intro: membership for the mission
COMMUNITY GUIDE
The Community Guide below is based on Sunday’s teaching for our current series: Membership for THE Mission. As your whole Community gathers (in-person or online), use the Community Guide below to give shape to your time together.
Begin by Practicing the Lord’s Supper Together (5 minutes)
Begin your night by partaking of the bread and the cup together. Have each person bring their own Communion elements or provide elements for the group. To facilitate your time, you can either ask a member of your Community to come ready with a short prayer, scripture reading, or assign someone to read the passage of scripture we’ve provided below and spend a moment in silence before continuing:
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:23–26)
CHECK-IN (10 MINUTES)
As we focus on this series, we want to continue to create space for checking in on each other, but doing so in a shorter amount of time. Take a few minutes to do an emotional health check-in with your Community, creating space for each person to answer the question below:
What are three words you’d use to describe your week?
If the need arises, spend a few minutes praying for one another, asking God to meet needs and help each person carry what feels heavy right now.
READ THIS OVERVIEW (5 MINUTES)
It is hard to read the Bible without seeing the purpose and plan of God being truly cosmic in nature! However, the way he accomplishes it is astonishing. Rarely do we think about his plan in terms of relationships. Yet in 1 Peter, it is through relationships between the elders and members of local churches (5:5) that are built together into a temple of living stones (2:4-5), hewn by suffering (1:6), that announces the excellencies of Christ (2:9). In Ephesians, it is the relationships between leaders and saints in the church under Christ’s good leadership (4:11-16) becoming the vehicle in which he establishes his authority over all things (1:22-23). And in Matthew, Christ, the One who had been given “all authority in heaven and on earth,” established his mission for the world through relationships between disciples who teach and disciples who learn (28:19-20). Relationships, specifically committed relationships, are key to his big plan.
Debrief this Sunday’s Teaching (20 Minutes)
With that in mind, work through the following discussion questions as a Community:
Have you ever thought about the reality of God accomplishing his cosmic restoration of the universe through relationships? How might this truth change how you join God in his big plan?
Todd talked about the importance of God designing this mission to happen through committed relationships. How much are you committed to relationships within this local church? How much are you committed to the elders or members? What has kept you from being more committed to this church? If relationships are the key to joining God in the undoing of the Fall, what does that mean for us reaching our community and our world?
In your life right now, who is someone that is far from Jesus? How can you exude the Goodness of God in their life so they might understand who Jesus is in a greater way?
Missionary Practice For The Week Ahead: BLESS (10 Minutes)
ᐅ B.L.E.S.S.
(B)egin with Prayer:
Pray for the people in your life and the places that you’re in.
People: Who do you live, work and play with that is far from God? Pray that God would create spiritual curiosity in them, and then spend time with them.
Places:
Where does pain exist here? Pray for healing.
Who makes the decisions here? Pray for integrity.
Who throws parties here? Pray for community.
Where are the pennies spent here? Pray for provision.
(L)isten:
Listen to and discover the needs of others and for the places where God is at work.
Before you can help others find Jesus, you need to listen to them first - their hopes, pains, challenges and dreams. In your interactions with others today, take the posture of a learner. Lay down assumptions and practice being present in conversations.
(E)at:
Share meals, drink coffee, and spend time with people in your life that don’t yet know Jesus.
Who can you eat with (or have coffee with) that is far from God? A co-worker over lunch? A neighbor during the day? A friend or family member over the weekend?
Is there a place that you regularly visit (coffee shop, gym, etc.)? Ask God to grant you opportunities to eat with people.
(S)erve:
Who can you serve this week? Who do you know that has a practical need? Ask them how you can help.
Before jumping into serving, have you taken the time to pray for, listen to and eat with these people? Doing these things first helps you discover the way that you really need to serve them.
(S)tory:
Share the story of Jesus and what He is doing in your life with others.
Start by sharing how God has blessed you and made a difference in your life.
Share your story in such a way that demonstrates that Jesus is also at work in their life.
Don’t feel like you have to tell your life story at once. Think “bite-size” stories.
Prayer (10 Minutes)
Spend a few minutes praying for God’s grace over each other, that we might become a people who make Jesus our Lord, and that there might be a sweeping renewal of the Holy Spirit in our city. Ask that God would stir up within us a desire to be with him in prayer and to serve him, one another, and our neighbor in love.