Bill Hull wrote his book, Choose the Life, to address a problem in today's church, namely nondiscipled Christians. Because of the lack of discipleship, the church no longer has a meaningful presence in the world.

C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, "The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time." The American church culture, too often focused on numbers over people and programs over transformation has become that--a waste of time. Hull's book explores a discipleship that would restore the American Church to its transformational mission.

Choose the Life follows in the tradition of Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship. He speaks from personal experience as well as observations. Hull writes out of his brokenness and passion. His book is honest yet gracious. He spells out the need for discipleship and explores how churches can begin discipling, namely through communities of grace and accountability and by using the spiritual disciplines. Hull emphasizes a willingness to give up our rights and reputation to follow Christ, a difficult concept to grasp. Indeed, the American church sometimes pursues rights and reputation!

The book is founded on Scripture and the classics of spiritual formation (e.g. Dallas Willard, Henri Nouwan, Richard Foster, as well as the church fathers). Choose the Life reminds the Church to follow Christ in his beliefs, character, love, ministry, and leadership.

I have quelms with the way he expresses three concepts. First, he borrows from Bonhoeffer the term "cheap grace."  While I believe he means we treat grace cheaply, I hesitate using the term because to some, it implies we can cheapen grace. Grace is costly to God, and nothing we can do can cheapen what God did. If you spit on a block of gold, it's still gold. And like our actions can't cheapen grace, our actions can't make it worth more.

Second, Hull says Jesus made himself irrelevant to culture. While I agree Christ didn't care about their opinions or try to make himself trendy, he made himself relevant merely by the act of the incarnation. Further, he taught in ways that clearly communicated to the culture around him. Christ was relevant, but he didn't stop there. He was transformational. I believe the church should be relevant, not to be popular or trendy, but in order to be transformational. Like Jesus, we should contextualize the gospel in order to best communicate God's truth and challenge our communities to engage with Christ. I don't believe Hull would argue we shouldn't do this, but some may imply that from the book.

Third, Hull seems to imply a nondiscipled Christianity is not true Christianity. I agree that our emphasis on doctrine over behavior or intellectual assent over a call to a new life has led to an impotent church, but I'm uncomfortable with the implication about salvation, namely, the judgments regarding who are and who aren't Christians. While not all are true confessions, only God knows the heart.

I alternated between enjoying and being convicted by Choose the Life. It challenged me to pursue Jesus' calling to follow him no matter what the cost. It's an excellent book for churches serious about transforming their communities.

Summary by Heather A. Goodman