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Discipled Warriors: Growing Healthy Churches That Are Equipped for Spiritual Warfare

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Numerous books are being written on the subject of church growth. The book was written because of the author's desire to see churches be strong enough to win the battles against Satan as they are growing. Three main ideas are raised. The first is that too little consideration is being given to the theological foundation. Without a well-grounded foundation the church that develops will be weak at best. A second concern is that prayer is often neglected in the wealth of strategies and methods. Spiritual realities can so easily be overlooked in the effort to "get something done," to increase the number of names on the church roll or the size of the budget. The third idea is that all too often discipleship is only a part of the purpose of the church. It becomes another program, not a life style.
There are 10 chapters in the book. Chapter 1 presents the foundation for a biblical model for a local congregation. Chapter 2 shows that discipleship is an over all goal to defeat the enemy through a disciplined lifestyle. Power-driven programs are not the answer. Chapters 3 through 8 concentrate on the six purposes of the local congregation. They provide much direction, the "how-to" for achieving the goals of growing Christians in growing churches. Chapter nine is titled "Leading in Charge Without Losing the Battle." This involves sincere prayer by those who are leading. And encouraging others to pray regularly. "Lead from your knees if you want to grow a church with discipled warriors." Chapter 10, "A Concluding Challenge," gives serious warning through stories of failure in spiritual warfare from the Bible. The call is first to holiness and then to the battle.

Dr. Lawless has developed a very practical masterpiece that guides the reader through precious truths about spiritual warfare. He applies the five church functions plus prayer, made popular by Rick Warren, to overcoming the bondage imposed by sin and the enemy of God. The book stresses the need for discipleship and training or equipping in the area of the full armor of God as presented in Ephesians 6:10-20.

This book reads very smoothly and the material presented can be easily comprehended. This book is a must read for church pastors. Both the experienced pastor and new ministers will benefit from reading and applying these principles.

The most refreshing part of this work is that these are universal principles. Many works that are written about spiritual warfare apply only historical accounts about experiences from someones past. Those experiences are important but are not universal. Dr. Lawless has used his expertise and God given talent to organize the material found in Discipled Warriors and I believe you, your family, your church, and your community will benefit greater from your ministry after you have read this book.

This book merges two topics together: spiritual warfare and the purpose of the local church. Too often, they are separated, but Lawless sees them as working together.

There is a lot of emphasis on spiritual warfare, and some is suspect Biblically. Lawless, when in context, touches on some of those thoughts and addresses them. But his focus is not on refuting the wrong views; rather, it is focusing on the right views.

Lawless lists six pillars to the purpose of the church. In dealing with those chapters, he follows the pattern of defining the pillar, pointing out how Satan attacks that pillar, how the church can stand against those attacks, and listing applications and resources on those pillars.

One important thing is he looks at spiritual warfare more as the local church confronting the enemy as a unified front as opposed to an individualistic view. He also sees the local church as responsible for discipling new believers.

This is one of my all time favorite books, and I recommend that every one reads this.

Far too many books on the market today either deny or sensationalize spiritual warfare. Lawless here offers sensible, scriptural insight on the subject. His thoughts are grounded in the Bible yet illuminated by a heart and mind that are yielded to the Holy Spirit. His words are solid academically, yet very readable and understandable.

I've read many titles that are long on experience, short on theology and vice-versa. Lawless in this work strikes a fine balance. I recommend this title highly to all believers wanting to get a better understanding of the basics of spiritual warfare for the individual and for the local church.

This is an excellent sequel to Warren's Purpose-Driven Church (1995) and Schwarz's Natural Church Growth (1996) books on church development. Concise, Chuck Lawless helps us to refocus our church activities to the Lord's command to make disciples. Many churches in America are dying today because they have lost this focus. This book will help pastors and church leadership revive their congregations.