You are not alone.
Through an interactive website, church members will be given an opportunity to be lights in their neighborhood. By utilizing the latest demographic information, the church member will receive promptings on a daily basis to pray for 5 families by name. When reporting the activity on the website, the map will begin to shade the prayer coverage of the area.
B • Begin With PrayerWhen Jesus started His earthly mission, Luke 6 tells us that He went out on a mountain and prayed. Prayer is both how you discover your mission and how you live out the mission. Over and over again, we see Jesus retreating to pray. If you’re not sure who God is calling you to bless or where God is calling you to go to be a blessing, you can begin with prayer. And if you know the people you want to bless, begin praying for those people now.
L • Listen With IntentionalityAsking questions and then listening was central to Jesus’ life and teachings. Consider the blind man in Luke 18. Jesus didn’t assume the blind man wanted to see. First, He asked, “What do you want me to do?” Then He listened. In the Gospels, Jesus asked many more questions than He answered. Of the 183 different questions He received, Jesus answered only a handful. Any relationship starts with listening to someone’s words and life. True listening may be the kindest and most loving gift you can give someone.
E • Eat With PurposeJesus liked to eat! Over and over, as in Matthew 9, we find Jesus with tax collectors and sinner eating! There is something about sharing a meal together that moves any relationship past acquaintance toward friendship faster than just about anything else we can do.
S • Serve SacrificiallyJesus told us straight up, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve…” (Matthew 20:28). He modeled for us that once you begin with prayer, listen, and eat with someone, there is a good chance that you’ll discover how you can best serve the person God is asking you to bless.
S • Share Your StoryWhen people were ready to listen, Jesus would share His story. Like when doubting Thomas came to him asking, “How can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:5-6). When you befriend and bless people, they feel relationally safe and want to know your story. Then, you can tell them how the love of God and Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection have changed you.
Would you register to pray for your neighbors?
Register for as a ‘light’ to receive notifications to pray for your neighbors by name on a daily basis.
As a Partner Church you can track your member’s BLESS progress, discover who is moving into your neighborhoods, and receive other valuable demographic data.
Are you looking for practical information on how to engage your church with The Bless App? Steve Bradshaw and Jon Furgeson recorded a 30-minute webinar to answer questions and help you get started.
Would you like to dig deeper into some book resources? We suggest the following books as a challenge and encouragement.
These tools provide visual reminders and technological promptings to pray daily for your neighbors by name.
Apple App →
Android App →
Using the BLESS acronym, this card will help you pray and care for and share with your neighbors.
As you are walking for your health, this guide will help you intentionally pray for your neighbors.
This tool from the B.L.E.S.S. book (pg. 56) provides you with categories of questions you may ask as you are listening to your neighbors: History, Heart, Habits, and Hurts.
This tool from the B.L.E.S.S. book (pg. 70-73) will help you learn to listen to your neighbors by asking questions about where you live, work, and play.
This book will challenge you to follow the example of Jesus and ask good questions and then simply listen.
This tool from the B.L.E.S.S. book (pg. 86-87) will warn you of the three excuses for not sharing a meal with your neighbors.
This tool from the B.L.E.S.S. book (pg. 89) will provide you with a simple and sample calendar that can help you intentionally schedule times for meals and fellowship.
This book will challenge you to live on mission every day and regularly invite others to join you for a meal.
This tool from the B.L.E.S.S. book (pg. 109-111) will help you serve your neighbors. It’s quite simple – relationships. In these relationships, you will discover physical, mental and spiritual needs.
This tool will help you see that serving others is an intentional way to introduce them to Jesus.
This tool will provide you with an array of practical ways to serve your neighbors.
Share your story and the Gospel story.
This tool from the B.L.E.S.S. book (pg. 127-129) will help you tell your life story in three parts: life before Jesus, how you met Jesus, and life since you met Jesus.
This tool is designed for a natural conversation about God’s design for a perfect world, and yet the world is broken with sin, and the Gospel of Jesus is the only way back to God’s design.
This tool will help you determine 5 people to pray for and one person to intentionally share the Gospel.
Is a video app in multiple languages that tells the concise story of Jesus from creation to the resurrection.
Watch the story video in multiple languages.
The Story Training
The Story Apps
The hope of the gospel is the thread that weaves through every ministry you undertake. Because every story, ultimately, points to the story of Jesus.
The Beginning is an intentional Bible study for new disciples of Christ that can be used in one-on-one discipleship or small groups. It introduces the basic practices and elements of the faith, including the centrality of Christ, the crucial practice of prayer and Scripture reading, community, and what it means to be on mission for God. Exercises put weekly topics into practice, and meeting times work as well in one-on-one discipleship relationships as they do with typical small groups.
Worship and Witness: Becoming a Great Commission Worshiper is a Bible study for all adults that is based on the B&H academic trade book The Great Commission to Worship: Biblical Principles for Worship-Based Evangelism. This study helps believers to cultivate a discipleship approach that embraces the values of worship and evangelism. The Great Commission to go and make disciples occurs naturally in the life of a believer who follows the Great Commandment to “love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength” (Mark 12:28-34).
Because Church ministry can feel isolating and difficult, the SBCV is partnering with the Discipleship Leader Network. Through this relationship, leaders are provided resources that will help them equip the church to make disciples.
• Praying Your Friends to Christ Manual
• 25 Simple Ways to be Missional in Your Neighborhood
