Book Review: The Reluctant Disciple: Daring to Believe

• Title: The Reluctant Disciple: Daring to Believe
• Author: David Wells, the Director of adult faith formation in the Diocese of Plymouth.  Married with three kids. Guest-lectures at three universities.[1]
• Published: Toronto, Ontario: Novalis, 2015. Pages-181.

At my church, for the last couple of years, I have attended a book/Bible study facilitated by our parish priest in between the 8:30 and 11:00 a.m. Mass.  We have read and discussed several books from C.S. Lewis and many that were strictly Bible study.  We just finished with The Reluctant Disciple.  I will be honest, when it was first mentioned I had my doubts.  I guess I can tend to be cynical.  I was all for Augustine’s Confessions, but Father was probably correct in steering us away from that.  Now that we have finished the book, I can truly say it was a good fit for our group.

Wells presents thirty chapters that are each titled with a catchy phrase such as, “What the turkey taught us,” Stupid Me,” and “Are you keeping busy?”  The chapters start with a few lines of scripture, then, an anecdotal story from Well’s personal life, followed by a part he calls “Making connections, which is really just seeking a deeper meaning in the story he just related, and finally ending with a couple of questions called “Conversation starters.”  It is a format that works really good for groups and for individual reading.  It is something that you could just take a few minutes out of your day to read one chapter, and then contemplate the implications.  How does this pertain to me?  Can I see myself in this situation?  How does this correspond with the scripture reading?  How can I become closer in my relationship to God?

In the introduction, Well’s caught me right away with something I kind of knew, but he solidified it for me.  He was at a conference in London to give a keynote presentation on two years’ worth of research into the “problems that Catholic schools were having recruiting teachers.”  It went off without a hitch and he could not have asked for anything to be better.  During the lunch break, the organizers informed him they had a problem.  The afternoon speaker would be unable to make it.  Could he get up and do something to cover them.  Perhaps take questions or something since his morning presentation had been so well received.  He reluctantly agreed, but he found himself in a quandary, he had nothing else prepared.  Here he was, he had presented everything so well this morning and now he would have to go back up and hopefully not be a failure. He was not sure what to do.  So, he got up, and just started relating stories that he had heard over the years of why teaching is a noble art.  The response was respectful and he was thanked for helping out.  However, after that, he notes:

“For the rest of the year, no matter where or when I met colleagues who’d been at that conference, not one of them mentioned my first presentation, which I had so diligently researched and written.  On the other hand, time after time people mentioned the stories I told that afternoon.  They would tell the story back to me as if I hadn’t told it in the first place.  The letters and feedback I received kept referring not to the morning as I anticipated but to the afternoon.” [2]

He relates that people really learn from stories.  They can see themselves in them.  Jesus uses stories to teach in the Bible.  There is a connection that is made when you tell a story.  Well’s states he is not trying to impress any one with his stories, but rather he is hoping someone will be able to read them and connect through them and maybe see something a little different.  I am reminded of Stephen Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and how he stresses the need to shift our paradigm, look at things from a different angle.  The final two lines of Well’s introduction are worth repeating here.

“Do not assume that the author is holier than you, cleverer than you, or more deserving than you.  The author is a reluctant disciple, who not by his own merit has found himself being taught – not by a course, as good as they can be – but by the simple discovery that if you ask God, he’ll start to show you.  All you have to do is ask, wait and see.”[3]

My overall evaluation is that that I like the format and the style of the author.  The book is great for anyone, but I especially feel it would be good for an ecumenical olive branch to help jump start a dialogue with others.  I would include those that have been gone from the church for awhile to those that are curious about Christianity in general.

[1] David Wells, The Reluctant Disciple. Toronto, Ontario: Novalis, 2015. Back cover and about the author.

[2] Ibid., Page 15.

[3] Ibid., Page 15