My prayer life has been radically transformed by noticing that Christ said..... "Pray like this".  Why hadn't I seen it before?  Maybe this is the reason prayer is so hard for us? Maybe we have just taught ourselves rather than listening to Jesus's repeat and simple instruction on how to pray.

1. Get educated and ready before the need arises.
2. Compare and make connection with 1-2 trusted funeral homes and keep connection fresh. 
3. Decide your suggestions for funeral and burial options and establish the costs of these.
4. Establish with church leadership if the church will cover any certain costs on behalf of members or attenders (i.e.:  cover a basic funeral package with a certain funeral home or cover the cemetery plot or a headstone).
5. Encourage your people to make their living trusts and establish their funeral arrangements long in advance.
6. Make a known protocol within the church that triggers immediately upon the passing of a member ( leadership and membership notification/ meal plans, critical information given to the family by the church/ flowers/ etc).
7. Spread the word in your church to call a pastor as soon as a death occurs for spiritual and planning help.
8. Determine a default timeline and set of planning questions that is ready to present to the family of the deceased before they meet with the funeral director. (this ensures the family’s ability to come to an optimal and coached plan, and still allows the director to provide the remaining needed services).
9. Seek permission from the family to have a church representative attend the arrangement meeting with the funeral director in order aid planning and to protect the family during the purchasing of products and services.

examples of some of these items can be downloaded from this site's Death and Burial page

In sharing the gospel and trying to guide people into the clear basics of following Christ in the "gospel shaped life", I continue to wrestle with better ways to bring clarity to the simplicity and essential nature of all believers being  Worshippers, Spiritual Family and Missionaries (Love God, Church, the world).

I would like some help.

I welcome feedback from anyone willing to comment below.  I am including below, the wording of the "snapshot" version of the "Response" found on the gospelinsix.org homepage and in the 2018 printing of the booklet. I am placing it alongside a new version. Let me know your thoughts on which would better give vision to gospel living.

But, for reference, be sure to read the whole Snapshot version first (its super short).  Then proceed.

Both Versions of "Response" Start with this...
The only way a person will be reconciled to God through Christ, is through asking God to apply the work of Jesus to transform him from a self-centered rebel, to a God-centered person who loves and obeys Him. Such a repentance and plea for salvation is called “being saved by grace through faith”. From that moment on, God reconciles that person to Himself and He becomes their treasure and authority. 

Current Version End
Each of God's adopted children are a part of His beloved family which He calls the "Church." Helped by the Holy Spirit that the Father has placed in each believer, the members of this family love God and one another as they dedicate their lives to the mission of God---to represent their Father and bring His Gospel to the entire world.    

Proposed Version End
The Father sends His Spirit into each of His Children to enable them to thrive with supernatural power. This new thriving life is defined by three new loves. First, they love God—knowing Him through reading HIs Word and prayer. Second, the love His family (the church)—investing their hearts and lives into one another as Christ modeled for them. Third, they love His world—compassionately pointing them to Christ, the only King and Savior of all.

​Thoughts?

Many thanks to Angela Nabors and Katie McClosky for their helps in producing the Glimpse study.  It can be freely downloaded and shared from its page on this site. If you do download it, please let us have your email so we can pass along edits and updates we make in the future.  Also, we would love to hear feedback on how the Glimpse Study has worked for you and those you meet with.