The Mission-Centered Life: Following Jesus into the Broken Places, Study Guide
Digital Verbum Edition
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Overview
In this in-depth study on missional living, Bethany Ferguson draws on her fifteen years of missionary experience to examine the reasons believers should pursue lives of service and evangelism. The Mission-Centered Life explores why holistic missions is needed, how God’s grace empowers us to serve in places of need, what to do when we fail as missionaries, and how to cultivate hope in the midst of a broken world.
For Christians who long to serve God in broken places but aren’t sure where to start, The Mission-Centered Life speaks to the “whys” and “hows” of missional living.
Designed for personal reflection and small group discussion, Ferguson provides Scripture study, profound application and questions, as well as essays and personal stories to illustrate the importance of missions both for the missionary and the community being served by the missionary.
Several books on missions tend to focus on the adventure or challenge of living cross-culturally. Others focus on the number of conversions as the primary measurement of success. The Mission-Centered Life offers instead the option to explore how our weakness and need is what prepares us to serve a needy world. Ferguson invites readers to take on a posture of humility, which is vital for the church desiring to be relevant in the world. This invaluable resource urges others to see how we are like those we come to serve and how we can learn from them.
Find confidence in God’s missional purposes in the world and a deeper understanding of life with Jesus, who pursued the marginalized as shown throughout the New Testament. Anchor your hope to Christ, who moves us out of our comfort zones to care for the needs of the world.
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- Examines why holistic missions is needed
- Provides Scripture study, profound application and questions, as well as essays and personal stories
- Offers the option to explore how our weakness and need is what prepares us to serve a needy world
- Introduction
- How to Use This Study
- Lesson 1 – Going
- Lesson 2 – Identifying
- Lesson 3 – Changing
- Lesson 4 – Praying
- Lesson 5 – Seeing
- Lesson 6 – Believing
- Lesson 7 – Serving
- Lesson 8 – Suffering
- Lesson 9 – Repenting
- Lesson 10 –Celebrating
This book contains a lovely family of reflections from the front lines of mission and ministry. They are artfully and honestly told with a tone of grace-filled discovery. Together, these reflections provide a gentle invitation to regularly examine oneself, opening oneself to discern the movement of the Spirit within oneself and in the world. I recommend these spiritual exercises to anyone considering or already deeply involved in the work of God’s mission in the world.
—Bryant L. Myers, Professor of Transformational Development, School of Intercultural Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary; author of Walking with the Poor and Engaging Globalization: The Poor, Christian Mission, and our Hyperconnected World
Ferguson deftly weaves gripping stories of her life in South Sudan with eloquently expressed biblical truth, to give us an authentic basis for missional living. We glimpse her griefs and failures even as she points us to hope and Jesus. The format invites a communal journey to find that God ‘will disrupt our expectations, and that is a gift.’
—J. A. Myhre, Serge Area Director and Doctor, Serge, East and Central Africa; author of The Rwendigo Tales
You’ve heard it said, ‘Find out what God is doing in the world and join his mission.’ But if, like me, you are asking how to do this, I recommend The Mission-Centered Life. Best of all, this is a group study. Read, discuss, meditate, pray, and reflect together as God shows you his heart for the world and your part in his mission.
—Philip G. Monroe, Director of Training and Materials, Mission Trauma Healing, American Bible Society; clinical psychologist; visiting professor of counseling and psychology, Missio Seminary; director, Global Trauma Recovery Institute, Missio Seminary
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