What is gospel fluency?
Authors
of Gospel Fluency
Handbook: A Practical Guide to
Speaking
the Truths of Jesus into the Everyday Stuff of Life
Every Christian
has moments of unbelief. Author and pastor Jeff Vanderstelt admits, “I’m an unbeliever. So are you. 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.”
Vanderstelt and his co-author, Ben Connelly, wrote Gospel Fluency Handbook: A Practical Guide
to Speaking the Truths of Jesus into the Everyday Stuff of Life (Saturate Resources/September 15, 2017) for those
who’ve realized they disbelieve God, His goodness and His gospel in areas of
normal, everyday, busy life. It is also for those who are keenly aware and
weighed down by a failure to connect the way gospel truths actually matter to
everyday life.
Q:
You open Gospel Fluency Handbook, a book written for Christians, with a
quote from Jeff’s book Gospel Fluency, which reads, “I’m an unbeliever. So are you.” What do
you mean by this broad statement directed to readers?
Jeff Vanderstelt: I struggle with unbelief on a daily
basis. I slip in and out of believing God’s word about me and trusting in his
work for me. Jesus gave his life to make me a new creation. He died to forgive
me of my sins and change my identity from sinner to saint, from failure to
faithful, and from bad to good and even righteous and holy. However, I forget
what He has said about me. I forget what He has done for me. Sometimes it isn’t
forgetfulness. Sometimes it’s just plain unbelief. I know these things. I just
don’t believe them.
I
am an unbeliever. Not every moment, of course, but I have those moments. So
does everyone. I’m certain of it.
Q:
What does it mean to be gospel fluent? What is the first step in the process of
improving our fluency?
JV: When I think about
fluency I think about unconscious competence. I am answering this question in
English not consciously trying to think though a vocabulary list or stumbling
over how to put together thoughts. I am fluent in English. To be fluent in the
gospel is to know it so well it becomes like a mother tongue. I am able to
filter all of life through the truths of the gospel and am readily able to
speak those truths into any situation or struggle we are facing at any time.
Ben
Connelly: As
with any other use of the term “fluency,” gospel fluency is a growing ability
to see all of life and consider the many situations in our day-to-day through
the lens of the promises of God and the good news of Jesus. Just like learning
a new language, most of us start with an unawareness of how the gospel can
apply to the hard and mundane aspects of daily life and conversation; in this
way, the gospel is “unnatural” to us. As we rehearse basic truths of the
gospel, as we practice different disciplines and as we ask God to give us more
and more knowledge of Himself, His promises and His truth, the hope is the
gospel becomes more and more “natural” and automatic. A first step must be
asking if we believe the gospel (the life, death and resurrection of Jesus for
the glory of God and the building of his kingdom) and if we believe this “best
news in all of history” not only applies to our future/eternity, but to our
present reality of this life.
Q:
How are our sins tied to our unbeliefs? Why is simply confessing the fruit of
our sin not enough?
BC:
Sin
(captial “S”) is a theological concept that undergirds the specific
thoughts and actions defined as lower-case “sins.” Being a theological concept,
which by nature deals with belief in God, sins always call into question what
we believe or disbelieve about God. We sin because we disbelieve God, or we
believe something else more than God.
Adam
and Eve believed Satan more than God and followed their own desires for
greatness and position more than trusting God’s definitions of greatness and
the position He created for them. They walked with God and existed in a perfect
utopia. It was a pretty good position, but they didn’t believe God, and frankly
we likely would have done the same! That pattern continues in each of us today.
Sin doesn’t start with action; it begins with believing something to be better,
more satisfying and more fulfilling than God. Confessing our sin isn’t enough
because it’s easy to acknowledge something and keep right on doing it.
Confession is naming something; repentance is actually turning from it to
something better. Repentance and belief are commonly tied together in the Bible,
in part because true repentance is righting our wrong beliefs. In confession we
admit our disbelief, and in repentance we turn from that wrong belief to a
restored/renewed right belief in God as the pinnacle of whatever we were
pursuing.
JV: Every sinful
behavior is connected to a sinful belief — a wrong belief about God’s word or
work. We believe God’s word is a lie or untrustworthy and God’s work is
insufficient. In some cases, we are ignorant of God’s word or work, so we have
put our faith in another. The problem with primarily confessing a sinful
behavior is it is no different than identifying the symptoms of an illness. If
I don’t identity the illness causing the symptoms, I will only apply a topical
treatment. To rid ourselves of the sickness requires properly diagnosing it and
then appropriately treating it. Our sin ultimately isn’t just bad behaviors but
wrong belief about God, which ultimately is sinful rebellion against God in
some way. When we sin against another we must recognize we have first of all
sinned against God; we’ve turned away from Him to another, as Ben said. In
order for sin to be dealt with in our lives we must get to the roots of our
beliefs and then confess out loud our sinful beliefs about God. To repent, as
Ben has said, is not just to stop sinning but to turn away from what we trusted
in and turn to God both for forgiveness as well as for a renewal of our minds
about who God is and what He has done for us in Jesus Christ.
Q:
This handbook is based on content from the book Gospel Fluency. Do
readers need to have read Gospel Fluency to use this guide?
Content from Gospel Fluency
is summarized in each week’s readings, and for participants who want to go
deeper, each week indicates corresponding chapters in Gospel Fluency, if
they choose to read and study further.
Q:
What do you hope for readers to gain from reading and working through the
handbook?
The second goal, which we hope
naturally flows from the first, is to help readers speak the truths of Jesus
into the everyday stuff of life as we together become a more gospel-fluent
people. To that end, we’ve crafted this resource as an interactive guide to
walk readers step-by-step into immersing their minds, hearts, souls and lives in
the gospel. It’s not a book; books are generally designed to give information
and to be read cover to cover, often in just a few days. This is an eight-week
interactive study.
Q:
What is the format of Gospel Fluency Handbook, and how is it intended to
be used? Can it be used for individual study, or should it be used in a group
setting?
JV:
Each
week of the Handbook follows a simple format: three sets of personal readings and
reflections, about the same length as this introduction, and then a weekly
guide for group discussion and exercises.
The
majority of each week is comprised of three readings, which are excerpts from Gospel
Fluency and related
scriptures,
to read and reflect upon. Each reading is followed by a personal reflection: questions
to answer prayerfully, thoughts to respond to and ways to help you practice the
content of that reading. Each set of readings and reflections should take no
more than 30–45 minutes to complete. After the third reading and reflection of
each week, there’s a blank page titled “Look Back,” simply for you to reflect
on what you’ve learned throughout that week.
A
theme throughout both Gospel Fluency and this handbook is our need for
others. After completing the three readings and reflections each week, the week
closes with a guide for groups to discuss, help each other and practice that
week’s concepts together. We recommend your group meets weekly and that each
week includes a meal. Each week’s discussion and exercises will take at least
an hour; plan well to give yourself ample time to walk through them well. One
suggestion is to focus your time together on the exercises, rather than trying
to address everything given in each week’s group discussion. Pick a couple
questions from those given each week, and move through them quickly enough to
give yourselves plenty of time for that week’s group exercise.
Q:
Why is it important for readers to share their personal stories with the group?
BC: If a goal of
gospel fluency is being able to speak and hear the good news of Jesus as it
applies to the everyday stuff of our lives, then people need to know the
everyday stuff of our lives! The way we tell our stories displays things that
are important to us. Our stories give people lenses to see and understand us;
they build foundations and explain some of the “whys” behind what they may
experience in us. We all have quirks, fears, tendencies, gifts and needs. Our stories
help lay out some of these things as a foundation on which relationships can be
built and as a lens into our lives, through which specific areas of good news
can be seen and spoken.
Q:
There is a video series to go along with the handbook; how do they enhance the
reader's experience with the material?
Click here for a preview of the video series.
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(@SaturateWorld).
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