Book Review: Contagious Disciple Making
1 January 1970
Contagious Disciple Making
by David Watson & Paul Watson
An explosion of discipleship
‘God, I can’t plant churches anymore. I didn’t sign on to love people, train people, and get them killed.’ pxi
God answered David Watson’s prayer with a Church Planting Movement that saw 80,000 churches planted among a people group in Asia. In this challenging book, David and his son, Paul, outline the guiding principles and practices which they believe lead to Disciple Making Movements. They define this to mean sustainable movements of disciples making disciples, ideally eventually leading to Church Planting Movements.
These movements can result in explosive growth, but the authors warn that this is not because it is a quick process — far from it. Instead, disciple making requires long term investment in people, as they make clear throughout the book.
Crossing Barriers of Culture
The book is divided into two parts: the first half outlines the mind-set of a disciple-maker, showing the general principles behind their approach; the second half looks at the practices of a disciple-maker, giving more detailed practical advice. The authors’ conclusions are often challenging, even occasionally to the point of seeming harsh, but there is much to consider.
The heart behind their radical method is to break down every barrier of culture and let people discover Scripture for themselves. Whilst aspects of their assumptions are debatable, the results have been extraordinary and hugely encouraging.
Inspiring, Challenging and Equipping
In the practical section of the book, there is as high emphasis on the prayerful mentoring of disciples and the creation of new leaders. This leans heavily on the use of ‘Discovery Groups’: small Bible study groups led by members of the community. Again, whilst such a model may have its drawbacks and may not work in all settings, the rapid increase of new believers is hard to argue with.
In conclusion, if you can be patient with some of the more challenging assertions made within it, this book is a valuable addition to the bookshelf of anyone seeking to spread the gospel in cross-cultural ministry.