Ben Connelly - A Field Guide for Everyday Mission: 30 Days and 101 Ways to Demonstrate the Gospel

In A Field Guide for Everyday Mission Ben Connelly and Bob Roberts Jr. articulate the Christian mission and provide 101 helpful and practical steps to set about accomplishing this mission. This book will benefit small groups, individuals, and churches who are committed to reaching their communities for Christ.

ED STETZER, President, LifeWay Research, and author, Subversive Kingdom

Bob Roberts and Ben Connelly have given the local church an incredibly helpful and practical guide to doing mission that will equip everyone from the seasoned practitioner to the brand-new believer. It is simple and straightforward, yet it has the power to change both your neighborhood and the world for Christ.

MATT CARTER, Pastor of Preaching and Vision, The Austin Stone Community Church, and coauthor, The Real Win

Are you concerned about the state of the church in the West today? Are you affected by the need of the world around us? Do you struggle to know what you should do about it personally? This book will challenge you to become a missionary, right where you live, and not leave evangelism to the so-called professionals.

ADRIAN WARNOCK, blogger and author, Raised with Christ

If you find that missional talk can be a bit vague, then this is the book for you. Its an accessible guide to missional thinking. But even better, it will help put it into practice. It will show you what everyday mission can actually look like. Not every one of their 101 ideas will apply in your situation, but many of them will.

TIM CHESTER, director, The Porterbrook Network, and author, A Meal with Jesus

Ben and Bob do a phenomenal job creating a practical guide for missional living with a mix of story, theology, and simple, effective ideas to engage culture and do good. The world will be a better place as we begin to practice these ideas in our daily life rhythms.

CHRIS MARLOW, founder and CEO, Help One Now

I was always glad to support church missions but it took me many years to realize that I, too, had a mission. This very practical book helped me connect the dots in my understanding of that mission and offered me a way to step forward in faith. A Field Guide for Everyday Mission is written for all of us who wonder how to talk about and live out our faith in a natural, winsome, and God-honoring way.

DALE HANSON BOURKE, author, The Skeptics Guide series and Embracing Your Second Calling

2014 by
BEN CONNELLY
AND
BOB ROBERTS JR.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright 2000, 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Edited by Elizabeth Cody Newenhuyse
Interior design: Design Corps
Cover design: Studio Gearbox
Cover image: Veer Image / #DVP4944378
Ben Connelly photo by Tina Howard-Fall Meadow Photography

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Connelly, Ben (Pastor)

A field guide for everyday mission : 30 days and 101 ways to demonstrate the gospel / Ben Connelly and Bob Roberts, Jr.
pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-8024-1200-3

1. Witness bearing (Christianity) 2. Apologetics. 3. Evangelistic work. 4. Missions. I. Title.

BV4520.C6655 2014

248.5--dc23

2014007211

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DEDICATION

BEN:

To The City ChurchThis message is the drum weve beaten since we started, and its an honor that many of your stories fill these pages. I love you and am grateful to demonstrate the gospel with you.

BOB:

To NorthWoodAs I have tried to teach you, you have taught me more by how you engage on a daily basis glocally.

Friend,

Thank you for choosing to read this Moody Publishers title. It is our hope and prayer that this book will help you to know Jesus Christ more personally and love Him more deeply.

The proceeds from your purchase help pay the tuition of students attending Moody Bible Institute. These students come from around the globe and graduate better equipped to impact our world for Christ.

Other Moody Ministries that may be of interest to you include Moody Radio and Moody Distance Learning. To learn more visit http://www.moodyradio.org/ and http://www.moody.edu/distance-learning/

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Anyone who knows me will know that I tend to be a bit of a missional geek, a gatherer and synthesizer of ideas that collate around the missional task of the church in the twenty-first century. Ive devoted much of my life to living missionally, developing our understanding of it in as many tribes of Christianity and on as many continents as Ive been able. I believe its the direction Christianity is going, and indeed is the direction it must go, if its going to survive and thrive in an increasingly post-Christian world. Developing a biblical missional theory, a viable strategy, as well as encouraging praxis has been the defining work of my life.

Following the thought line of James 2:17that faith without works is deadso also, a theory or a strategy without practice is dead. One can have the best missional theology, be the leading expert in missional theory, and be able to explain every missional structure and concept. But if one cant propel missional ideas out of their head and into their life, it doesnt matter. In that sense, A Field Guide for Everyday Mission is a valuable contribution to the missional conversation. This book fills a crucial gap, addressing some of the most common practical questions about missional life, in easy-to-follow answers. Its not an overly theoretical book, nor an academic one. Its not just for pastors and leaders; its a helpful book for you: the everyday Christian, yearning to know how you can carry out Gods call to hands-on mission in your already-too-busy, and yet oh-so-ordinary, life.

I have known Bob Roberts for years and have great love and respect for him. He has a proven track record of missional engagement, both locally and globally. From his extraordinary dedication and ongoing work in Vietnam, to getting to interact with well-known diplomats across the world, to training thousands of church planters over the past twenty years, Bob knows how to live a life on mission, and how to lead others to do the same.