When most people think of what it means to be a “Christian” the word “discipleship” usually doesn’t come to mind. After two millennia it seems that the standard has been pared down to a nub, so that now for the majority of professing Christians, commitment to Christ involves little more than assenting to a creed rather than submitting to Jesus’ dynamic leadership and becoming his followers. But when Jesus described the terms of what it means to be a part of his kingdom He left no ambiguity as to the fact that it requires discipleship as the baseline standard. His final command to his original graduating class was that they “make disciples of the nations” (Matthew 28:19-20) and not merely adherents to a set of beliefs. As to the model of discipleship, even fewer think of the “Old Testament” (or what I prefer to call the “First Testament”). And yet, not only do those thirty-nine books highlight a host of individuals whose lives exhibit what it means to be a disciple, but we’re expressly enjoined by the writers of the New Testament to mimic their lives (Hebrews 11) as they “imitate God” (Ephesians 5:1). In this book you’ll have the opportunity to observe the lives of ten such figures. Through these mini-biographies you’ll not only be exposed to their experiences as imitators of God, you’ll also learn lessons from their attainments as well as their failures which will be facilitative to your own odyssey of discipleship.

Jeff Becker is a graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary (1985) and was ordained in the Presbyterian Church in America in 1989. He has served as pastor, educator, and music-director, to name a few of his ministerial roles. This is his sixth book published by Outskirts Press.