Growing Up: How To Be a Disciple Who Makes Disciples

Robby Gallaty. Growing Up: How to Be a Disciple Who Makes Disciples. Bloomington, IN: CrossBooks, 2013. 248 pp. $14.99.

Robby Gallaty is a friend of mine and a godly man who loves Jesus and wants others to love Jesus. His passion to help people live out the glorious commission of our Lord is evident in his life and in this book. But friendship aside, I read Growing Up: How to Be a Disciple Who Makes Disciples as a pastor looking for a good resource to challenge me and those I’m discipling. In fact, I read it with a few guys from my church (Tim, Dan, Luis) and spent an early Friday morning talking through things we liked about the book as well as things we felt were lacking.

We all agreed Gallaty’s personal touch and well-illustrated writing make for an easy read. Growing Up is a resource accessible for just about anyone, and each of us read it in a few days. It’s organized in two sections. The first four chapters lay out our Lord’s call to be disciples who make disciples. These chapters highlight Gallaty’s personal transformation through discipleship, his recommendation to be in a discipleship group (a.k.a. “D-Group,” three to five people committed to 12 to 18 months of weekly discipling meetings), and the call to train ourselves for godliness in the context of discipleship relationships.

The remaining six chapters give practical prescriptions that should mark the lives of growing disciples. These chapters follow the acrostic C.L.O.S.E.R., each letter representing a spiritual discipline that helps develop a closer walk with Jesus. Read more