Key Terms and Discussion from The Great Omission: Chapter 1

The Gospel Presupposes Discipleship (3) --

All of the assurances and benefits offered to humankind in the gospel evidently presuppose [a life of discipleship] and do not make realistic sense apart from it. The disciple of Jesus is not the deluxe or heavy-duty model of the Christian.... He or she stands as the first level of basic transportation in the Kingdom of God.

The Great Omission (4) -- Here it is in one brilliant paragraph:

[T]he churches of the Western world have not made discipleship a condition for being a Christian. One is not required to be, or to intend to be, a disciple in order to become a Christian, and one may remain a Christian without any signs of progress toward or in discipleship. Contemporary American churches in particular do not require following Christ in his example, spirit, or teachings as a condition of membership--either in of entering into or continuing in fellowship of a denomination or local church.

Bait and Switch (6) -- Dallas's term for one possible response of a Christian when offered discipleship. "This isn't what I signed up for. I was told that I said a prayer and got my ticket to heaven. What's this obedience thing about, now?"

The Way (7, passim) -- Dallas routinely mentions the Way of Jesus, which as I understand it was actually the first name for Christianity. I like this because it's the primary method by which I too distinguish between between the path of discipleship (the Way) and the great world-historical religio-cultural tradition (Christianity).

What a Disciple Is (7) --

The disciple is one who, intent upon becoming Christ-like and so dwelling in his "faith and practice", systematically and progressively rearranges his affairs to that end.

One of the recurring themes of our discussion in the chapter was how Dallas made us take stock of our own discipleship as much as (or perhaps even more than) he made us cheer about his scathing critique of discipleship-less Christianity.

The Cost of Non-Discipleship (9) -- Playing off of Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship and pointing back towards the first sentence I quoted in this post, Dallas points out that the cost of non-discipleship is staggeringly high. In short, non-discipleship costs you exactly that abundance of life that Jesus said he came to bring (John 10:10).

My interest in the cost of non-discipleship tends to be on its larger systematic effects on the church and the world, but it's also important to understand that cost of non-discipleship for the individual.

The Most Frightening Paragraph of Chapter One (11) --

For those who lead or minister, there are yet graver questions: What authority or basis do I have to baptize people who have not been brought to a clear decision to be a disciple of Christ? Dare I tell people, as "believers" without discipleship, that they are at peace with God and God with them? Where can I find justification for such a message? Perhaps more important: Do I as a minister have the faith to undertake the work of disciple-making? Is my first aim to make disciples? Or do I just run an operation?