Who can you bless? Report back from Discipleship Central

‘Who can you BLESS?’ That was one of the questions posed at our November Discipleship Central as we looked at the question of ‘what it means to live missionally in 21st Century Shrewsbury.’

It was great to have different members of our congregations share their stories of what it has meant for them join in with God’s mission in their neighbourhoods, work places, small groups and families and it is so exciting to see how God is continuing to use ordinary people in the ordinary places of life to bring in his transformation.

 

So what does it mean to BLESS those around us? Well, many who were there found Dave Ferguson’s acronym (See the full version on YouTube ) a really helpful concept.

 

He suggests..

B Begin with Prayer

L Take time to listen to your community and to God

E Eat (or have a coffee!) with others who do not yet know Jesus and build relationships with them

S Serve others from that place of knowing people and their true needs

S And when appropriate, and when you are given the opportunity, tell God’s big story and your own story of what God has done for you.

 

Only a few days after Discipleship Central I found myself putting this into practice as I delivered prayer cards to my neighbourhood. I felt prompted to pop into a particular neighbour’s house. When she invited me in I spent over an hour with her simply listening as she told me of her past connections to church and gave me some advice from a ‘non-church goer’s perspective’ as to how we could do certain things better! And as I sat and listened and prayed for opportunities to go deeper in the conversation, she then began of her own accord, to open up further and tell me more of her life story and her big questions of faith.

It reminded me of how important it is to do the ‘listening bit’ and not simply come with all the answers, and that as we do take time to be with people and build relationships, that God will in his own time, open up opportunities for us naturally to tell our stories and His story.

Dave Bruce