About the book:
"I'm
an unbeliever. So are you," Jeff Vanderstelt tells us in his
book Gospel
Fluency.
We
slip in and out of believing God's word about us and trusting in his
work on our behalf. We forget who He is, what's He's done and in
light of that who we are.
Do
these statements resonate with you? Then the Gospel
Fluency Handbookwas
written for you. For those who've realized there are areas of
life-your normal, everyday, busy life-where you disbelieve God, His
goodness and His gospel. For those who are keenly aware and weighted
down by a failure to connect the way gospel truths actually matter to
everyday life.
The
Gospel
Fluency Handbook is
designed to help you and your group become fluent in the gospel-in
other words, to help you move from unbelief to belief. The
discussions and exercises in this 8-week interactive handbook provide
a step-by-step immersion of your mind, heart, soul, and life in the
gospel. Each week follows a simple format: three sets of personal
readings and reflections, a weekly guide for group discussion and
exercises that will lead to becoming a more gospel-fluent people.
People who are learning to see and then speak the truths of Jesus
into the everyday stuff of life. The Handbook includes free download code
for a companion video series.
Find
out more about the book and watch a trailer here.
Read
the first chapter here.
My Review:
There is a great deal of good material to work through in this book. It has taken me a couple of weeks just to work through week one material. Readers should plan to spend a year in this book to fully make use of it. For example, "Train yourself to regularly stop and closely examine what you are thinking, feeling or believing in light of the truths of the gospel." (91) Granted, there is some work to that end in the succeeding material, but it would still take a long time to train one's self to be that mindful, I think.
I also think doing the work with a group of trusted friends is essential. For example, a
reflection question for week one asks readers to identify situations
in their own life where they have believed lies. That may be very
hard to do without some input from a friend.
I do recommend this book to Christians who truly want to live out gospel truth. Be prepared for lots of soul searching work.
Food for thought: "A mature Christian is one who resembles Jesus Christ in thought, attitude, emotion, and behavior." (24)
I am taking part in a blog tour of this book and you can read other reviews here.
About the authors:
Ben
Connelly,
his wife Jess, and their kiddos Charlotte, Maggie, and Travis live in
Fort Worth, TX. He started and now co-leads The City Church, part of
the Acts29 network and Soma family of churches. Ben also directs
church planting for Soma churches across North America, has taught
university classes, and has published a few books. With degrees from
Baylor University and Dallas Theological Seminary, he writes for
various publications, trains folks across the country, and blogs
occasionally at benconnelly.net.
Jeff
Vanderstelt is the visionary leader for the Soma Family of Churches
and the lead teaching pastor at Doxa Church in Bellevue, Washington.
When he isn't preaching or mentoring church planters, he and his
family share life with their missional community. He is the author of
"Saturate: Being Disciples of Jesus in the Everyday Stuff of
Life."
Find
out more about Ben Connelly and Jeff Vanderstelt at
https://saturatetheworld.com.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through Litfuse. My comments are an independent and honest review. The rest of the copy of this post was provided by Litfuse.
No comments:
Post a Comment