Book Club Questions for Follow Me

1.Platt opens by describing a Christianity that is "a mile wide and an inch deep" — large in numbers but shallow in discipleship. Where do you see evidence of this in your own church context or in American Christianity broadly?

2.He draws a distinction between being a "convert" and being a "disciple." In your own words, what is the difference Platt is pointing to, and why does it matter?

3.Platt suggests that our methods of evangelism — the quick prayer, the raised hand, the signed card — may actually be producing false assurance in people who have never truly repented and believed. How do you react to that claim? Does it feel too harsh, or does it ring true?

1.Platt emphasizes that when Jesus called his first disciples, they left everything — nets, boats, and in James and John's case, their own father — immediately. What does that kind of immediate, total response tell us about the authority of Jesus?

2.He describes the fishing business the disciples left behind as not just a job but their entire economic security and family identity. What is the modern equivalent of "leaving your nets"? What would total abandonment look like for you personally?

3.Platt contrasts the disciples' response with the "busy crowds" who followed Jesus for miracles and benefits without making any real commitment. In what ways are you tempted to follow Jesus for what he gives rather than for who he is?

1.Platt grounds the need for discipleship in a robust doctrine of human depravity. He describes people apart from Christ as spiritually dead — not sick, not confused, but dead. How does this diagnosis change how we think about evangelism and discipleship?

2.He draws on passages like Ephesians 2:1–5 to argue that no one seeks God on their own initiative. How does this shape the way we pray for people who are not yet followers of Jesus? Does it make prayer feel more urgent or less? Why?

3.Platt is critical of presentations of the gospel that begin with "God has a wonderful plan for your life" rather than with the reality of human sinfulness and God's holiness. Do you find his critique fair? What is lost — and what is gained — when we begin with sin and judgment rather than with felt needs?

1.Platt unpacks Luke 9:23, where Jesus says disciples must deny themselves, take up their cross *daily*, and follow him. What does it mean to deny *yourself* — not just deny yourself things, but deny the self itself as the center of your life?

2.He points out that "taking up your cross" in the first century had one unambiguous meaning — walking toward death. How should that original, visceral meaning reshape what we expect the Christian life to feel like?

3.Platt describes how Jesus turns the world's value system upside down: losing your life is how you save it; the last shall be first; the greatest is the servant of all. Where in your daily life do you feel the pull of the world's value system competing with Jesus' upside-down kingdom?

1.Platt argues that the life Jesus promises in John 10:10 — "life to the full" — is not a more comfortable or prosperous version of our current life but something qualitatively different: eternal life, which Jesus defines in John 17:3 as *knowing* God. How does defining eternal life as a relationship rather than a destination change how you think about it?

2.He makes the case that every human heart is designed for God and that nothing else can truly satisfy it. Where have you personally tested this — places you looked for life and meaning that ultimately couldn't deliver?

3.Platt describes the joy of knowing God not as a religious feeling but as the deepest possible human experience. How would you describe your current experience of knowing God? Is it growing, stagnant, or somewhere in between?

1.Platt argues that 2 Corinthians 5:17 — "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation" — is not a poetic metaphor but a literal description of spiritual reality. What does it mean in practice that the old self is "gone" and the new has come?

2.He draws on Galatians 2:20 — "I have been crucified with Christ" — to argue that the Christian life is not self-improvement but self-crucifixion followed by resurrection. How is that different from the way personal growth or spiritual development is typically framed in our culture?

3.Platt is direct about the concern that many people in the church show little evidence of transformation — same priorities, same loves, same habits — and wonders whether they have actually been born again. How do you hold that concern together with the grace of slow growth and the reality that sanctification is a process?

1.Platt points to Matthew 12:46–50, where Jesus redefines family as those who do the will of the Father, as evidence that the church is not an optional add-on to Christian faith but is itself a new family. How does this challenge the common view that church attendance is simply one spiritual practice among many?

2.He describes the early church in Acts 2 as a community of radical sharing, mutual care, and regular gathering — a community so distinct that it was impossible to miss. How does your current church community compare to that portrait? What is vibrant, and what is missing?

3.Platt argues that Western individualism has deeply infected our practice of discipleship — we want a private, personal faith that doesn't require too much involvement with other people. Where do you recognize this individualism in your own approach to the Christian life?

1.Platt structures his vision of discipleship around 2 Timothy 2:2 — Paul's charge to Timothy to entrust what he has received to "faithful men who will be able to teach others also." This is four generations of disciples in one verse. How does this passage reshape what discipleship looks like practically?

2.He argues that the Great Commission is not primarily about large-scale programs or professional missionaries but about ordinary disciples intentionally investing in one or two people over time. How does that frame the Great Commission in a way that is both more accessible and more demanding?

3.Platt is concerned that many churches "attract crowds but don't make disciples." What is the difference between a ministry that is numerically growing and one that is genuinely multiplying disciples? Can a church be both? What would that look like?

1.Platt opens the global dimension of discipleship with the vision in Revelation 7:9 — people from every tribe, tongue, and nation gathered before the throne. How does beginning with this end-time picture change how you think about global missions today?

2.He is unflinching about the reality that billions of people in the world today have little or no access to the gospel. How does that reality sit with you? Do you find yourself moved, overwhelmed, numb, or something else?

3.Platt challenges the assumption that our primary calling is to stay where we are comfortable and support missions from a distance. He argues that every disciple should at minimum ask the question, "Is God calling me to go?" Have you genuinely asked that question? What was the answer?

1.Platt draws from Matthew 10, where Jesus sends the disciples out and tells them to expect persecution, hatred, and danger. How does this passage serve as a corrective to versions of Christianity that promise health, safety, and prosperity?

2.He points to believers around the world who risk imprisonment, family rejection, and death to follow Jesus, and asks whether our comfortable Western Christianity is the norm or the exception in church history and global reality. How does that question land for you?

3.Platt argues that Philippians 1:29 — "it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake" — frames suffering not as an unfortunate side effect of faith but as a *gift* granted to believers. How do you respond to that framing? What would it mean to receive suffering as a grace?

1.Looking back across the whole book, which chapter or idea hit you the hardest — the one you most wanted to argue with, or the one that most clearly named something true about your life? Why did it land that way?

2.Platt's central argument is that the church in America has settled for converts when Jesus commanded disciples. Has your reading of this book changed your assessment of your own faith? Are you more confident, less confident, or more honestly uncertain about the depth of your discipleship?

3.The book moves from the individual call (follow me) to the communal call (a new family) to the global call (to all peoples). Which of these three dimensions of discipleship is most underdeveloped in your current life, and what would it look like to grow in it over the next six months?