Mission Shaped Living
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Being Witnesses for Jesus in Our Everyday Lives.
Equip your church or small group to share their faith in Jesus naturally and with confidence.
More than just a tool box of ‘how to do evangelism,’ over eight sessions Mission Shaped Living will build spiritual practices, vision, hope, and confidence into your life so that sharing God’s love with others becomes a joy and not a burden.
Society has shifted and the way mission was done in the past is no longer effective. People are looking for authenticity and Christians are looking for a life-long and deep discipleship that results in effective mission with authenticity. An eight-session course with a Leader’s Guide and Participant’s Guide, Mission-Shaped Living gives churches, small groups, and individual believers the tools and resources to develop discipleship and an outward focus to reach and bless their communities, cities, and nations.
The price quoted here is for a bundle: 1 Leader’s guide and 6 Participants’ guides. Spiral bound quality formats with 8 sessions:
Session 1: Being Sent
Session 2: Confidence
Session 3: Courage
Session 4: Compassion
Session 5: Connecting
Session 6: Continuing
Session 7: Conversion
Session 8: Mission Shaped Living
Also available slightly cheaper on Kindle.
Adult and young adult small groups. Beginning and Growing.
A practical and prayerful resource which takes participants on a journey together – towards God, towards each other and towards their neighbours, with the unique good news of Jesus. This is a great way to learn how to share God’s love in appropriate, joyful and effective mission.
McGinley’s desire is for the course to be affirming, inclusive and liberating so that each person can respond appropriately to their own setting - we are all starting from different places.
Structure based on Up, In and Out. In (our relationship with each other in community): each session begins with ‘How are you?’ Let’s share our lives – we are in mission together. Focus on testimony and gratitude – and we are telling the story, not fulfilling a duty. Up (our relationship with God): prayer, worship and biblical material with discussion. Out (our relationship with our neighbours, and outward to others): outward journey of mission begins with prayer – our own prayers for opportunities for mission and the things we will try.
Anyone with a heart for telling people about Jesus, whether or not they consider they are ‘evangelists’.
No sense of experts in evangelism and learners. The participant’s guide has additional material for each sessions, with an encouraging story, a focus for prayer and space to journal. It is designed for group members to make their own.
N/A although there is a Youtube video about the first session here.
Mostly familiarisation with the material. And prayer!
N/A
Honesty about their worries and desires for telling people about Jesus is openly encouraged. The challenges are explored helpfully, with ways forward suggested and tried.
Mix of chat, engaging with the Bible, prayer, reflection. Integral to the course is practising how to talk to and pray with people who are not yet Christian. Learning is backed up and enhanced by the use of the participants’ guides which contains extra material and space for journalling.
Broad range of ideas which will appeal to a broad range of people. The Ignatian Prayer of Consecration rubs shoulders with visual aids and prayer for infilling with the Holy Spirit.
The idea of praying for five people is used (cf Thy Kingdom Come resources). There are opportunities to learn how to talk about your faith, and practise it in very easy ways. The group members are consistently enabled to encourage and support each other.
Every session has a couple of Bible passages for discussion based around mission, from both New and Old Testaments.
The material is used for vision-raising and discussion, with great questions that dig into the passages. These questions revolve around learning about God, people and how we might respond to this learning personally. Some passages are used in more creative ways, with opportunities for individual reflections and responses.
As said, the resource encourages honest responses to the challenges of telling the story of Jesus within our everyday lives. But it doesn’t stop there. It provides lots of practice and a variety of ways to be honest with those outside our Christian communities too.
The need for people to make a response to Jesus is made clear, alongside the recognition of every individual’s journey.
Evangelism is seen as integral to holistic discipleship, in whatever way it is expressed. There are stories of encouragement to inspire people that it is actually possible to talk to others about Jesus in honest, helpful and attractive ways.
Practical. ‘Prayer is at the heart of mission shaped living,’ says the author. Strong emphasis on gratitude as an essential foundation. Lots of discussion of relevant topics, with no assumptions made, just gentle opportunities to explore the issues, and then apply them personally.
Great mix of grounding in understanding of God’s compassion with practical outworking of that through his disciples.
The main issues are around our own barriers to sharing our faith, and these can be very real. They are tackled with compassion and care. The emphasis on honesty within the group should help to keep the discussions and tone ‘real’.
So good on this. There is no pressure, just a desire to learn how to follow God’s leading, showing his love and care together with the readiness to talk openly about him. Great basis of theological understanding - leading to dependence on God for opportunities - leading to practise and action!
Some good ideas for local involvement and events for outreach. Appropriate and varied, so something for everyone.
Not a focus apart from mission.
Clearly designed to be part of global mission. Focused on individual, local communities and Christians.
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