Gospel Fluency

Speaking the Truths of Jesus into the Everyday Stuff of Life

Handbook

“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 Handbook was 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.

  • We created a companion video series to support you and your community as you read this Handbook together. In this nine part video series, Jeff Vanderstelt provides a launching point into each week of the Gospel Fluency Handbook to help groups grasp the concepts and dive into the practice of becoming gospel fluent.

  • WANT TO GROW IN GOSPEL FLUENCY? GET THE RESOURCES.

    About Jeff

  • As the visionary leader of the Soma Family of Churches, Saturate and the lead teaching pastor at Doxa Church in Bellevue, WA, Jeff Vanderstelt gets to spend his days doing what he loves – training disciples of Jesus to make more disciples of Jesus and equipping the Church in the gospel and missional living. Jeff is the author of SaturateSaturate Field Guide and Gospel Fluency. He and Jayne, his wife of twenty-four years, have three children; Haylee, Caleb, and Maggie. Connect with Jeff at saturatetheworld.com or on twitter @JeffVanderstelt.

    About Ben

  • Ben Connelly started and now co-pastors The City Church, part of the Acts29 network and Soma Family of Churches. He also directs church-planting for Soma churches across North America and has taught university classes. With degrees from Baylor University and Dallas Theological Seminary, he writes for various publications and does training across the country.

    Connelly has published a few books, including co-authoring Saturate Field Guide and Gospel Fluency Handbook. He and his wife, Jess, have three children and live in Fort Worth, TX.

  • flu·en·cy / noun
    :the ability to speak a language easily and effectively

    Even if they want to, many Christians find it hard to talk to others about Jesus. Is it possible this difficulty is because we’re trying to speak a language we haven’t actually spent time practicing? Is it possible we have neglected to understand for ourselves how the good news of Jesus impacts every facet of our own lives?

    To become fluent in a new language, you must immerse yourself in it and commit to practicing it, over and over again. You must use it everyday until you actually start to think about life through it. Becoming fluent in the gospel happens the same way—after believing it, we have to intentionally rehearse it (to ourselves and to others) and immerse ourselves in its truths. Only then will we start to see how everything in our lives, from the mundane to the magnificent, is transformed by the hope of the gospel.

    Challenging us to cultivate this counter-cultural mindset, Jeff Vanderstelt offers readers wise biblical insights, practical advice, and compelling stories aimed at encouraging and equipping Christians to speak the truths of Jesus into the everyday stuff of life.

    Praise for Gospel Fluency

  • I have known Jeff for over a decade now and his heart beats for the church to be all that God has called her to be in Christ. He is not an ideas man, he is on the ground living out the truth’s you read in this book. As the culture shifts and attractional ministry fades Jeff will be a faithful guide for us all.

    Matt ChandlerLead Pastor at The Village Church in Dallas, TX, and President of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network

    Jeff has written a book that will be around a long time by reforming evangelism in a fresh way.

    Bob RobertsSenior Pastor, Northwood Church, author, Bold as Love and Lessons from the East

    It’s easy to forget how good the good news of the gospel is. This practical book will help you to see that good news, and to share it with others.

    Russell MoorePresident, Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

    I’ve been wanting to have a resource from Jeff on this topic for a very long time. It is so so so needed. As I’ve worked with different Christians from several churches around the city of Chicago, I’ve witnessed the lack of gospel understanding that has permeated many “solid” churches. I will personally hand out copies of this book like gospel tracts.

    Jackie Hill Perrypoet, writer, and hip-hop artist

    We need books like Gospel Fluency to both ground us in our practice of the gospel and raise us out of living our daily life in the cultural drift.

    Daniel MontgomeryLead Pastor, Sojourn Community Church, Louisville, Kentucky, Founder of the Sojourn Network; author of Faithmapping and Leadership Mosaic

    Jeff calls us back to the gospel, not as a trite phrase to throw around in Christian circles but as a life-changing language in which we grow more fluent as we use it in community. The analogy to learning a foreign language helps us envision how to become fluent in the gospel, working, eating, even dreaming immersed in the good news of Jesus and how that changes everything. This is an extremely practical and helpful book!

    Wendy Alsupteacher, blogger, and author of Is the Bible Good for Women? and Practical Theology for Women

    Even the title of this book, Gospel Fluency, gets at a right understanding of the gospel: the message from God that must be spoken. Jeff’s clear call, through compelling stories and biblical foundations, is to connect the gospel to all areas of life, and then speak it fluently to believers and nonbelievers alike.

    J. Mack Stilesauthor, Evangelism: How the Whole Church Speaks of Jesus and Marks of the Messenger

    Jeff Vanderstelt has a gift for clarifying and simplifying what is often complex and puzzling. Gospel Fluency is no exception. He invites us not to a system, a catchphrase, or a fad, but to a refreshing vision of Christ our Savior and the life he offers.

    Mike CosperPastor of Worship and Arts, Sojourn Community Church, Louisville, Kentucky

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