Description
What If You Could Change the World without Changing Your Daily Routine?
When you’ve been transformed by God’s love, you can’t help but want others to experience the same grace and freedom. But how do you share it without scaring them away or offending them? For most Christians, “evangelism” is an intimidating word that suggests handing out tracts to strangers or doing other awkward things.
But what if there was a more organic, more authentic way to share your faith with your friends, neighbors, and coworkers?
Dave and Jon Ferguson have found five simple, straightforward practices that will allow any believer to do just that. And by consistently living them out, you can affect not just individual lives but your entire neighborhood and community—one person at a time.
About the Author
Dave Ferguson is an award-winning author, lead pastor of Community Christian Church in Chicago, provides visionary leadership for the international church-planting movement NewThing, and is chairman of the board and president of the Exponential Conference.
Jon Fergusonis the co-founding pastor of Community Christian Church in Chicago, where he serves as one of its lead teaching pastors and provides leadership in new ventures. He co-launched NewThing and serves on the board of directors for the Exponential Conference.
Praise For…
"Years ago, we were asking “What would Jesus do?” In B.L.E.S.S. - 5 Ways to Love Your Neighbor and Change the World, Dave and Jon Ferguson show us not just what Jesus would do, but what Jesus did do. If every Jesus follower would simply seek to B.L.E.S.S. their neighbors using these biblical practices, we really could change the world--again!"
-Andy Stanley, Author, Communicator, and Founder of North Point Ministries
"Dave and Jon Ferguson’s heart to reach people for Christ is truly inspiring. In his book, B.L.E.S.S. 5 Everyday Ways to Love Your Neighbor and Change the World, you will learn how to be an effective witness for Christ and how to love people where they are. If you have a heart to reach the lost, this book will motivate you and inspire you to make a difference with five simple ways to bless your neighbor with the love of Christ."
-Craig Groeschel, Pastor of Life.Church and New York Times Best Selling Author
"Inside each of us is a deep longing to make a difference, to leave our mark, to love the people around us in such a way that they see Jesus through us. B.L.E.S.S. 5 Ways to Love Your Neighbor and Change the World takes that deep longing or desire and gives it legs - authentic and practical ways to actually do what you so want to do: love your neighbors and change the world."
-Mark Batterson, New York Times best-selling author of The Circle Maker and Lead Pastor of National Community Church
"I have seen Dave and Jon’s five B.L.E.S.S. missional practices implemented in hundreds of churches.Better than anything else I have ever experienced, these 5 simple practices release everyday people into powerful witness wherever they live, work, and play."
-Dr. Rick Richardson, Professor of Evangelism and Leadership, Wheaton College and the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center; Author ofYou Found Me
"I have known brothers Jon and Dave Ferguson for many years. They have consistently sought to mobilize the church to reach out and help people make their way back to God. B.L.E.S.S is a simple yet powerful strategy to help the church reach out to a hurting world at this critical time in history. More than ever the church has the challenge and great opportunity to love people to Jesus outside its four walls."
-Mark Jobe, President, Moody Bible Institute
"Wow. I have literally been searching for a book like this. In B.L.E.S.S., Dave and Jon Ferguson outline a profoundly simple, challenging but doable framework for loving your neighbors that isn’t gimmicky, weird or forced. These are also the kind of practices that will resonate deeply with people in the post-modern, post-Christian era we’re moving into. I love this book."
-Carey Nieuwhof, Leadership Author and Podcaster
"Dave and Jon Ferguson are experst at creating tools that inspire, equip and empower people to live out their faith. This book is exactly that - equal parts motivation and practical application. It’s not an academic theoretical thesis, we don’t need any more eloquent ideas! We need exactly what this book offers: tried and true lived experience, honest and relevant practical plans that everyone can use everyday to live the great adventure of faith. This book could easily be a handbook for every Christian leader to equip their people to live out their best hopes for a better world."
-Danielle Strickland, Spiritual leader, kingdom entrepreneur and the ambassador of fun.
"Dave and Jon have an unusual knack, no make that an unusual gift: to present important truths about the gospel and how to live before God in our world in ways that are clear and memorable and do-able. Jesus taught us to focus on loving God and loving others, and B.L.E.S.S. is all about loving God and learning over time to nurture a life that loves others: one prayer at a time, one conversation at a time, one meal at a time, one act of service at a time, and living into one story at a time. Each day we can live into B.L.E.S.S. one step at a time. Reading this book is a good first step."
-Rev. Canon Dr. Scot McKnight+ Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary
"My friends Dave and Jon once again show us an important aspect of what it means to initiate and sustain movement. By embedding common practices that in turn embody the movement’s DNA throughout the organization, the common practice of BLESS rhythms is their way of ensuring that New Thing Network always remains open to God and to people."
-Alan Hirsch, author of numerous books on missional spirituality, leadership, and organization.Founder of 5Q Collective, Forge Missional Training Network, and more recently the Movement Leaders Collective.
"The concept of loving our neighbor has never been more foreign to Christians and non-believers alike. We have fallen into a “me and mine” mentality in which everything and everyone beyond ourselves aren’t very high on our priority list. Yet, Jesus told us to love our neighbor; He said it loud, clear, and often. With B.L.E.S.S., we’re given the tools to put our love into action so that our neighbors see God through us. With so much unrest and uncertainty in the world, nothing is more welcome right now than a book on how to love as Christ loves."
- Albert Tate, Co-founder and Lead Pastor of Fellowship Church
"B.L.E.S.S. is practical, powerful, and personal. This book will give you practical ways to love your neighbors, reliance on the Spirit's power, and it will personally challenge you to join Jesus in his mission."
-Dr. Derwin L. Gray, Lead Pastor of Transformation Church, Author of The Good Life: What Jesus Teaches About Finding True Happiness.
"Dave Ferguson is one of the most innovative missional leaders of our generation.BLESS is an ingenious approach to evangelism that is tailor-made for today's world.Hundreds of churches and individuals are already engaging in the B.L.E.S.S. practices to reach the world for Jesus.I can't say it strongly enough: don't miss out on the B.L.E.S.S.movement!"
-Michelle T. Sanchez, Executive Minister of Make and Deepen Disciples, Evangelical Covenant Church
"How many of us feel the pressure to share our faith yet frustrated at the lack of significant and lasting results? Filled with key scriptural insights, helpful research, and practical everyday stories, B.L.E.S.S. will both encourage and equip you to love people well and see them respond authentically to Jesus. Whether you are new to the faith or have been walking with the Lord all your life, this is a book to absorb and pass along to others!"
-Kadi Cole, Leadership Consultant, Executive Coach, and Author of Developing Female Leaders
"I believe the B.L.E.S.S. practices are simple enough for a child to understand. Simultaneously, they are robust enough to form ordinary folks into loving, fruitful missionaries who can plant the Gospel in new contexts and see new disciples made. The B.L.E.S.S. practices well-lived eventually lead to renewed communities that function like spiritual families around the person of Jesus. Dave and Jon have given us the best handbook out there to make this practical and possible for all of God’s people. I believe the future of the church rides on this loving, missionary engagement being restored to the Church. This book is a needed and significant addition to that movement!"
-Rob Wegner, Co-founder of Kansas City Underground, Lead Team of NewThing, Catalyst for Disciples Made, and Author of The Starfish and The Spirit
"I first heard about the B.L.E.S.S. practices from Dave and Jon Ferguson several years ago. For someone like me who wants to share the Gospel but doesn't consider themselves to be an evangelist, the practices have been transformative. When I first heard about B.L.E.S.S., I thought, "I can do that!" And that's why I started sharing these same practices with the churches we serve. The Fergusons have given us a simple way to live out the Great Commission in our daily lives. This book will change how you...and your church...engage your mission."
-Tony Morgan, founder of The Unstuck Group and author of The Unstuck Church
"Never before have we needed clear, simple and effective strategies to reach people with the love of Jesus than we do now. I appreciate my friends Dave and Jon for articulating so well in this book a principle I have always believed: that when the church takes practical, gospel-centered action to reach people, we will change lives, communities and nations for the Glory of God. This book will give you fresh language and new imagination for sharing a timeless Gospel in a changing world."
-Rev. James T. Meeks, Senior Pastor and Founder, Salem Baptist Church of Chicago
"Dave and Jon Ferguson have inspired and trained many leaders across the world to follow Jesus and launch thriving churches. I am delighted they are sharing their wisdom and experience."
-Nicky Gumbel, Vicar of HTB and Pioneer of Alpha
"The genius of the lever is that it allows a small gesture of force to move a great weight. There is the same kind of genius in this book. Dave and Jon offer us a profoundly simple, accessible and versatile approach to moving that great weight we feel when it comes to the work of evangelism and transformation. Hopeful and inspiring, their approach promises us joy instead of anxiety in the great work of both sharing and being good news to the people around us."
-Brian Sanders, Founder of the Underground Network, Author of Microchurches, A Smaller Way
"There is no simpler way to normalize the Great Commission and sharing the gospel than B.L.E.S.S.. I’ve found that it’s the best way to get my church centered on Jesus and join God in the work that He is already doing in the lives of those they live, work, and play with."
-Daniel Im, pastor, podcaster, and author of several books, most recently You Are What You Do: And Six Other Lies about Work, Life, and Love.
"At a time when our world desperately needs the gospel, Dave and John Ferguson B.L.E.S.S. us with these five simple steps to love one another as of Jesus did, through everyday friendship and blessings."
-Joby Martin, Lead Pastor, The Church of Eleven22
"Dave and Jon Ferguson have always had a knack for creating strategic and practical processes that work in the real world. I still remember the first time he shared with me the simple steps behind the B.L.E.S.S. paradigm for missional relationships and evangelism. It struck me as both true to real life and within the reach of the average guy or gal. If you want to make a difference in your community and world, this is a book you need to read."
-Larry Osborne, Pastor and Author North Coast Church
