Surprise the World: The Five Habits of Highly Missional People

For those who love to read self-development books, the sub title of the book must ring a bell to ""The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People"" by Stephen Covey. This book is about how we cultivate habits that make us missional people. The author started the book by saying that not every Christian is gifted evangelist, but all Christians should live an evangelistic life. In order to live an ""evangelistic life"", our lives need to be different from those around us. If we have been born again by the grace of God, we will have the desire to share about Jesus to others as we are indwelt by the Spirit of Witness (John 15:26). This book gives us practical wisdom from the Bible how to foster the following five missional habits (acronym BELLS):

- Bless at least 3 people every week, one of whom is outside of our church

- Eat with at least 3 people every week, one of whom is outside of our church

- Listen to the voice of the Spirit

- Learn about Christ

- Sent

Knowing the above five habits is good, but we need accountability groups in order to make it happen. This is why the author ends the book by providing the tools for the accountability groups so that we can, as the author of Hebrews said, ""stir up one another to love and good works"" (Hebrews 10:24).

Sometimes you pick the books, sometimes the book picks you. \\nI never knew this book existed until I was browsing at Koorong and I saw this at the corner of my eye. What got me was the subtitle: """"The Five Habits of Highly Missional People"""". Habits - not program or event, but habits. \\nFrost uses a catchy acronym to build these habits: BELLS, which stands for Bless, Eat, Listen, Learn, Sent. \\nThese are simple habits that we can do to be missional - to show the reign of God in our daily lives. Frost encourages us to bless people, eat with them, listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, learn Christ, and identify ourselves as the sent ones. \\nI love how practical, simple, and encouraging this book is. A must read if you want a guide to live our your faith in your community.

This is the best book I have read on reaching out to the world as Jesus said to do. It is so practical. I love how it made me think outside the normal thoughts on evangelism. The actions in this book can be done by anyone, not just those with the gift of evangelism. It is a great book to study and apply with a group of friends as it suggests an accountability group. A small book with a big message.

""""Missions"""" has been so bogged down with pre-requisites and theology that people have lost a heart for it. The idea that it's a big trip overseas to some foreign country is all we think of, however this isn't the case. If heaven is out citizenship, then we are always on mission. Every single person, moment and conversation can build the kingdom. \\r\\n\\r\\nThis book explores and defines that, while also outlaying a very practical framework for HOW to do this. It's not complicated, in fact very few could do it without using as many words and pages as Frost has done. It's a very accessible book. Get it!

I would say this is the most practical, down-to-earth, and simple presentation of incarnational ministry, missional evangelism, and just radiating the love of God through the ordinariness of conversation, meals and just 'doing life'. Great for those who've been bogged down with so much theology that it's lead to no action.