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The Disciple Dilemma: Rethinking and Reforming How the Church Does Discipleship
We’ve been hacked!
Christian discipleship is caught in a ransomware trap. The symptoms of the hack are numerous - the rising rates of the Nones & Dones, the passivation of believers, skepticism about Jesus’s atonement and the rejection of biblical truth claims, to name just a few.
Christian discipleship is caught in a ransomware trap. The symptoms of the hack are numerous - the rising rates of the Nones & Dones, the passivation of believers, skepticism about Jesus’s atonement and the rejection of biblical truth claims, to name just a few.
311 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 5, 2022
8 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 29, 2023
This book is a pleasant surprise in a world where many of the discipleship books all say the same thing. However, Allen brings a new perspective into the conversation by looking at our past and illustrating how we must act if we are to continue going forward. A good read for those wanting to navigate the great discipleship dilemma.
June 24, 2022
The Disciple Dilemma is an excellent book for any leader or a person who desires to be a disciple-maker. Allen shows six examples from church history and current practices that discipleship or, a lack thereof, has been a challenge throughout the history of a church. He encourages every reader to consider how to do discipleship with the manual from Jesus Christ. This book will challenge you to personally be involved in discipling others, as well as encouraging your local church to do discipleship well.
June 25, 2022
Dennis' perspective on discipleship is refreshing and a departure from how discipleship is often viewed in Christianity today, but it isn't new. The Disciple Dilemma describes what biblical discipleship can and ought to look like in modern contexts. By calling out how we have allowed cultural (yet unbiblical) influences to shape practices, Dennis calls us to a return to the simplicity of discipleship described and modeled by Jesus.
July 18, 2022
Often an idea and/or process has presumably been so well understood and transmitted that it is deemed ideal and not in need of correction or improvement. Fortunately, now and then someone says or writes something that challenges the listener or reader to re-examine what was considered to be a settled notion. This describes Dennis Allen’s book The Disciple Dilemma. If Christian discipling is so well understood and practiced, why is the church currently experiencing such upheaval theologically and practically? Why are so many people leaving their churches? Why are so many hazy regarding what they believe? Since Jesus said, “everyone will know that you are My disciples if you love one another,” why do so many Christ-followers apparently not love one another? The book traces the historical development of current conceptions of being a disciple and discipling. It considers practical experience in a variety of church types and sizes. It proposes beginning steps to re-establish aspects of discipling that have atrophied or fallen away. All Christ-followers would be well-served to read and consider the insights of the author, not only to appraise the Christian institutions with which they participate, but also to do an honest evaluation of themselves as disciples.
September 23, 2022
The Disciple Dilemma
By Dennis Allen
2022
——
Summary:
Dennis Allen examines how discipleship has been derailed in modern Christianity, and what church leaders must do to bring healthy discipleship back to the forefront.
——
Excerpt:
“Under-discipled converts are the result of mass-produced and often over-capitalized discipling, and Christianity owes disciples better than a tradition claiming that throwing money, edginess or crowds at discipleship is the answer.”
——
Review:
Dennis Allen provides an exceptional analysis of where discipleship is lacking in the current state of American Christianity. He devotes a substantial amount of the book to the “why” we are where we are at, with numerous historical illustrations. Many discipleship books go only to the practical “do these steps” approach in discipleship, while Allen goes much deeper than that. There is most definitely a “discipleship dilemma” plaguing Christianity, and Christian leaders would benefit to study and scrutinize the work Dennis Allen has done.
By Dennis Allen
2022
——
Summary:
Dennis Allen examines how discipleship has been derailed in modern Christianity, and what church leaders must do to bring healthy discipleship back to the forefront.
——
Excerpt:
“Under-discipled converts are the result of mass-produced and often over-capitalized discipling, and Christianity owes disciples better than a tradition claiming that throwing money, edginess or crowds at discipleship is the answer.”
——
Review:
Dennis Allen provides an exceptional analysis of where discipleship is lacking in the current state of American Christianity. He devotes a substantial amount of the book to the “why” we are where we are at, with numerous historical illustrations. Many discipleship books go only to the practical “do these steps” approach in discipleship, while Allen goes much deeper than that. There is most definitely a “discipleship dilemma” plaguing Christianity, and Christian leaders would benefit to study and scrutinize the work Dennis Allen has done.
March 31, 2024
An excellent reminder to the Christian church of our core mission and clarion call to return to it.
Dennis Allen is a former Air Force pilot (F-15s, too bad) who then spent a very successful career in business, including many years repairing broken organizations, usually by calling them back to their core mission. In this book, he describes the weakness of the modern American church, traces it to our failure to make lifelong disciples, and compares each of six failures to similar deficiencies in ailing businesses.
After laying out the dilemma, he describes its effects, then concludes the book by calling the church back to a clear focus on making disciples.
It’s an excellent read for leaders in today’s churches, and certainly scratched an itch I’ve had for some time. It is quite easy, the way we do church now, to be consumed with programs, buildings, personalities, or even good and Biblical activities but, in our busyness, fail to build disciples of the following generations. Allen has done us a favor with his clear call to return to basics.
Dennis Allen is a former Air Force pilot (F-15s, too bad) who then spent a very successful career in business, including many years repairing broken organizations, usually by calling them back to their core mission. In this book, he describes the weakness of the modern American church, traces it to our failure to make lifelong disciples, and compares each of six failures to similar deficiencies in ailing businesses.
After laying out the dilemma, he describes its effects, then concludes the book by calling the church back to a clear focus on making disciples.
It’s an excellent read for leaders in today’s churches, and certainly scratched an itch I’ve had for some time. It is quite easy, the way we do church now, to be consumed with programs, buildings, personalities, or even good and Biblical activities but, in our busyness, fail to build disciples of the following generations. Allen has done us a favor with his clear call to return to basics.
July 13, 2022
A convicting and necessary wake up call for current and future Christian leaders who care about addressing the root causes of where the Church (especially in the West) finds itself.
Dennis Allen reminds us of the important process of discipleship - taking us back to a respect for how the early church embodied this discipline and to what Jesus meant when he commissioned us to "make disciples". Allen writes with a sense of humor, well researched fact, storytelling tact and with a straightforward, solutions-oriented business-minded approach.
This isn’t church-blaming or a rant, but rather, an inspiring read for each individual in the Church - to call up leaders to realize our own prerogative to, by God’s grace, change the culture of the Church, it’s trajectory in this generation and most importantly to raise up a next generation of “life laid down” disciples.
Dennis Allen reminds us of the important process of discipleship - taking us back to a respect for how the early church embodied this discipline and to what Jesus meant when he commissioned us to "make disciples". Allen writes with a sense of humor, well researched fact, storytelling tact and with a straightforward, solutions-oriented business-minded approach.
This isn’t church-blaming or a rant, but rather, an inspiring read for each individual in the Church - to call up leaders to realize our own prerogative to, by God’s grace, change the culture of the Church, it’s trajectory in this generation and most importantly to raise up a next generation of “life laid down” disciples.
November 9, 2022
I had a privilege to read this book before it was published, and my conclusion was that reading this book was a very "painful" experience... in a positive sense.
The author has a courage to ask difficult questions and provide solutions and those two steps is what makes this book a book that you want to read. Concretely, the author identifies traditions that hinder discipleship and invite its readers not to focus on symptoms and to go deeper and look for root-causes of why discipleship is not working.
The solution that is offered is that churches need to create a culture of discipleship, and this culture will not happen by accident because discipleship does not occurs by accident. In the center of that culture are not programs or "professionals" but discipleship that is relational and life to life. Sounds complicated...but it is easy...or not...
The author has a courage to ask difficult questions and provide solutions and those two steps is what makes this book a book that you want to read. Concretely, the author identifies traditions that hinder discipleship and invite its readers not to focus on symptoms and to go deeper and look for root-causes of why discipleship is not working.
The solution that is offered is that churches need to create a culture of discipleship, and this culture will not happen by accident because discipleship does not occurs by accident. In the center of that culture are not programs or "professionals" but discipleship that is relational and life to life. Sounds complicated...but it is easy...or not...
June 26, 2022
In his book, The Disciple Dilemma, Dennis Allen has provided a thought-provoking look at the history of discipleship in the Church, and states that Christian leaders must rethink how they approach discipleship and develop a new path forward.
From his career as a corporate CEO, Dennis cites poor traditions in the business world that he encountered and parallels them to historical traditions in the Church that have been making discipleship ineffective.
With a sense of humor and a finger on the pulse of our culture, Dennis has identified what is going on in the Church and in society today and issues a call for Christian leaders to re-evaluate their views of discipleship and develop a new strategy for leading Christ-followers.
From his career as a corporate CEO, Dennis cites poor traditions in the business world that he encountered and parallels them to historical traditions in the Church that have been making discipleship ineffective.
With a sense of humor and a finger on the pulse of our culture, Dennis has identified what is going on in the Church and in society today and issues a call for Christian leaders to re-evaluate their views of discipleship and develop a new strategy for leading Christ-followers.
February 26, 2022
Received an advance copy of the book. I don't think there is another book like this that is so uniquely focused on leadership's impact and influence on discipleship. It will challenge the traditions of modern discipling as it confronts contemporary methods of discipleship in the church today. Well researched. Allen takes us through symptoms, causes and a path forward to confront the issues we are facing in Modern Christianity. leaders whether pastors, small group leaders, teachers, elders, And especially mentors of other believers need to read this book
June 24, 2022
An important book for all those interested in Discipleship. The Disciple Dilemma is a great read for a few reasons. First, Dennis clearly lays out the need for a book on rethinking being a disciple. Second, he does a fantastic job giving some serious weight behind his research. Lastly, the book is very accessible and well written. Many books you may forget what you read by the end of the chapter, this book keeps your attention and focus until the end. Churches and those interested in discipleship would do well to read and discuss how to work through some of the issues he brings up.
July 11, 2022
This is a timely and uniquely written book for the Christian community. It's not a theology book, but it's theologically sound. Dennis's personal experience as a leader outside of the church provides a unique insight into both identifying the Dilemma as well as approaches to move our churches towards a turn around. I think this will challenge many church leaders who strive to develop that "next thing" that will help their congregation mature in Christ. The message his profoundly simple and obvious and yet most have overlooked it. Thank you Dennis for your work for the Kingdom.
June 28, 2022
This is a really good read!
It shows cultural marks on how to discern bad discipleship from the good one. The author has put a lot of effort to investigate Church history and connect religious events with business cases in order to support his thesis.
If you want to discern cultural marks of bad and good discipleship and strengthen your knowledge of the biblical view of discipleship, this is a must-read.
It shows cultural marks on how to discern bad discipleship from the good one. The author has put a lot of effort to investigate Church history and connect religious events with business cases in order to support his thesis.
If you want to discern cultural marks of bad and good discipleship and strengthen your knowledge of the biblical view of discipleship, this is a must-read.
June 23, 2022
Received an advance copy of the book. I don't think there is another book like this that is so uniquely focused on leadership's impact and influence on discipleship. It will challenge the traditions of modern discipling as it confronts contemporary methods of discipleship in the church today. Well researched. Allen takes us through symptoms, causes and a path forward to confront the issues we are facing in Modern Christianity. leaders whether pastors, small group leaders, teachers, elders, And especially mentors of other believers need to read this book.
June 23, 2022
An insightful, investigative look at Christian discipleship -- where we are, how we got here, & what we can do about it.
February 4, 2024
A good book that makes some sound points.
March 29, 2023
This book is a great read for those in church or Christian leadership, as well as anyone who wants to further their walk of faith. Allen challenges the reader to examine how faith has slowly been infiltrated with culture and some of the harmful side effects of that. It’s a convicting read that leaves one with practical steps to avoid falling into the traps of apathy, consumerism, and isolationism while walking the life of faith.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews