Introduction | What a Generation Forgot

Key verse: Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. Matthew 28:9–20

(All excerpts are taken from the relevant chapter, in the words of the authors.)

Jesus’s final command is not a call to make converts, but a call to make disciples, and … that call will require us to teach converts to observe all that has been commanded.

A disciple is a learner. Discipleship is both a skill and a discipline, requiring effort and commitment, as all worthwhile skills do.

Theology is simply words about God. And everybody has words about God, everyone does theology, everyone is a theologian, which means that you and I are theologians.

All of us have words about God. We can grow in our ability to make those words accurate and good, edifying for others, glorifying to the One they describe.

The Great Commission calls disciples to make disciples. What is a disciple? A theologian learning to be a Christian theologian. A person with words about God learning to have true words about God and live in light of them.

This book has two goals: 1. For you to see yourself, and everyone else, as a theologian.

2. For you to grow in your knowledge and love of God through theology.

Theology is meant to be the work of your lifetime, one in which you are not merely a consumer of but a contributor to the conversation about God.

Repeat this out loud: “My name is [your name here] and I am a theologian.”