For this week’s post about my journey through my own personal library, I will highlight two books! I have so many books in my library that it is high time I make sure I have read each work on my shelves! The first book I will highlight is Mark Atteberry’s “The 10 Dumbest Things Christians Do” (2006). The second book I will highlight is Dana Allin’s “Simple Discipleship” (2018). The first is probably a book for any believer and the second is more for a church leader. Again, I am making my way through the “A” section of my shelves.

Mark Atteberry’s “The 10 Dumbest Things Christians Do”

I would recommend Mark Atteberry’s book for two reasons. First, he is a pastor in the same flavor of church of which I am a pastor and so I feel some camaraderie-from-a-distance with him. Second, the book is really good. I will not list the 10 dumbest things Christians do, but will highlight some things he said that struck a chord with me.

“Right now, the question you need to be asking is not whether you’ve ever slung mud on the bride of Christ. I’m sure you have. Just as I have, and every Christian I know has. We’ve all had weak moments and bad days. We’ve all said and done things that reflected poorly on the Lord and His church. No, the question you need to be asking is whether you sling mud as a matter of habit or routine. That’s really the critical issue” (page 13).

“It’s possible for us to witness to our friends and get them all fired up and started to church without ever mentioning Jesus. The result is that they’ve won to the church rather than the Lord” (page 25).

The section on “Church Hoppers” on pages 81-102 is worth the price of the book not only because of the on-point content, but the quote at the beginning of the chapter probably did not age well from the source.

“The goal of every opportunity should be to point people to Jesus” (page 135).

The section on “Allowing Wolves to Live Among the Sheep” on pages 163-182 (especially page 165) is also worth the price of the book. Well done sir.

Dana Allin’s “Simple Discipleship”

Dana Allin’s book on discipleship is comprehensive, deep, and unpacks any and all reasons for small groups in the Church. It is very well done. Honestly, the book also comes with a code to do the ‘Simple Discipleship Assessment’ which is part of their ministry… and I haven’t done it yet. I will. Perhaps I will add some info about the assessment after I do it.

The entire approach of the book takes its cues from Jesus’ words in Matthew 22 about loving God with our whole selves. The book approaches small group ministry broadly (and correctly) and then also presents the weeds of groups (also correctly). If a person is looking for a resource about small groups in a church, this is a solid pick. Worth it.

A section for me that was especially meaningful was pages 24-25 where he outlines that “Jesus understood discipleship as more than simply dispensing information.” Ouch. I absolutely fall into the trap of thinking that Bible study is discipleship. It ain’t. “Simply having enough information isn’t true discipleship – true discipleship involves application and transformation” (page 25). That section hit me hard.

I found the illustration on page 111 illustrating the plan of growing as a disciple on-target and completely needed for churches. The diagram answers the basic and obvious question (which is often missed): “How do we bring the Lord into our development plan?” (page 111).

This book is well done, full of solid theological information, and I would assume that the assessment… had I done it before writing this… would have made some of the areas of the book come alive with personal connections and more clarity.

TMB