Some thoughts on Gospel Fluency, a book by Jeff Vanderstelt

In Winter 2021, CCF changed the structure a bit where rather than small groups on Friday nights, there would be various ministries running throughout the week that did something different. One of these ministries was the Gospel Fluency ministry, where we went through the book and then came together to discuss and pray about it. Since it would be nice to populate this blog, why not do a reflection (or maybe a book report, throwback to elementary school) on what was a pretty interesting read?

The premise of the book is “to speak the truths of Jesus into the everyday stuff of life”, and in order to do so how important it is to be fluent with the gospel (hence “Gospel Fluency”!). Originally, I was planning to summarize each part of the book, but after writing a bit, realized that it was taking too long and wouldn’t be able to cover all the nuances of the book. After two more edits, it turns out there are things that stood out from each part, so I will talk about those. :)

Similarity to Language

This is from chapter 3, “Fluency” from Part 1: Gospel Fluency.

The whole notion of “fluency” is most understood in the context of language, and the author discusses this in Part 1 of the book. It is quite interesting to compare the gospel to a language, in that we are thinking in it, speaking in it, and living in it just as we would any other language. The example in this part of the book is particularly striking, as it compares “Spanglish” (English with some Spanish sounding words) to the “Gospelish” we may become used to: sprinkling bits of gospel into our conversations, but not actually understanding the language itself. Just as we would with language immersion, we also need to immerse ourselves into a “gospel-saturated community” to gain proficiency in the gospel.

The Gospel

This is from chapter 4, “The True Story”, from Part 2: The Gospel.

This was an interesting way to tell the story of the gospel, dividing it up into four parts: creation, fall, redemption, and new creation. I included a picture of how the breakdown works, which helps us see the gospel as a whole redemptive story, of which it is.

From Fruit to Root and Root to Fruit

This is from chapter 9, “Fruit to Root”, from Part 3: The Gospel In Me.

They have a nice diagram that illustrates this concept, and I included it below. The idea is that first, you start with the fruit of the flesh, and things that are on your mind. Then you go down the tree, asking questions like “Who Am I?”, “What has God done?” and “Who is God?” based on the fruit of the flesh. Then, you go from the root of the first tree to the second tree, and you move up the tree and think through the same questions, except this time you respond with what you know to be true about God, eventually leading to the fruit of the Spirit.

Here is the picture, which I just Google searched and happened to find on another blog!

_{Source: Heaven in Mind: Gospel Fluency by Jeff Vanderstelt}

I still use this occasionally since it points out which parts of our life are still in unbelief (something that they go over in the first chapter is how everyone is an unbeliever in some respect: for Christians, there are still moments of unbelief, although it shouldn’t be every moment.) By pointing out the fruit of the flesh and something that clearly doesn’t align (like God is unloving), you can then remind yourself of what you know to be true: that God is very, very loving!!

Testimonies

This is from chapter 12, “The Hero of Our Story” from Part 4: The Gospel With Us.

Personal stories, or testimonies, are powerful ways to connect with people as you share how God has worked in your life. However, one thing that was pointed out is how easy it is for us to make the story about us, and not about the real hero- Jesus. When we discussed this in our CCF ministry, many of us realized that this was true- focusing on sin, self, and self-effort, but not too much on Jesus and the good news.

Now there are definitely different ways to share your testimony and convey your story, but I found this particular chapter a good reminder that ultimately our stories should point to Christ and the gospel. We did not (and could not!) save ourselves- only through the grace of God and sacrifice of Jesus was that made possible. Just something to think about

Show and Tell

This is from chapter 14, “Show and Tell” from Part 5: The Gospel To Others.

The example in the book was taken from another book, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney. It talks about how a man had become a Christian, and told his boss about it. When he did, his boss was happy and told the man that he was also a Christian and had been praying for him for years. However, the man was quickly crestfallen, and asked his boss why he had never told him that he was a Christian, as his boss was the reason why he was not interested in the gospel all these years. The boss was confused, and so told the employee that he tried his best to live the Christian life around him. Then the employee explained that that was the point- since the boss lived such a model life but never said that the reason for that was Christ, the employee thought since his boss could live a good and happy life without Christ, he could too.

Wow! Imagine how many people might be searching for answers, see you leading a life that they want to lead, and coming to the conclusion that they did not need Christ! This goes to show how important both parts are: the showing and the telling. I know for many of us (myself included), the telling part is one to continue to work on.

Closing Thoughts

Took me a bit to write this, and even then I do not know that it was particularly coherent . Regardless, it was a good exercise to actually think about what I remember from the book and what I can learn from it. This was a good read, and having the opportunity to talk about it with others as we went along was also quite helpful. If you have read the book or ever want to discuss it, feel free to reach out!

See you on another post (hopefully) soon!