Daring to Disciple: Making Jesus' Last Command Our First Priority

By Stuart Robinson

DARING TO DISCIPLE by Dr Stuart Robinson.

We are sleep walking into oblivion unless there is a dramatic change.

DARING TO DISCIPLE reminds us of the biblical imperative of not merely calling for conversions, but more importantly to make disciples. The principles within the pages of this book have been demonstrated to be effective in all religio-cultural contexts. Their simplicity, adaptability and flexibility is their strength.

This insightful and convicting book is a clarion call to make disciples. If you want to change the world then read this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9780648510840

Stuart Robinson

Dr Stuart Robinson is the Founding Pastor of Australia's largest Baptist Church. Before that he worked for fourteen years in South Asia where he pioneered church planting among a previously very resistant majority people group. He travels extensively as a speaker at Seminars, Conferences and Colleges. He is the author of thirteen books including best-selling titles, Mosques & Miracles, Defying Death, The Prayer of Obedience and The Challenge of Islam. He graduated from four tertiary institutions. Stuart was born in Brisbane Australia and is married to Margaret. They have three married children. www.drstuartrobinson.com

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What Others Are Saying About This Book…

If ever we needed a book like this it is now. When Jesus called a group of fishermen, these ordinary men were to become some of the greatest figures in history, changing the world forever. They were called to be disciples. In the same way Daring to Disciple will cause you to re-examine your life and respond to the same call that Jesus gave two millennia ago, ‘Come follow me’. Jesus’ disciples always became disciple-makers. Reader be warned: This is not a feel good, self help book. However if you are spiritually hungry and want to change the world, read this book. I dare you.’

David Lawton

Director, Praxeis, Melbourne, Australia

Since I first met pastor Stuart Robinson many years ago, I realized that the version of Christianity he testifies to by his life and ministry, is a must for the rest of us to grasp, if we want to be authentic and faithful in our Christianity and our discipleship making endeavor. This book is more than a testimony, more than a textbook, more than instruction. It is a paradigm-changing book. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Bohuslav Wojnar

Senior Pastor, AC Christian Center Český Těšín,

Chairman, Nehemia Foundation, Czech Republic

Dr Stuart Robinson, a close friend and mentor of mine for many years, occupies a unique place. For years he worked in Asia among people regarded as among the hardest and least reached in the world. Called back to Australia where for decades the church had continued to decline, he fulfilled God’s vision, founding a different kind of church that grew into one of the largest in the nation. Today he works in many countries around the globe, some of them very difficult places like where we work, sharing the same principles seeing the same outcomes Jesus promised. It’s not another program. It’s about relationships and important principles which produce great fruit. Read, only if you are ready to become a multiplying disciple.

International Director

Mission and Humanitarian Organization in Central Asia,

the Middle East and Africa

Wow! What an insightful and convicting book on making disciples! Stuart Robinson writes with clarity, courage and compassion. He masterfully integrates the Scriptures with life; and writes with the clarity of a Bible teacher, the courage of a disciple making pastor and the compassion of a missionary! Establishing a solid biblical foundation, Stuart illustrates it with personal anecdotes and compelling stories to convict and educate us. I’ve benefitted from reading Daring To Disciple and keenly recommend it!

Edmund Chan

Leadership Mentor, Covenant EFC Founder, Global Alliance of Intentional Disciplemaking Churches, Singapore

In this brief yet timely volume, Stuart Robinson reminds us of the biblical imperative of not merely calling for conversions, but more importantly to make disciples. Through the artful interlacing of biblical principles, personal experiences, and reflections of historic and current events, he outlines a range of simple guidelines by which every true disciple of Jesus may embark upon a lifetime of discipling others. Throughout, we are reminded of the priority and power of prayer, the importance of relationship building and the engagement with persons of peace in true disciple making. Stuart offers some sage and practical advice which is applicable in any context.

Dr Peter Francis

Principal and Lecturer, Malyon College, Queensland, Australia

My friends and I like to read the ODGs (Old Dead Guys). Stuart Robinson is an old wise guy, very much alive, worth reading, and radical in methodology while conservative in theology—an engaging combination. This book on discipleship is practical and reminds us that making disciples is hard but doesn’t have to be complicated. Disciples can’t be microwaved and they can’t be made in isolation. Disciples are made with both tears and joy, and disciples are to be made among all nations by all of us. Reading this Old Wise Guy will help guide you in that obedience.

Dick Brogden

Co-Founder, Live Dead Movement, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

After hearing Dr Robinson teach our students on Disciple Making Movements, I dared to ask for his notes. Instead of sending the notes, he wrote this book. Daring to Disciple is for those who are willing to move from the comfortable belief that in theory God could still do these sorts of things today, to the critical question of the disciple making process: If this story is true? Christians believe the Bible is true, but too many do not obey it by living the life of a disciple that makes disciples.

What if the story that tells that adherents to Islam will be the largest religious group in the world by 2070 is true? Today it seems theory, but it might be the reality that our children will face. Before God, each of us will go through an accountability session regarding the way we lived our faith. Will He approve of us being good and faithful servants? If this is of critical importance for you, then this book will teach you on how to live a practical, not a theoretical Christianity!

Ileana Hrișcă

Executive Director, Centre of Cross-Cultural Studies, Romania

As a young man, Dr Robinson made a deal with God as he clung to the edge of a cliff, Save me and I will go anywhere and do anything…! Praise God for the incredible journey of faith, obedience and abundant fruit that resulted—I’ve seen it in action and am reading it again in this book! Robinson teaches us through story and his own vast experience of being a disciple who makes disciples. By laying a foundation that discipleship is about relationship not programs and experiencing God, not just knowledge about him, he encourages us that when we as ordinary people hang out with Jesus, we become extra-ordinary. Beyond practical and proven disciple-making principles, this book is an urgent call for pastors and missionaries to lead by example and be about the business of disciple-making—for without it the Church is doomed to decline. Stop, pray, look and listen and you will find the harvest is plentiful with people who are open, hungry and eager!

John Becker

Vice President, Global Networking and Partnerships,

Global Alliance for Church Multiplication (GACX),

Strategy Coordinator, AIM International

By the Same Author

Mosques & Miracles: Revealing Islam and God’s Grace

Defying Death: Zakaria Botross — Apostle to Islam

Traveling Through Troubled Times

The Prayer of Obedience (Revised 2016)

The Promise of Vision

The Challenge of Islam

Islam Rising – The Middle East and Us

The Hidden Half – Women and Islam

Persevering Prayer – Growing Your Church Supernaturally

Positioning For Power – Kneeling Low in Prayer Standing Tall in God

Praying the Price

Published by CHI–Books

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Daring To Disciple – Making Jesus’ Last Command Our First Priority

Copyright © 2020 by Stuart Robinson

Print ISBN: 978-0-6485108-3-3

eBook ISBN: 978-0-6485108-4-0

Under International Copyright Law, all rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, including by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise in whole or in part without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of sermon preparation, reviews or articles and brief quotations embodied in critical articles. The use of occasional page copying for personal or group study is permitted and encouraged. Permission will be granted upon request.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Printed in Australia, United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Distributed globally through major outlets.

CHI-Books is the publishing imprint of CityHarvest International.

Editorial assistance: Anne Hamilton

Cover design: Hadassah Wallis

Layout: Jonathan Gould

Contents

What Others Are Saying About This Book…

By the Same Author

Published by CHI–Books

Dedication

Foreword

Warning

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1 A Shakey Start

CHAPTER 2 Who is a Disciple?

CHAPTER 3 Where to Begin

CHAPTER 4 Leaders Lead—in Prayer

CHAPTER 5 Know the Enemy

CHAPTER 6 On the Road

CHAPTER 7 The Heart of the Matter

CHAPTER 8 A Simple Secret

CHAPTER 9 The Starting Place

CHAPTER 10 Tell the Story

CHAPTER 11 If You Are a Pastor

CHAPTER 12 And if You Are a Cross-Cultural Worker

CHAPTER 13 The Utimate Cost

CHAPTER 14 The Benefits

CHAPTER 15 The End of the Beginning

Appendix A

Appendix B Bible Stories

Appendix C Discovery Bible Study Questions

Bibliography

Endnotes

About the Author

Dedication

This book is dedicated to

Pastor Allan Webb

with whom I have journeyed for 53 years

as he has faithfully modeled for me

what it means to be a disciple of Jesus

Foreword

I was nervous when Rev. Dr Stuart Robinson asked me to write the foreword to Daring to Disciple. Not because of Stuart himself. He is a friend, mentor and my predecessor in the church where I have served as the Senior Pastor since 2008. Nor was my nervousness to do with what he might think about a foreword that I would write. No, my nervousness was to do with alignment. I have been studying and reflecting on discipleship for many years and I know that it can mean hundreds of different things to people. My nervousness was a matter of principle. Could I write a positive forward to a book if I was not convinced of the approach being taken in the book?

Why is soccer the world game? A friend once asked me this question. I shrugged my shoulders because I am not a fan of the game and I thought it was an opportunity for him to boast about his favorite sport. "Because anyone,