating 4 out of 5]

a succinct and informative read. full of references to scripture and the life of Jesus living out God’s purpose for humans to be disciples who make disciples. easily frames the different stages from non-believer through phases of spiritual maturity. a great guide for all christian’s to live out our mission. as always don’t love a list within a list but would recommend!

[Rosetta Mandisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as part of a course I am taking and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This book gives a great perspective on how Christians can transition into strong disciples. Would recommend for anyone looking to broaden their understanding of Christian growth.

[Tim Genry · Rating 3 out of 5]

The content is important. I wasn’t as sold on the writing.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful and practical. Read it for work. Will use it for work.

[Joel Choong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good godly reminders for many things, nothing new exactly, but what I needed at this time.

[Lincoln Shotts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truly how discipleship works in the way that Jesus meant for it too. A natural way that makes sense

[Ariel Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved most of this book and the concepts were timeless.

This book was for research and had amazing insights. I listened to the audiobook and loved that the book was steeping with scripture and or as practical examples. I also think it was good that each chapter ended with application questions.

Only two issues are that he gave his definition of Disciplemaking in the last chapter. Additionally, he shared a belief from dominion theory which is minimally biblically based and has led to some problematic political beliefs in Christians.


I listened to the audiobook.

[Justin Kellam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A life-changing book about discipleship and what it looks like, modeled after how Jesus did it. Concise but packs a punch. A slight tendency to impose the 4 chair framework over all aspects of the Christian life when sometimes it doesn't fit that well. Helped me realize a much better balance of evangelism and sanctification/learning more truth.

[Mark Roossinck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spot on Spader! Simple and well understood method drawn from the Master Disciple-Maker Jesus!

[Lynne Modranski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly appreciate Mr. Spader's simple method for discipling. I've always believed this is the area the church falls behind in the most (second only to boring people with worship services). His method is biblical and easy to follow.

[Conrade Yap · Rating 4 out of 5]

Discipleship. If you pick up this book, you would most probably have heard of this word. You might even have read other books about discipleship. Search the Internet and one would see tonnes of books and resources about discipleship. Curiously, even though discipleship has been taught often and mentioned widely, one still get a sense of not having understood what it actually means. Maybe it is the terminologies we get stuck with. Perhaps we are not able to get away from set thinking or past mentality. We need a way in which we could easily remember what discipleship is, why it is important, and how we can go about implementing discipleship in our communities of faith. In this book, we have a fascinating model that is easy to remember and articulate. Using a four chair visual, we can intuitively connecting the dots from the lost to the believer, to the worker and the disciple-maker. Rather than becoming seat warmers, we are urged to move from chair to chair and to encourage others to do the same. For ten years, the author focused on the methods of Jesus, studying His main priorities, ministry manner and lifestyle. After debating about the various viewpoints regarding the patterns of Jesus' discipleship, Spader insists that if we study Jesus' ministry chronologically, we will discover an invaluable pattern of discipleship. The key thing is the understand the full humanity of Jesus and everything flows from there. This means learning of Jesus as fully divine and fully human. Learn what did Jesus do before going toward what would Jesus do. For His teachings are always congruent with His lifestyle. The issuing of the Great Commission dovetails naturally into the obedience of the Great Commandment.


Spader synthesizes his learning and issues four challenges to imitate Jesus' way. Briefly, the 4-chair discipling is:

Challenge 1: For seekers to Come and See (John 1:39)
Challenge 2: For believers to Follow Jesus (John 1:43)
Challenge 3: For workers to follow Jesus and let Him make them fishers of men (Matthew 4:19)
Challenge 4: For disciple-makers to go and bear fruit (John 15:16)

One chapter each is allocated to describe each of the above chairs. Spader understands the natural tendency of the human being to procrastinate and get stuck on any one chair phase. That is why he takes pains to warn us of "sticking points." He then uses the parable of the sower to remind us the importance of getting toward fruitfulness. If we don't have that vision to bear fruit, we would easily stay seated in the first few chairs. There are also the barriers of sin, of good things, of worldly satisfaction, all of which could derail our discipleship efforts.


My Thoughts
I like this book for its sheer simplicity and ease of understanding. The use of chairs makes it a very good visual representation of the concept. This is important for a generation that is increasingly more image driven and dependent on visual learning. Spader not only makes the concept easy to understand, he repeats the idea through several other ways. He uses stories and parables from the Bible to home in on basic points. He reminds us to start with Jesus. he creates tables that compare and contrast each of the four chairs so that we can understand the big picture of the whole discipleship program. The appendices help to drive home the message clearly. Perhaps, I can offer three thoughts about this book.

First, discipleship making appears simple at first but the difficulty lies in the obedience of the heart. It is truly about the heart which is why we need to understand the humanity of Jesus. Jesus is one and the same person. He does not think one way and behave another. He maintains a consistent witness and impeccable lifestyle. He is the model for discipleship. If our heart seeks for the heart of Jesus, we will know that discipleship is about love and obeying God.

Second, the process of discipleship does not need to begin at Chair #1. It depends on who the person we are discipling. One needs to discern where and when to embark upon this model. In fact, once we get excited about the model, we would know that discipleship is a continuous process. Once we gain experience in using this discipleship strategy, we can be creative about the different ways to use them, or even invent our own unique way. The sky is the limit with regard to creativity.

Third, and most important of all, we need to try this model ourselves first. Without personally going through it, we would not benefit from the full effect and experience of it. We should be curious enough to ponder about what makes the author so excited about this discipleship model that compels him to write this book.

Rating: 4.25 stars of 5.

conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of Moody Publishers and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

[Russell Threet · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are working toward developing a full-throated discipleship structure in your ministry there are many books that are worth reading, and this one by Dann Spader is among them. He lays out a discipleship structure that is based on a solid biblical framework. This book outlines a simple framework for discipleship that can be adapted to meet the needs of most any church or ministry and bring some clarity to the discipleship process. The 4 chairs described by the author will give you clear ideas on how to deal with different people at different stages of the disciple making process. Great book. Worth the read.