I don’t know much Spanish. Solo un poco. When I travel to Peru to visit our global partners, I rely heavily on translators whom we need around us at all times to communicate.

On one of my recent visits, I was staying at the home of Pastor Angel and Neli Barrientos, and we didn’t have a translator. Our times around the dinner table were almost comical – using every hand motion we could think of to try to communicate the simplest things with one another – even pointing to objects around the room to make a point – but never really being able to communicate very well. On one level, it was funny – but on another level, it was really frustrating. Neither of us are fluent in the others’ language!

Gospel Fluency
Last week, we launched an 8-week gospel pilot group, using a great resource, The Gospel Primer, by Caesar Kalinowski. If you remember from the fall, we talked about a number of different “pilot ideas” (as we’re calling them) – basically experiments around various missional ideas at Fellowship. We pulled together 12 people we know are already living “on mission” who would work through this material and seek to practically apply it to our lives.

The Gospel Primer is a short (8-weeks) but very engaging resource that has the goal of expanding our “gospel fluency” – as Kalinowski defines it: “Our ability to speak and display the gospel in natural and effective ways in any situation in life, leading to transformation and restoration.”

The Journey Begins
The prayer is that this kind of experience will help establish new gospel insights and habits that integrate into our hearts and find their way into the rhythms of our everyday lives. Our hope is that upon completing this first 8-weeks, those in this pilot group will have successfully BEGUN the journey, not finished it. And possibly lead others on mission to follow Jesus – and make disciples – in the process.

Here are 3 things I learned from our first gathering:

1. People really want to experience “gospel fluency.” As we went around the room giving people the chance to express why they’re a part of this pilot group, the common theme was gospel fluency. People weren’t necessarily using that phrase yet – some were just hearing it for the first time that night. But everyone expressed the desire to be more conversant with the gospel – with friends, coworkers, family… I think this desire is only going to become more evident throughout our body.

2. People really love getting together for the right reasons. Simply put, we had a great time with one another. We ate good food. Enjoyed good wine. There was a lot of energy in the room. It was obvious that everyone gave up something important that night to be able to get together. Everyone is busy. Everyone’s calendar is full of good things. But with a compelling reason to gather – the gospel, relationship and mission – everyone seems committed. (And we all need to eat anyway, right?)

3. People really want to live on mission. We talked about how our mission is a part of God’s mission – to make disciples who make disciples, with the gospel at the very center, for His glory. So what does that look like? Well, a significant part of it looks like living as “sent ones” – missionaries – wherever we are. In every relationship. Every day. There seemed to be a lot of energy across the board to grow in this way.

We’ll be learning together over this next 8-weeks what it means to be more “gospel fluent” and how that informs all of life. And we’ll figure out what the next steps are beyond this first pilot group, and then report back. This is just the first step.

The Gospel Conversation
Would you be interested in joining the gospel conversation? If so, let me know – there will be more pilot group opportunities in the days and weeks ahead. And if you’re in a group who would like to go through The Gospel Primer, I’d be glad to get you those resources.

I don’t know that I’m going to be learning Spanish anytime soon. Fluency for a Peru trip is going to have to wait. But my prayer is that each of us can take some meaningful steps toward gospel fluency in a way that will influence families, neighborhoods, communities and beyond for the Kingdom, and for His glory.

Let’s do this. Together.

For Gospel Transformation,

Brian Petak
Pastor of Outreach and Missional Living

Brian can be reached by email at or by phone at 615-277-9590.