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Real Life: A Christianity Worth Living Out
What does it mean to follow Jesus? And how should we help others become more like him? Once upon a time, being a Christian seemed clear. Say these words, pray these prayers, do these things. But out in the real world, following Jesus feels more nebulous. What's the point? That's Stephen's struggle in these pages as he wonders if he has missed his calling. In this compelling narrative, James Choung explores what it means to follow Jesus in the real world. Is Christianity something you just believe in, or can it be something you actually live out? Engineer Stephen wants to encourage his younger colleague Jared in his spiritual journey, but both feel at a loss. Stephen's friend Bridget offers insights on how Boomers, Xers, Millennials and younger generations approach spiritual questions, with implications for discipleship, community and service. Together they walk through deepening stages of faith as they discern how God is calling them to live. Join Stephen, Bridget and Jared on their journey of following Jesus, as they discover what it means to move from skeptic to world-changer. And find new pathways for Christian discipleship and disciplemaking in a world yearning for hope.
248 pages, Paperback
First published October 3, 2012
11 people are currently reading
97 people want to read
About the author
James Choung
6 books33 followersJames Choung has been involved in campus ministries for over 23 years, empowering rising generations of Kingdom world-changers. He currently serves as InterVarsity's national director of evangelism, and also leads a house church called the Vineyard Underground. He has written True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In and its follow-up, Real Life: A Christianity Worth Living Out, and he has taught at Bethel Seminary San Diego on leadership development and evangelism. He frequently speaks at campuses, churches, and conferences, and his work has been featured in many publications including Christianity Today and Leadership Journal.
James has also sat in too many classes, writing his D. Min. dissertation on postmodern leadership development at Fuller Theological Seminary, receiving his M. Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and studying management science and marketing at MIT. He has previously served on the pastoral staff of a Boston-area urban church plant and of a megachurch in Seoul. He has also led worship at national conferences, and has been on boards for higher education and an overseas business startup. For fun, he likes to travel with his wife, tease his two sons, play board games with his buddies, hit jazzy chords on the keys, enjoy Los Angeles’ endless summer, and swing a racket in hopes of playing something like tennis. He blogs irregularly at www.jameschoung.net.
James has also sat in too many classes, writing his D. Min. dissertation on postmodern leadership development at Fuller Theological Seminary, receiving his M. Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and studying management science and marketing at MIT. He has previously served on the pastoral staff of a Boston-area urban church plant and of a megachurch in Seoul. He has also led worship at national conferences, and has been on boards for higher education and an overseas business startup. For fun, he likes to travel with his wife, tease his two sons, play board games with his buddies, hit jazzy chords on the keys, enjoy Los Angeles’ endless summer, and swing a racket in hopes of playing something like tennis. He blogs irregularly at www.jameschoung.net.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
April 26, 2023
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this read. It offers great insights into how the Christian life can be lived out, beyond the churchy to-do list: pray, read your Bible and go to church. This book directly addresses how faith impacts those around us.
Some key takeaways:
1. Discipleship can begin when first meeting someone, not after someone chooses to follow Christ.
I love that the ministry mindset isn’t either evangelism or spiritual formation, it’s both. My experience w the modern American church is they either fall into heavy evangelism, just working on conversion or spiritual formation, just focusing on current believers. This book remarries these two concepts as they were initially introduced by Jesus Christ himself.
2. Being intentional is not the opposite of being authentic, being nonchalant is.
I love that this book addresses some key insecurities I have around sharing my faith and hope in Christ. I used to think that being intentional is being too forward/ pushy and compromising my authenticity. But this book does a great job in explaining that is the exact thing Christ did. He sought people out, on purpose, by name and saw them specifically for who they are and where they were. It can seem so casual in the text and can be missed for how significantly on purpose Jesus was in his ministry. And how loved people were by that intentionality. My own faith is significantly marked by people who went out of there way to see/ pursue me, not by the people who remained nonchalant about my life.
3. A community of believers who encourage listening to the Holy Spirit, responding and then debriefing the experience is key to experiencing the kingdom of God now.
I loved the point made that modern American churches have replaced the holy trinity with God, Son and Holy Bible. That is so much of my Christian experience. It is only recently that learning to listen and obey the Holy Spirit has become part of my faith. And how much richer and more real to the kingdom of God it feels. But can we trust it. I love how Choung addresses these skeptical questions I ask in my own heart. He gives 4 ways to confirm or seek more when hearing a word, seeing a vision, a dream etc.
4. This book fully affirms the power and authority given to each follower of Christ through the Holy Spirit. It also encourages us to give away our power and authority as Christ has given us. This takes the control and power out of the hands of people and places is rightly back into the power of the Living God. Love this. How much weight we American Christians have put on our pastors these days? Expecting one white man who has gone to seminary to lead us in the way of Christ? True, not all leaders of the church are white males. My point remains, we have put too much weight on church leaders in our postmodern world. When I read the text, I find some of the first “missionaries” were women, people struggling with mental illness, poor, outcasts of society. I believe Jesus Christ, the kingdom of God is entrusted to each believer and we are all empowered to participate according to our gifts and promptings of the Holy spirit, which isn’t always necessarily directly from a pulpit. Not to diminish preaching, as it is a gift, but it isn’t the only experience we can have with the living God.
Hmm, ok, I may have found myself on a soap box, but I speak mainly to myself, and my own experience. I followed the modern American Christian model because I believed it to be the “right” thing to do. Pray, read the Bible, go to church and be a part of a small group. Check, check, check and check. I have recently been challenged and invited to participate in the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. I am learning that requires my own practice of listening to the Holy Spirit, responding in obedience on what I feel prompted to do or say and then debriefing with other believers who can point back to the heart of God. It is the most uncomfortable I’ve been but also the closest I have felt to what following Jesus looks like in my day to day. This book helps answer the question of “isn’t there more to being a Christian than checking those boxes?” And yes, there is and it taps into why it has been so profound for so long.
All that to say. This book is a out dated in some parts, but also ahead of its time in others but also age old and true to how Christ empowers his followers.
Some key takeaways:
1. Discipleship can begin when first meeting someone, not after someone chooses to follow Christ.
I love that the ministry mindset isn’t either evangelism or spiritual formation, it’s both. My experience w the modern American church is they either fall into heavy evangelism, just working on conversion or spiritual formation, just focusing on current believers. This book remarries these two concepts as they were initially introduced by Jesus Christ himself.
2. Being intentional is not the opposite of being authentic, being nonchalant is.
I love that this book addresses some key insecurities I have around sharing my faith and hope in Christ. I used to think that being intentional is being too forward/ pushy and compromising my authenticity. But this book does a great job in explaining that is the exact thing Christ did. He sought people out, on purpose, by name and saw them specifically for who they are and where they were. It can seem so casual in the text and can be missed for how significantly on purpose Jesus was in his ministry. And how loved people were by that intentionality. My own faith is significantly marked by people who went out of there way to see/ pursue me, not by the people who remained nonchalant about my life.
3. A community of believers who encourage listening to the Holy Spirit, responding and then debriefing the experience is key to experiencing the kingdom of God now.
I loved the point made that modern American churches have replaced the holy trinity with God, Son and Holy Bible. That is so much of my Christian experience. It is only recently that learning to listen and obey the Holy Spirit has become part of my faith. And how much richer and more real to the kingdom of God it feels. But can we trust it. I love how Choung addresses these skeptical questions I ask in my own heart. He gives 4 ways to confirm or seek more when hearing a word, seeing a vision, a dream etc.
4. This book fully affirms the power and authority given to each follower of Christ through the Holy Spirit. It also encourages us to give away our power and authority as Christ has given us. This takes the control and power out of the hands of people and places is rightly back into the power of the Living God. Love this. How much weight we American Christians have put on our pastors these days? Expecting one white man who has gone to seminary to lead us in the way of Christ? True, not all leaders of the church are white males. My point remains, we have put too much weight on church leaders in our postmodern world. When I read the text, I find some of the first “missionaries” were women, people struggling with mental illness, poor, outcasts of society. I believe Jesus Christ, the kingdom of God is entrusted to each believer and we are all empowered to participate according to our gifts and promptings of the Holy spirit, which isn’t always necessarily directly from a pulpit. Not to diminish preaching, as it is a gift, but it isn’t the only experience we can have with the living God.
Hmm, ok, I may have found myself on a soap box, but I speak mainly to myself, and my own experience. I followed the modern American Christian model because I believed it to be the “right” thing to do. Pray, read the Bible, go to church and be a part of a small group. Check, check, check and check. I have recently been challenged and invited to participate in the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. I am learning that requires my own practice of listening to the Holy Spirit, responding in obedience on what I feel prompted to do or say and then debriefing with other believers who can point back to the heart of God. It is the most uncomfortable I’ve been but also the closest I have felt to what following Jesus looks like in my day to day. This book helps answer the question of “isn’t there more to being a Christian than checking those boxes?” And yes, there is and it taps into why it has been so profound for so long.
All that to say. This book is a out dated in some parts, but also ahead of its time in others but also age old and true to how Christ empowers his followers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2013
As someone who is a Millenial and is a part of a Millenial ministry, this book was exactly what I needed. It provides a great insight into generational differences while also presenting a great Discipleship model to follow. I'll be reccomending this to my team and anyone else interested in discipling Millenials.
June 30, 2020
A simple, yet engaging model for evangelism/discipleship/disciple-making, with quality implications and applications for people leading in various contexts and capacitues. Reads a lot like one of Patrick Lencioni's leadership fables!
November 10, 2024
An explanation of several theories helpful in communicating, especially in Christian communities. It is told as a fictional narrative, making it easier to understand. I have read other materials by this author. He is an important voice in Christian discipleship.
May 7, 2018
Easy read on the author's approach to discipleship.
May 30, 2018
I would give this ten stars if I could. This changed the way I think about being a Christian.
February 22, 2021
Real Life works better as a seminar series. Couching ministry strategy in the story of an engineer confounded by a younger co-worker's request for Christian mentorship made for a long read. At multiple points I just wanted the story to drop and the ministry pointers about basic discipling made plain.
November 30, 2021
This is an easy read, a little cheesy at times, but also fun. Choung provides a model for making disciples and explains how each generation is seeking meaning from a different perspective.
July 26, 2017
If James Choung ever reads this, I'm going to be honest. Real Life was in a stack of books for me to read. I had to choose between it and another book. This one had short chapters which, for me, meant I would find good stopping points.
I had no idea, however, what I was getting into. I had no idea that I would stumble upon a book that organized my own thoughts into a system that felt natural as well as effective.
James is a part of InterVaristy and so he takes what he calls the Real Life Continuum, a well thought outs system for understanding discipleship and evangelism. The beauty of this technique, if it can be called that, is that it takes the conversations we should be having and helps us to focus on helping people move along each stage of developing a deep and impacting relationship with God.
In order to relay this system, James weaves us a tale of a guy with a job who is both mentor and mentee. The story format makes it interesting, effectively showing how the conversational technique can feel.
After wrapping up the story, James pulls back the curtains and answers a few lingering questions. He does not mean for this to become a technique that becomes labeling and limiting. In fact, he says quite the opposite. Though there is a progression, he admits not everybody goes through in the same order and some will go back and forth through certain stages.
Overall, this is a book that should be explored by leaders in ministry as a strategy that removes the tension between focusing on evangelism or discipleship. In this case, we can have both.
I received this book for free from my friends at Likewise Books, a division of IVP. I told them how much I loved them, so they sent me a couple of books. They didn't even ask me to review it. But this is what friends do.
I had no idea, however, what I was getting into. I had no idea that I would stumble upon a book that organized my own thoughts into a system that felt natural as well as effective.
James is a part of InterVaristy and so he takes what he calls the Real Life Continuum, a well thought outs system for understanding discipleship and evangelism. The beauty of this technique, if it can be called that, is that it takes the conversations we should be having and helps us to focus on helping people move along each stage of developing a deep and impacting relationship with God.
In order to relay this system, James weaves us a tale of a guy with a job who is both mentor and mentee. The story format makes it interesting, effectively showing how the conversational technique can feel.
After wrapping up the story, James pulls back the curtains and answers a few lingering questions. He does not mean for this to become a technique that becomes labeling and limiting. In fact, he says quite the opposite. Though there is a progression, he admits not everybody goes through in the same order and some will go back and forth through certain stages.
Overall, this is a book that should be explored by leaders in ministry as a strategy that removes the tension between focusing on evangelism or discipleship. In this case, we can have both.
I received this book for free from my friends at Likewise Books, a division of IVP. I told them how much I loved them, so they sent me a couple of books. They didn't even ask me to review it. But this is what friends do.
January 17, 2017
This book was fantastic. Every Christian should read this book to understand our call of discipleship, what it means to be disciples, and how to go about making them.
I loved the story format that he used to help understand some of the models. It was an easy read, but challenging. It had some new ideas about discipleship, like the main role is to teach others to listen and hear what God is doing in their life to act in obedience to that, to doing discipleship-making in a group rather than one-on-one. A great handbook of how to disciple, and how it's a whole process, not just something that happens once a person is saved.
I also liked that the person in the story was an engineer, and was trying to determine if he should go into ministry, and struggled with doing a "normal" job as a Christian. I loved seeing how Bridge helped him think through this so that he could use his engineering skills in a profession that would be pleasing to God, not as a minister (professionally).
I loved the story format that he used to help understand some of the models. It was an easy read, but challenging. It had some new ideas about discipleship, like the main role is to teach others to listen and hear what God is doing in their life to act in obedience to that, to doing discipleship-making in a group rather than one-on-one. A great handbook of how to disciple, and how it's a whole process, not just something that happens once a person is saved.
I also liked that the person in the story was an engineer, and was trying to determine if he should go into ministry, and struggled with doing a "normal" job as a Christian. I loved seeing how Bridge helped him think through this so that he could use his engineering skills in a profession that would be pleasing to God, not as a minister (professionally).
April 13, 2013
Similar to True Story, Choung uses narrative here to communicate the purpose of the book. He tells the story of a mid-life office worker in San Diego who struggles with the idea of discipling a young Christian, fresh out of college, who gets a job in the same building. Choung wants to show people that is really is possible to disciple someone in this context: you do not need to be in full-time ministry! Even more, it is possible to disciple people who aren't yet believers! This book is important, as I know there are people who struggle with many of the same questions as the main character. I also like the "real life continuum" model that he poses: it is simple and memorable. The only complaint here is fairly minor - Choung is clearly NOT a novelist, and the characters/dialogue can be a bit stilted at times. Overall, an enjoyable read that communicates its purpose effectively.
April 2, 2016
I wish I read this book a few years ago! It would've been really helpful, but I'm glad I've read it now. It gives a really nice overview on a basic vision of how to disciple anyone. Through the narrative of a Christian who is trying to figure out how to help a new Christian grow, Choung shows how the ideas of the book can actually work, what it actually looks like. I liked the formate (I was surprised about that. Choung is not a novelist, and sometimes his storytelling was a bit stilted, but I could forgive this, because it really wasn't the point).
I've just been reading James Webber's Journey Into Jesus, and this fits really well into Webber's attempt at ressourcement from the 2nd and 3rd centuries (some of the "stagers" are the same, actually).
I think this structure is really helpful, and am going to use it in my own ministry.
I've just been reading James Webber's Journey Into Jesus, and this fits really well into Webber's attempt at ressourcement from the 2nd and 3rd centuries (some of the "stagers" are the same, actually).
I think this structure is really helpful, and am going to use it in my own ministry.
December 27, 2013
Really appreciated the author's insight into evangelism and discipleship being a continuum. His comment within the narrative that we tend to do a great job of getting people to start the race (as new believers) but do not help others cross the finish line. Reading this book helped to change my thinking from making discipleship's goal be simply showing new believers how to read the Bible daily, attend church each Sunday, and attend small group to directing them (and everyone else, including myself!) to seek God's voice at all times and practice obedience thru our responsiveness to Him. Great read that I highly recommend. I am excited to read his first book, True Story now.
May 30, 2013
An awesome book for anyone wondering about discipleship. Super easy to understand, especially since the majority of the book is told as a narrative with the characters explaining the theoretical stuff to each other through dialogue.
I appreciated how the books seeks to reconcile evangelism and discipleship on a continuum!
I appreciated how the books seeks to reconcile evangelism and discipleship on a continuum!
June 4, 2013
This is an excellent book. I highly recommend this book. This book is helping me shape how I invest/disciple those in my life.
See my overview - here
See my overview - here
March 21, 2013
loved it! continuum and cycle are brilliant.
January 8, 2013
Fantastic book. I love the merging of evangelism and discipleship making into one process. And the hear->respond->debrief cycle is brilliant.
And it's all in a narrative that makes it fun to read.
And it's all in a narrative that makes it fun to read.
February 15, 2013
This is a must read for anyone in college ministry. I'll be reading this one over and over. Great insight into generation gaps and motivating people to live for Christ.
March 2, 2013
Great book! I think everyone can learn from this book; I learned how to know when God is talking to you.
August 16, 2013
Thankful for this book and for the guidance. Really liked that James pointed out that Christians are defined by how they respond to what God speaks to them more than anything else.
September 16, 2014
Great ideas and insights. This makes so much sense as a way to make faith real to younger generations.
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June 9, 2015very practical
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews