Crossing the Discipleship Chasm (Paperback)

Crossing the Discipleship Chasm by Matt Lake is a game-changing guide for today’s churches, offering sharp insights and practical tools to revitalize discipleship in a chaotic world. Based on years of ministry experience, Lake’s expert blend of timeless wisdom and innovative strategies will equip you to foster a dynamic, adaptive, resilient discipleship culture. Indispensable reading for anyone committed to deepening their approach to a discipleship that lasts, lifts up Christ, and multiplies.

Matt Lake’s book is a needed innovation in the discipleship landscape. The disciple- making tools of the last decade have largely focused on more individual approaches to
helping people follow Jesus. Crossing the Discipleship Chasm embraces a more church-centric perspective that is accessible to a wide range of churches and will help them make more and better disciples.

Crossing the Discipleship Chasm was written not from abstract theory, but from years of practical study and hands-on experience. This helpful resource is full of helpful content
and holds the posture of a shepherd’s heart and a practitioner’s mind that’s rooted in people’s everyday lives. If you’re finding crossing the discipleship chasm to be daunting in your context, this resource will help you bridge that gap.

Matt Lake has offered both information and inspiration for those of us in the trenches of making disciples in a local church setting. His solid theology finds expression in
practical methods of using both formal and informal means to help our church members learn better how to follow The Jesus Way. Churches of all types will find the insights in this book helpful in answering the call from Jesus to make disciples!

A powerful tool for pastors, youth directors, small group leaders, ministry students, professors, and Christian college presidents! Dr. Matthew Lake’s book brings clarity,
insight, and hope to the complex and challenging task of making disciples in a fast-changing world. Dr. Lake’s academic research and lifelong work in the trenches of local church ministry are evidence of his commitment to a thoughtful, pragmatic approach to discipleship. This work will inspire Christian leaders seeking innovative ways to reach the next generation of disciples for Christ. Dr. Lake lives and breathes the good news of Christ as he faithfully leads others in bringing people closer to God through 21st-century disciple-making.

Matt Lake has interwoven the deep riches of the historical church with the practical experience of the local congregation to discover a discipleship pathway that isn’t just another church assimilation effort or plug-and-play program. With great appreciation for both the gathered and scattered church, this book guides you to embrace the multiple tensions that are necessary to help men and women become formed in the way of Jesus while embracing His mission in the world.

Unlike most "plug and play" discipleship strategies, this book asks the deeper questions that can help church leaders develop an intentional, yet nuanced approach to discipleship in their setting. With his typical pastoral heart, Matt offers the humble voice of one who has trod this road with his own congregation, as together they have discovered a more "authentic, rugged discipleship." Shannon Kiser is Director of US Ministries and Training, Fresh Expressions North America

Matt Lake's approach to discipleship is refreshing!  He invites us to step out of what was and navigate the changing landscape of discipleship in our world.  As he leads us to reflect on where we have been, we are challenged to embrace the tensions that exist in
church leadership and work together to fulfill our mission of making disciples.

The church might be one of the few places that longs to change lives and yet somehow believes this change can happen when one person stands up, offers a 20-minute talk, and then assumes that the people listening know what to do next and will do it. Rather
than accepting this norm, Matt Lake developed a pathway in which individuals were invited to learn, discover their gifts, and put them into practice. In this much needed resource, he now offers practical wisdom and thoughtful questions designed to help you do the same. It can be used by any individual or community longing to help the church become the fullness of what Jesus intended.

We preachers often confuse preaching with disciple-making. There is no church without discipleship. But it is hard to make disciples, so we revert to making mere members. This accessible and inspiring book, born of Matt Lake’s hard-won wisdom in parish ministry, encourages us to embrace the tensions between church-as-usual and church on-the-edge. Let’s join him. Wouldn’t it be more fun to multiply disciples in communion than just to manage decline?

Albeit clear, Jesus’ command to make disciples has proven to be anything but easy in a twenty-first century (Western) church and world. In this thoughtful, practical, and timely volume, Matt Lake helps us to re-imagine what faithful, fruitful discipleship might look
like today even as he encourages us to hear anew Jesus’ clarion call to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow him.

In this wise and exhilarating book, Matt Lake takes on perhaps the greatest challenge in the church today: the crisis of discipleship. Both a pastor and an adaptive leadership consultant, Matt brings a heart for the church, the boldness of an explorer, and the perspective of the innovator who has spent hours “on the balcony” learning from experiments. This book will both give words to the difficulties facing the church today and a way of approaching the challenge of discipleship that will inspire your own experimenting. This book will become a go-to guide for pastors who want to recover the lost art of discipleship.

Effective discipleship doesn’t come naturally to most churches. In Crossing the Discipleship Chasm, Matt Lake will guide you towards healthy approaches to discipleship deeply rooted in Jesus.

Thank you for helping the body of Christ get back to its roots, and giving us tools to cross the discipleship chasm!