I must admit that when I received Live Sent: You Are A Letter by Jason Dukes (Wheatmark, 2009) I opened to the table of contents and groaned at the seemingly overuse of the mail/letter metaphor that Dukes has based Live Sent around. That lead to a reluctance to start reading spawned by the groan. However, I struggled through, and while this review is late for The Ooze Viral Bloggers, this has been due in part to that reluctance to read, and more in part due to my busyness lately, but better late than never. I do want to share this book with you!
So, little by little I continued reading, and after the first few chapters, 0_an introduction (you are a letter), 1_rethinking your “live” (the bulk mail called humanity) and 2_rethinking church (gathering to send) I did feel the mail metaphor was a little over used but in light of the content and the intended audience which I gathered to be your average church folk, I thought the content quite appropriate. In fact, I would assume that this book is excellent for the folk who love Jesus, are getting frustrated with their pew sitting and want to do more and aren’t interested in the heavier theological texts of Hirsch, Frost, Cole and others.
Overall, I enjoyed Live Sent: You Are A Letter by Jason Dukes (Wheatmark, 2009) and in fact have recommended to a few friends who are getting frustrated with legacy church. But I believe that this book should have a far wider audience — and should be read by leaders, and those aspiring to be leaders in churches. Pastors need to read this before leading a group, and should go further with the various theological texts on offer.
The standout section for me was the chapter on discipling versus discipleship. Dukes writes,
We have made ‘The Great Commission’ given to us from Jesus, into nothing more than a program we can package and sell and pull off in 2 hours or less on a Sunday or Wednesday. This is not ‘discipleship’.
Dukes goes on to show our misuse of the non-biblical word, discipleship. He argues, beautifully, that language is important, and defines our beliefs.
Jesus never divided the concepts we call ‘evangelism’ and ‘discipleship’. In fact, He seemed to speak of the two as parts of the same process. He called that process “discipling’. And He said that ‘AS WE GO’ in everyday life (not just programmatically or scheduled), we should be discipling.
Live Sent: You Are A Letter by Jason Dukes (Wheatmark, 2009) is an excellent resource and an excellent primer for discussing authentic following of Jesus, especially those seeking a missional (sent) life. From what I can tell about Jason from the book and my research online, he has distilled many lessons in life and captured them in a metaphor that is simple and understandable. If you get a chance read this, and if it piques your interest, search deeper!
What others are saying about Live Sent.
The Live Sent Intro:
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