There have always been three roads, not two. The missionary society. The local church served by full-time ministers. And ordinary believers, in the place they already live, with the people already in front of them. The first two are God’s gift and still bearing fruit. The third is the oldest, and the one we quietly forgot.
Not a new idea. A forgotten one.
Read Online Order the Paperback · Kindle“My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word
and put it into practice.”
“A gospel movement is everyday disciples hearing God, obeying God, and helping others do the same,
until that becomes just normal Christianity.”
This is a book about the shortest distance the gospel ever travels: from your own life to the person already sitting across from you. Not a program to run or a platform to build — a way of following Jesus you can begin this week, and hand to someone else by name.
One road, two doors. Most readers walk in through Book One, and in time find themselves standing in Book Two.
You may know this pattern by other names, Disciple Making Movements (DMM), Church Planting Movements (CPM), gospel movements. Different paths, same family, the same conviction that every believer can carry the gospel to the person right in front of them.
You've never called yourself a leader, and you've never been to a training. You're a mother, a nurse, a teacher, the neighbor two doors down, and lately you've felt there's more to following Jesus than what you were handed.
There is, and it's simpler than anyone made it sound. Listen for what God is saying. Do the thing he shows you. Help one person near you do the same. You might think that's too small to count. It counts. In your own home, on your own street, that is disciple making, and you can start this week.
One day that same rhythm of hearing, obeying, and helping reaches past your own household, and you sense God asking you to carry it further. Book Two is for that stirring: ordinary people who let this call reshape how they live.
They live it first inside their own family. They gather a few covenant friends who have left things behind to answer it. Then they go out and help it take root in others. It asks more of you, and it runs on the same DNA you started with: hear, obey, help someone begin. You don't have to be a hero. You just keep saying yes.
Written out of thirty years and five generations of ordinary people carrying the gospel further than any strategy ever could.
“When it comes to the completion of the Great Commission, James Paul has helped reset our paradigm. It is not the big organizations or the highly trained paid professionals but ordinary disciples who provide the driving force to accomplish the task. His premise is that the only way to disciple the billions who are now untouched by the gospel is for many to be working with a few instead of a few trying to work with many. It is the only way the math works.”
Harry BrownFounder and Chairman, New Generations
“What James lays out in this book has the potential to shape history. On accident, we’ve made disciple-making just for the professionals, and The Third Way gives the Great Commission back to every believer. This is also not theory and it’s not complicated. It’s simple, proven, accessible, and the fruit speaks for itself. James Paul’s voice is for such a time as this.”
Mark ThrashPresident of Novo
“James Paul has seen the power of deputizing ordinary believers to do the work of missions. Though he won’t advertise it, he and his team have planted thousands of churches. James has learned that the Great Commission can be completed in our lifetimes, just not by professional missionaries. The Third Way is essential reading for anyone who cares about loving a world on fire. There is a movement underway, largely invisible to many followers of Christ, that is doing more to spread God’s heart for people than any other strategy. Read it at your own risk. It may change your life.”
Seth BarnesFounder & Executive Director, Adventures in Missions
Founder, the World Race
“James echoes Jesus’s eternal call to everyone who would follow Him: listen to God, obey Him, and help others do the same. This is the Kingdom culture that conquers all.”
Curtis Sergeantdisciple of Jesus
“The Third Way challenges conventional thinking: Who can be a disciple of Jesus? The life of a disciple is not the exclusive domain of pastors or evangelists; rather, it is a responsibility entrusted to every believer who is faithful to Jesus’ commandments. James Paul outlines four principles rooted in following Christ to help ordinary believers hear and obey the call to “make disciples of all nations.” This is a simple guide that anyone can follow!”
Ying KaiFounder, T4T Global
“The thoughts laid out in this book clearly show us how much we have lost the first century model of Jesus’ ministry and his vision to fulfill the great commission. With good hearts and honest intention we have given ourselves to overcomplicate the gospel and therefore built heavy structures and confuse those people that are in these systems. This book takes a truthful assessment of where we have been and what have been the results of those endeavors and shares a new paradigm which isn’t just theoretical but is already finding success around the world. My hope is that brave leaders will read this book and be awakened by how God is fulfilling the great commission before our eyes using first century strategies that still work today.”
Chris MarshallDirector, Global Partners, Novo
“The Third Way argues that gospel movements grow best when we stop overcomplicating them. A quick, story-rich read that hands ordinary believers permission — and a simple path — to make disciples without waiting for an official title, invitation, or formal program.”
Randy KennedyDirector of Grantmaking, The Maclellan Foundation
“I grew up inside the story this book tells. Before it was a book, it was just how we lived: listening to God, obeying the small thing, helping the person in front of us. I have seen it hold up in real homes and in hard places. My father finally wrote it down, and I am glad he did. Start with Book One, then go find your one person.”
Simona WiigExecutive Director, Global Covenant
“The Third Way by James Paul is an outstanding book for anyone who longs to see family, friends, and neighbors come to know God and become part of the movement Jesus started. At its heart, James presents a simple yet profound framework for understanding how gospel movements emerge and grow. He shows how ordinary disciples can learn to hear God’s voice through Scripture and the gentle prompting of the Holy Spirit, respond in obedience, and then equip others to do the same.
James brings this message to life through compelling stories from his own journey as Jesus led him to discover a Kingdom framework that has sparked a significant gospel movement across India and beyond. I was especially moved by his honest account of the personal cost of saying ‘yes’ to Jesus and the courage required to faithfully follow His leading.
The Third Way is more than a book to be read—it is a book to be prayed over, put into practice, and shared with others.”
Dr. Bill Randallauthor of The Life Jesus Made Possible
“Part memoir, part motivation, and part marching orders, The Third Way makes a case that is disarmingly simple and, once absorbed, hard to unhear: the Great Commission was meant to run through everyone, since, as James Paul puts it, ‘only the many can reach the many.’ He grounds this in Scripture’s habit of calling the unqualified — a boy with a sling, a man hiding in a winepress, a disciple who denied Christ, a persecutor who held the coats of stone-throwers — a well-worn observation given fresh weight by James’ account of a movement built by untrained people who simply read Scripture together, obey it, and leave room for God to act. My father, Dois Rosser, who is mentioned in this book, founded ICM (International Cooperating Ministries) in 1986 and we have had the blessing of partnering with James for many years with the shared goal of advancing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It has been my pleasure to get to know James and see the impact of his life.”
Janice Rosser AllenCEO and President, ICM (International Cooperating Ministries)
“I’ve begun reading your book and I’m overwhelmed with emotion. Goosebumps covered my body this morning while the Spirit was speaking just how simple this can be and how difficult we’ve often made it. Thank you for being obedient and thank you for the work you have allowed to take place in your life. May God use this book to impact the future of our churches and world.”
Wess Webb
“Manageable. Actionable. Empowering. Encouraging.”
Julie Terrymother of four and an everyday disciple
The Third Way is yours right now, free, the whole book. Just tell me where to send it. I’ll also write to you now and then — short, true stories of ordinary people learning to do this, here and half a world away.
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James Paul is a fifth-generation follower of Christ and third-generation movement catalyst from South Asia, now in Kansas City with his wife Sarah and their six children. He has spent thirty years watching what happens when ordinary people stop waiting for permission. This book is what he learned from them.
The book is being translated by people who speak the language, not for them. Each edition is free, and more are on the way.
More languages are being translated now. Each one is done by people who speak it, and each will appear here as it is finished.