'It’s all about who we are... our spiritual genetic code' 

'This is not a ‘how to’ guide for the Great Commission, so much as it’s a ‘who to become’ guide. It’s about the quality of our discipleship.'

Baptist minister Dave Criddle introduces his new book The DNA of Healthy Discipleship - Letting Jesus ReCODE your spiritual life

 
I’m a Baptist. I’m not often asked why, but when I am it’s not long before I’m sharing about the priesthood of all believers. I don’t always use those words, but that’s what I’m trying to communicate, that every single Christian has the privilege, the call, the responsibility to serve him, to make him known, to help others connect with him.
 
Every believer a disciple. Every disciple a disciple-maker. That’s the vision. That’s the dream. It seems to be Jesus’ vision too as he gives the Great Commission in Matthew 28, a text foundational to our Declaration of Principle and shared life as Baptists.
 
But I’ve been a minister long enough for it to be a vision that raises a big question: if every Christian is a priest, how healthy is the priesthood? If every believer is a disciple, how healthy is the discipleship?

As I ask that question, I do so looking in the mirror and asking about my own discipleship, but also looking at our churches and longing for a stronger, healthier discipleship to take root and bear fruit.
 
It’s questions and thoughts like that which led to my book, The DNA of Healthy Discipleship. In it, I look to the Great Commission for clues about what sort of disciples Jesus had in mind when he sent out 11 disciples on a mountainside to go and make more.

And then, probing into those clues, asking what sorts of people we need to be today to do what Jesus calls us to. This is not a ‘how to’ guide for the Great Commission, so much as it’s a ‘who to become’ guide. It’s about the quality of our discipleship.
 
I use the image of healthy DNA because I find it a helpful one. It’s all about who we are, about our spiritual genetic code. What’s inside of us will come out. Quick fixes and clever programmes might mask it, but won’t fix it. It’s vital that what’s inside of us is healthy. So in the book I build up a picture of what I call the CODE of healthy discipleship DNA, all based on the Great Commission Jesus gives and the way he gives it. That ‘CODE’ is made up of:
 

• Confidence, to let Jesus truly be Lord and King over everything instead of putting our weight on things that can’t hold us.
• Obedience, to do what Jesus commands and discover the true freedom found in submission to him and pursuit of his path in our lives.
• Dependence, to draw deeply from the well of spiritual resource that Jesus makes available to us instead of acting in our own strength.
• Experience, to grow and mature with Jesus over the long haul of our lives instead of settling and standing still. 

I’ve tried to be really practical. So for each chapter that explores what those four qualities is, what it is meant to look like and what gets in the way, there is another chapter I call a ‘toolkit’. In those ‘toolkit’ chapters, I give a total of 20 tools people can use in their own discipleship to grow stronger and healthier as disciples.
 
My prayer is that as well as being a blessing to the disciples who read and apply what I’ve written, it will be a gift to churches and their leadership teams. In the foreword to the book, Alex Harris says:
 

'A word to my fellow ministers. I cannot recommend this book highly enough for the task of helping your people become fuller disciples of Jesus. Dave has given us an effective new crook and hook! We are called not just to shepherd our flocks but to raise up disciples who will, in turn, make disciples. This book offers just that.'

 
It would thrill me if the book was indeed a blessing in that way for churches, their members and their ministers and leadership teams.


The DNA of Healthy Discipleship - Letting Jesus ReCODE your spiritual life by Dave Criddle launches on 12 September
 
Order the book here: www.davecriddle.com/buy
Or you can find out more on my website: www.davecriddle.com
If you’d like to be in touch, I’d be delighted to hear from you at dave@davecriddle.com

 

Dave Criddle leads a church in Sheffield seeking to do discipleship and mission in creative ways, and learning lots through the process. He’s married to Natalie and they have a little boy called Jed

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