The Helmet of Salvation reminds us that we are saved for mission now. All Christians are called and empowered by God to be actively engaged in his mission now, right we are. This is why in my Substack, I recently discussed the book Surprise the World: The Five Habits of Highly Missional People by Michael Frost. You can read the first post here. This is also why Faith Church recently offered a class on the book BLESS: Five Everyday Ways to Love Your Neighbor and Change the World by Dave and Jon Ferguson.
What is fascinating to me is how the books are so similar. In Frost’s book, we learned five habits based on the acronym BELLS: What do they mean? Here’s a synopsis:
- B – Bless three people this week, at least one of whom is not a member of your church.
- E – Eat with three people this week, at least one of whom is not a member of your church.
- L – Spend at least one period of the week listening for the Spirit’s voice.
- L – Spend at least one period of the week learning Christ.
- S – Journal throughout the week all the ways you alerted others to the universal reign of God through Christ (sent).
In the Fergusons’ book, the acronym BLESS is:
- B – Begin with prayer
- L – Listen to God, listen to others,
- E – Eat with others
- S – Serve together with others
- S – Tell you story
What I appreciate about both of these books is the idea that we can develop habits for mission. They also both emphasize the togetherness aspect of what we are saved for.
Historically the wider evangelical church has conceived of salvation as individual. Jesus is my personal Lord and Savior. I need to accept Jesus into my heart. That individualistic, approach, however, is not what Jesus or the other writers of the New Testament had in mind when they thought of salvation.
There are some Christians who view God as randomly choosing which individual people get saved and which do not get saved. But we believe instead that God chooses corporately, collectively, to save all those who are in Christ. And every single person who ever lived has an opportunity to be a part of that group. Each person can choose to be included in the Saved For group. When they do so, they are together with everyone else who is in Christ.
That means we are also on mission together. We living the Saved For mission together. All those BELLS and BLESS habits of prayer, listening, eating, serving, learning, and so on are not intended to be done alone. Sometimes we will be by ourselves, for sure. But we are also together, and that togetherness is powerful. There is no room for ego. We are together as the body of Christ, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12, we different gifts and abilities. We all need each other.
It’s why Frost, in Surprise The World, recommends that we gather in small groups to encourage one another in the practice of the habits. Think about that a moment. Who do you talk with about your relationship with Jesus? Who do you talk with about how you are doing living the Saved For life?
If you do not have a group like that, a group you can talk with about living the Saved For life, I encourage you to get one start as soon as possible. Read one of these books together. Get together often. Weekly. Ask each other how you are doing in each of the five habits. Pray together. You are saved for mission now.
Engaging Scripture 