In 1913 Henry Ford introduced the assembly line and standardized car manufacturing. In 1955 Ray Kroc opened his first McDonalds and standardized the fast food process. And it seems in the 21st century Jim Putman has standardized spiritual growth.
You can't argue with success, and so when I heard of Jim Putman, Real Life Ministries and the influence they were having in their community (8,500 people attend their church in a city of roughly 30,000) my curiosity was piqued. Not only had they seen God bring such great numerical growth, but they did it without seemingly focusing on the Sunday morning show but rather through the slower process of discipling individuals and training those disciples to make other disciples. An age old concept to be sure, but here was a church that seeming was actually doing it.
Since then I have read and reread the book, had my entire staff read it, elder board, and now we have distributed it to all of our small group leaders. I've been so engaged with this book for the past few months it prompted one of my children to ask me, "Dad, haven't you been reading that book for a long time?" I say this to frame the review that follows because it may seem at times like I'm negative on the book, which I am obviously not. I may just spend more time talking about the book's deficiencies rather than its more prominent and numerous strengths.
The one contribution that Putman brings to the whole discipleship discussion is the word "process." Where most churches break down in making disciples is that although they talk about the importance of it, they leave the entire process to chance and maybe intuition. While a few gifted and motivated ministry leaders may be able to systematically help people become better followers of Jesus Christ, many of us mere mortals lack either the structure or the organization to gain any real traction. What Putman puts forth in Real Life Discipleship is a clear, simple, reproducible system for discipleship that takes out a lot of the guesswork. There is not really much new here, other than the fact that the author applies much of the current discipleship thinking to his system. In fact as I was reading, I found myself saying, "This is exactly what I always say" or "I could have written this." The difference is that rather than just having strong values or a philosophy of ministry, Jim has crafted a system and process that actually works and, for the most part, moves the ball forward.
Much of what is in the initial chapters of the book will be familiar to those who have read even a couple books on discipleship as Jim sets the stage for the acute need for it and the critical lack of it in our contemporary churches. The genius of Part 1 is Jim's insistence that a mature disciple is characterized by reproduction. This shifts the definition of maturity from intellectual assent or knowledge to obedience (specifically, obedience that results in developing new disciples), a shift that is helpful although perhaps incomplete. Jim says, "I know many Christians who have the ability to be spiritual parents but don't make it a priority. Though they would like to call themselves mature, I would say that they are not. Why? Because they have not prioritized their lives around the mission of Christ, which is to make disciples." Although many people might want to take issue with Jim's assertion, he makes a strong case throughout the book.
The bulk of the book is then spent describing moving a person through the discipleship process from infancy to maturity, how to identify where a person is at, what their needs are at each developmental stage, and how to address those needs. Much of what he shares in these chapters is helpful although those more seasoned in ministry might find themselves frustrated at what seems to be simplistic answers to issues we know from experience can be quite complex. Those whose personality and spiritual gifting tends more towards the creative/intuitive side of the equation will routinely feel stifled by a system that, at least on the surface, seems to constrain and restrict original thought or ingenuity. Real Life is the McDonalds of discipleship (chapter 15 is even titled "Creating a Leadership Development Factory"). If you want an individually tailored approach and the freedom to craft and create a different method for different people, it's probably not for you. On the other hand, if you want to adopt a model that seems to work for most people, I would highly recommend this book.
I predict this book will simultaneously be extremely frustrating and very helpful for the emerging church crowd. Jim's standardized approach and method is going to make enough postmodern church leaders at least have a mild gag reflex. In addition to taking out all of the creativity and individualism of the discipleship process, there is almost no talk about seriously instilling Kingdom values like justice, mercy, compassion, etc... The thrust of the book seems to be more about the Mission of the Kingdom (creating disciples) rather than reflecting the culture of the Kingdom, which is a weakness. If one were to read only the Sermon on the Mount, it would become immediately obvious that a mature believer is one who lives by the priorities, ethics, and ideals of the Kingdom of Heaven, not just for spiritual reproduction. Inculcating Kingdom values and ideals in people like forgiveness, compassion, generosity, justice and righteousness are more caught than taught; and some aspects of spiritual growth you just cannot script or design.
But at the same time, many in the emerging church and missional church movements have much to learn from Jim. Although in the last decade some very creative and culturally relevant expressions of the body of Christ have been started, what most of these more organic expressions have struggled with is the task of actually making disciples and they lack (or refuse to embrace) a clear, simple, reproducible model on how to make more and better followers of Jesus; something any serious student of Jesus wouldn't deny we are called to do.
