Ordinary Discipleship: How God Wires Us for the Adventure of Transformation

by Jessie Cruickshank, Christine Caine (Foreword)

God wired your brain for transformation.

Jesus told his followers, “Go and make disciples of every nation,” but a lot of us stop before we start—because we feel like we don’t have what it takes. But Jesus didn’t ask spiritual superstars to make disciples. He invited ordinary people into the adventure of following Him.

Jessie Cruickshank learned how to be a disciplemaker in the wilderness. When she connected her training in outdoor adventure ministry with her Harvard degree in neuroeducation, God showed her a pathway for ordinary disciples of Jesus to experience profound spiritual growth.
You can help someone choose to go somewhere they have never gone before and to be brave enough to choose to change.You can model a new way of living.And you can share your own hard-fought wisdom on the journey of faith.
Jessie Cruickshank will help you navigate the terrain, be inspired by the vast sky, and move toward the hope to which you are called. With Joseph Campbell’s iconic hero’s journey framework as a guide, you’ll discover how a spirit of adventure, brain science, and passionate faith can equip you for the greatest adventure of all.

Genres: Theology, Christian Non Fiction

213 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 9, 2023

Reviews

[Conrade Yap · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Bible has various metaphors to describe discipleship and spiritual growth. In particular, Jesus himself uses ordinary things to depict the Kingdom of God and spiritual growth. There is the parable of the talents to showcase the importance of stewardship. There is the parable of the tenants on the dangers of unfaithfulness. Chief of them all is the parable of the Sower which describes four different types of soil that seeds fell upon. Jesus also shares with us about the responsibilities of discipleship, to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus. All of these point to one thing: Following Jesus means living up to our calling and faithful stewarding of our responsibilities. However, like many churches and church-goers, discipleship is often talked about but meagerly understood. In this book, author Jessie Cruickshank takes us back to the basics of what discipleship means. In a nutshell, discipleship is for ordinary people wanting to follow Jesus in spite of their ordinary circumstances. Using the journey metaphor, Cruickshank maps out eight stages of what she calls, "The Hero's Journey" from ordinary people practicing ordinary discipleship. Disciplemakers are agents of transformation. They do not transform but they are willing channels for God's Spirit to transform people. According to the author, Discipleship is like "about helping people choose to go somewhere they have never gone before or do something they have never done before. It is about helping someone be brave enough to choose to change." It helps us conquer our fears of leaving our comfort zones. It is trusting that as we do what we can and let God deal with the rest, we learn to grow. So, a disciple is one who is willing to change or be changed. A disciple-maker, with the help of the Holy Spirit, facilitates that process. This map is listed as follows:

1) The believer is called.
2) After a period of hesitancy, the believer obliges.
3) They answer the call
4) They team up with others
5) As they learn new things, they also encounter new challenges
6) They move forth in faith and learn to deal with the ups and downs of the journey
7) Finally, there is the revelation experience that leaves them changed forever
8) Changed lives change other lives.

Written like a guidebook, this book shows us some fundamental tools that we can use in our journey of discipleship. Each chapter goes into detail with Scripture as a guide with discussion questions, inventory lists, examples, and suggestions. At the end of each chapter, there are prompts to help us note any revelation or insights.

My Thoughts
==============
Books on discipleship are a dime a dozen. For those of us with limited time but who want to practice discipleship, we want to have the best discipleship resources that we can get. Unfortunately, we all have different expectations of what "best" really means. After all, for those who have never experienced what discipleship entails, how could they possibly know what is best for them? For the uninitiated, let this book spark your journey of discipleship. The title of the book helps us lower our suspicion that this book is only for the spiritually mature or established. It is targeted at the ordinary believer who just wants to make a change in their spiritual growth. In the process, it is also about the desire to follow God's calling. Contrary to what some might think, discipleship is not an option. It is a command. It is a calling to be obeyed. This book lays out a clear map for us to navigate the journey step by step. There is little theological jargon. Instead, it is written in simple language that we can all follow. The strength lies in the regular prompting for the reader to do a "personal reflection." This is a critical component because it helps internalize our learning development.

How do we use this book? Read it. Answer the questions laid out. Assemble a group of like-minded individuals to take the same journey. As the famous Chinese saying goes, the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Take the first step of faith to embark on this journey of discipleship. Just do it. In fact, we don't even need to wait until we finish the last page. We can read along, reflect, and keep going. Discipleship is never meant to be difficult. What makes it difficult is often due to self-installed mental barriers such as "I don't know," "I am not sure how," and most devastatingly, "I don't want to." Perhaps, this book can help us restart any past efforts toward discipleship. By taking away the superlatives of discipleship and restating it as "ordinary," we would have replaced "Why should I?" with "Why not?"

Jessie Cruickshank is a demonstrated disciple-maker and facilitator of spiritual transformation. She is the founder of WHOology, an ordained Foursquare minister and a nationally recognized leader in the fields of Experiential Education and Educational Neuroscience. She has spent two decades applying neuroeducation research to discipleship, ministry training, experiential education, and organization development. She holds a Master’s from Harvard in Mind, Brain, and Education. Jessie is passionate about creating organic systems that facilitate holistic human and organizational development.

Rating: 4.25 stars of 5.

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

[Kristjan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled with the book; however, I believe that was primarily because of the differences between my own experiences and interpretations sources against what was presented in the book, that it was difficult to connect to the material. Perhaps to most significance would be the decision to hand discipleship and disciple-making to Dr Campbell’s Hero’s Journey myth; of which I am actually a huge fan, but my understanding of what it is and how it is used seem to be at odds with how the author uses it. It would have worked better for me to simply acknowledge an inspiration before changing the name (eg. Disciple’s Journey) and steps involved (instead of just the latter). An example of a smaller irritant would be the brief discussion about iron “folding" and creating something from the inside out. While I am pretty sure the author meant steel, that type of oversight is distracting for somebody with a material science background. Despite my issues and reservations, the material as presented is generally solid.

This is meant to be consumed as a physical book; layout is a huge part of the presentation with calls-outs and lists liberally distributed throughout the book. In addition, each chapter provides a space for journalling at the end. There are nine (9) chapters with the first introducing the journey steps and the last restating them in review. The intervening chapters are each dedicated to a specific step on the journey. Each chapter opens with a Bible verse, a personal experience, a discussion with call outs for “Personal Reflections” and “Disciplemaker Pro Tips” before ending with discussion questions and journal space/inventory. In addition, the author uses bulleted list to great effect in summarizing many of the concepts covered (making it a very practical guide for discipleship). Overall this gives the whole book a very polished and professional feel (there will also be some additional artifacts available on the associated website, that is currently focused on marketing).

1. Experience the Journey
2. An Ordinary Person
3. Answers the Call
4. Teams with Others
5. Learns New Things
6. Feels the Struggle
7. Experiences Revelation
8. Lives Changed
9. Discerns the Season


I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#OrdinaryDiscipleship #NetGalley

[Mark Montgomery · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am delighted to find a book that captures the balance of the adventure, the nuance, and the structure plus teachable moments of disciple making: Ordinary Discipleship: How God Wires Us for the Adventure of Transformation, by Jessie Cruickshank. From the very beginning of this book, the author introduces a different and lighter tone to the discussion of disciple making that was refreshing as it was surprising.

I just love Jessie for the person I have discovered her to be. She made such a great first impression on me at her 2023 Exponential workshop. But this book reveals that she is a whole lot more than the neuroscience expert and objective observer of generations that popped out at me from her bio. So, I was bracing myself for a lot of heady science when I cracked her book, which shows up lightly later. What I totally missed was her adventure guide career and orientation which she leverages in her graphic outline that fully utilizes the classic hero's journey plot common in literature.

I love that perspective and find it personally healing and hopeful for my own journey as Christ's disciple. Her definitions of disciple and disciple maker bring significant clarity to often foggy concepts. Jessie weaves an appropriate amount of her own narrative into this study and invites the reader to similar reflection. She writes and formats her book to accommodate the reader in bite-sized digestion and exercise, which is integral to her approach to application-based discipleship. Then at the end of each chapter is a more extensive invitation to the reader to discuss and process what they've learned.

My greatest takeaway that was so transformational for me was a fresh reinterpretation of my life along the stages of the hero's journey. So comforting and liberating for myself and enlarging my heart for others with mercy, understanding and patience!

In short, after reading this book slowly enough to apply what he learned, I am as inspired to make disciples as I would be to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro on a group expedition. You will be, too. Thanks, Jessie, for infecting me with a fresh vision of this journey: Jesus’ way of discipling ordinary people!

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really pleasant surprise. I wasn't too sure what I was looking for when I requested this book but am so delighted that I did. Cruickshank is a tremendous guide along the journey of disciple making. She is a disciple who has been discipled, an experienced disciple maker and is a veteran wilderness guide to boot!

Underpinned by Joseph Campbell's Hero Journey and her vast wilderness training, Cruickshank provides a very clear path to how to become a disciple maker. The modern church in many ways has lost this desire and experience: to make disciples. We've confused the salvation experience with making disciples and abdicated the job of disciple makers to teachers and preachers believing structured learning is the key to the practice. Cruickshank rightly points out that the first key to the practice is relationship. We need to connect with others as led by the Holy Spirit and journey with them through their transformation process.

I love this quote: "Deep transformation happens in the unseen" and so it's imperative for someone who seeks to be discipled to have someone walk with them as they move through this miraculous process.

I'm guilt of not being good at it. I haven't prioritised it rather simply choosing to focus on friendship rather than being committed to the spiritual journey with another. I'm keen to make amends.

Even though tremendously practical allowing the reader to personalise the disciple maker experience on reading the book, actually doing it well will take time to learn and grow in. However, having this wonderful resource to refer back to will help sharpen the process, I suspect.

I was very fortunate to receive an early ebook copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley with no expectation of a positive review. However, I will be purchasing my own copy as the early version didn't format some of the tables and boxes for easy reading.

[Tim Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Discipleship has never been optional. Unfortunately, since so many don’t understand its importance and/or methods, disciplemaking is too seldom engaged. As a local church pastor and a college professor I am thankful for the ways Jessie brings clarity to this topic.

Where other books on discipleship can leave the reader feeling overwhelmed or overly convicted; Jessie’s writing is inviting, empowering, and encouraging! She gives a practical roadmap for discipleship that is deeply rooted in the way of Jesus, and highly possible for the modern disciplemaker. Particularly helpful are the reflection questions scattered throughout and at the end of each chapter.

I would gladly hand this book to any disciple of Jesus as a resource to help them BE one and MAKE more! Ordinary Discipleship makes a great personal-reader for anyone looking to make disciples. It would also be a brilliant resource for small group or classroom reading for developing leaders looking to wrestle with methods of disciplemaking in their own context.

All of that said, keep in mind that this book is not simply a "get discipled quick" book. Reading it will not magically make you a disciple making disciple maker. But if you are ready to do the work Jesus invites and expects you to do as a Christian, then this is an excellent book for you! While not difficult to read, the work it inspires will require the work of the rest of your life.

[Corey D Grinder · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Extraordinary Take On Discipleship

While I initially struggled with the notion of using Joseph Campbell's model of a hero's journey, I believe Holy Spirit helped me to get past that with a comparison to how the apostle Paul used a familiar framework with the Areopagans. Once that false summit was climbed--to use the author's imagery--I found Jessie's take on discipleship to be incredibly freeing and helpful because of her trust and reliance on the Holy Spirit at work in and through the Word and People of God as they would enter and embrace the journey towards transformation rather than the usual performance track of information acquired and accomplishments achieved. If you're wanting to know Christ or share Christ with someone you love, reading this slowly with someone who shares that desire, too, might be the best thing you could do this year!

[JP · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being thrown into leadership of a church plant in post modern Europe, amongst Antifa activists, the homeless, drug addicted, street punks and post Christian materialistic university students in my early twenties I can’t emphasize enough how important this book is, as it puts in words what my experience taught me.
Looking back on my story how I was discipled and how we did only see lasting transformation through life on life discipleship the framework Jessie offers in this book is a gem.

[Piper Hilgaertner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book I think it did a good job of explaining some of the connections between neuroscience and creating disciples. I liked how it focused on the ordinary person and how they can be an affective disciple maker for the kingdom and gave practice ways to do this. Sometimes however it felt a little checklisty.

[John Musgrave · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the Best Disciple Making Book’s I’ve Read

This book focuses on relational discipleship, but does it in such a way, that allows every “ordinary” disciple to become a disciple-maker!

[Krystal Gwynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sooo good!!! This book condenses so much of the general information I’ve been wanting to share with those I’ve been discipling in an easy to work through & talk through format. Such a great resource to use as a starting point for discipleship making relationships! 10/10 would 100% recommend!

[Kyle Haack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpfully compares discipleship to a wilderness adventure.

[Efrain David Escalona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great!!!!!

Really good explanation about the discipleship process and how you can live making disciples. It’s simple but is not easy.

[Virginia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful, practical, refreshing. This book will challenge the traditional view of discipleship... as it should.

[Ashley Worsham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good principles, but fairly formulaic. The section that attempted to cover personality was based on pop psychology that's well established as incorrect.