The Message of Discipleship
By Peter Morden
IVP 642 pages £12.99
ISBN 978 1 783 594 931
Honest realism about Christian discipleship is a necessary and endearing feature of this book.
In his Preface, the author, a previous Vice Principal of Spurgeon’s College and the Senior Pastor of a large Baptist Union church in Leeds, states: ‘I stumble and struggle like many Christians and do not feel qualified to write this book.’ But he also affirms how he has been ‘deeply challenged and wonderfully encouraged’ in the process of writing it, and it certainly seems to me to have the potential to do the same for us who read it.
The author clearly feels that the topic is really important and quotes John Stott’s comment that ‘there is a superficiality of discipleship everywhere’. Morden seeks to address this superficiality by what amounts to a series of expositions of Old and New Testament passages. It is a book best read with your Bible open.
Sobering exposition
Morden starts with a searching and sobering exposition of Mark 8 and 9, the call to follow in the way of Christ who went to the cross and calls us to take up our cross and follow him. It is also Christ-centred – as he puts it: ‘A book on discipleship should focus more on Christ than it does on his disciples.’ It is rooted in a high view of the perfection and authority of the Bible: ‘God’s word always satisfies and the guidance offered is always sure, for any age. The map of Scripture is not just perfect; it is also perfectly suited for its task of guiding us in discipleship’. Morden explains carefully the essential place of the Bible, prayer, the Holy Spirit and the local church in the life of any disciple. There is also a strong emphasis on mission, holiness, and whole-life discipleship in a world of inequality and need. There are chapters on work, love, perseverance and an excellent exploration of contentment. But perhaps the most moving chapter is ‘Discipleship in the Dark’, which takes the form of an exposition of Psalm 88 that is clearly informed by his own experience of suffering in facing his wife’s cancer. And he closes by urging us to fix our eyes on the heavenly country and the Lord who is there: ‘The greatest encouragement for a disciple of Jesus is to know that they will see him and be with him.’
Worth reading
This is a fine, thorough book with much to commend it. The author draws on wide reading and includes helpful quotations from a broad range of past and present writers. He clearly had views on a number of matters, such as environmental issues, women teaching and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, that he refers to in passing but chooses, wisely in my opinion, not to explore further in this volume. There are, as one might expect, nuances of interpretation that not all will agree with.
It is a well-written book, but at 230 pages long, it is not exactly a light read and busy Christians may well be less likely to make use of it as a result. But for those who do, this is a book worth the effort.
