Life with Jesus: A Discipleship Course for Every Christian (Let the gospel and God's grace shape your attitude to church, Bible reading, prayer, ... or small-groups. Confirmation/baptism)

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Tim Chester has a keen ability to reflect on gospel, community, and mission, making them accessible to the common person through the mess and movement of everyday life. Tim certainly accomplished this again in A Meal with Jesus. With each meal, my convictions about how the gospel informs all of life and relationships went deeper, and my affections for Jesus grew stronger. I want everyone in my church to read this book.” Great Course for a Homegroup, Youth Discipleship Group or Individual Use” (Review written for 'Life with Jesus') Matt Smethurst, Gospel Coalition reviewer and Master of Divinity student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary The Good Book Guides have been developed to ensure that each session not only seeks to uncover the meaning of the passage and see how it fits into the big picture of the Bible, but also leads people to apply what they have learnt to their lives. Flexible and practical, the Good Book Guides are ideal for small groups, or individual study. Leithart: Jesus "came teaching about the feast of the kingdom, and He came feasting in the kingdom"

In this devotional, Tim Chester covers a variety of topics that are fundamental to the Christian faith, church life, and personal holiness. Each section includes an imaginary anecdote, a Scripture reading and explanation, comprehension questions, and suggested action steps. This is appropriate for individuals to work through by themselves, but the author primarily designed this for people to go through with a friend or in a discipleship group. At the end of the book, Chester includes advice for group leaders, suggesting different ways that they can adapt the material for their group's use and foster meaningful conversations. open your home and look for opportunities to throw a party for various occasions (personal, sporting, seasonal, cultural); "You don't have to give a little sermon—just be attentive to people and open about your faith" This course is great for new Christians and for those who'd like a refresher about what living as a Christian distinctively looks like. There are some great sessions about big topics that we don't often revisit in our Christian lives (e.g. communion, money and witness). I particularly love the case studies offered in each chapter so that the bible passage can be immediately applied to see what it might look like in practice. He was a party animal" [bit of an overstatement, but okay]; "Luke's Gospel is full of stories of Jesus eating with people"I was really excited to read this book, and I really wanted to love it, but I just kinda didn't. I didn't hate it either, and there was certainly some good stuff in there, but it didn't offer the inspiration and encouragement I'd hoped for. That may be my fault -- I may have been wanting it to be something other than what it was, and therefore rendered myself unable to appreciate it. food isn't just fuel/utility—when we treat it as such, we deny God's gifts of rest, community, gratitude, etc. Incorporating Bible study, clear explanations, and thought-provoking discussion questions, these sessions can be completed in around an hour and are designed to be used flexibly in different contexts. we have a strong sense of forgiveness if we have a strong sense of our own need; otherwise, our help sounds patronizing ("become like me") I have always told the congregations I've served that if you take the mountains and meals out of the Bible, it's a very short book. In a world of competing church models and strategies, Tim shows us that Jesus employed one practice over all others: Sharing a meal with people. This book serves as a poignant reminder that grace, mission, and community are never enacted best through programs and propaganda, but rather through the equality and acceptance experienced at the common table. May our lives never be too busy to live this out.”

Look at the Head, Heart, Hands application as they're a good opportunity to really ground the application for the young people, perhaps using the whiteboard to draw these symbols and then talk about the possibilities for each, or giving them an opportunity to draw/write responses as something more creative.

Life-changing encounters from John's Gospel

Jesus eats with self-righteous Pharisees too; Prodigal Son story ends without resolution—leads us to consider our own response This 12-session discipleship course, perfect for individuals or groups, looks at how the gospel and God's grace can shape our attitude towards church, Bible reading, prayer, suffering, how to use our money, and many other aspects of life. Although the book is called a "course", it's essentially a daily or weekly bible study that walks through what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

In ‘Life With Jesus’, Tim Chester provides a course for new believers who want to know the next step in their journey with Jesus, or for the more mature follower of Christ who simply wants a refresher. Follow this up with a couple of the "Thinking it Through" questions that seem relevant to the group This is appropriate for teenagers and adults, and can be a helpful discipleship tool in one-on-one meetings or in a group, but this is for people who are just beginning to learn about their faith, or who may have come out of a very shallow church where they didn't learn fundamental things about Christianity. If someone is looking for a deeper take on the topics this book covers, they are better off looking for another resource, especially if they are trying to deepen discipleship relationships in a group of people who have already professed faith and attended church for long periods of time.

A Discipleship Course for Every Christian

eating and drinking are signs of friendship; "In the ministry of Jesus, meals were enacted grace, community, and mission"; meals are "social occasions" and "represent friendship, community, and welcome"; "meals should be an integral and significant part of our shared life" God-centered, application-oriented, and driven by the text throughout, this resource is a gift to God’s church." Chester's call to use meals as a means to breaking down barriers is a little muddled. On the one hand he notes that, metaphorically, we are all poor, blind, crippled, and lame (p. 79), yet he scolds Christians who gather together as a "cozy support group" rather than in "adventurous mission" (p.82). Surely there's room and need for both. He identifies the traditional category of the elite as the wealthy and self-righteous, but does that necessarily fit in our culture? I don't think our in/out divide is strictly or even mostly a rich/poor divide. "Coolness" is a powerful kind of elitism in our culture, and the self-righteousness of political correctness is potent and hard to see.