Christmas. The best time of the year?
The calendar flipped to December, and this means many churches and small groups have turned towards their plans for the new year even as they aim to finish out the Christmas season well. After all, Christmas is supposed to be about Christ, right?
Yes, but many church and group leaders feel pressure and stress around this time and can actually find it harder to focus on Christ than during other times in the year.
We understand. And we want to help in any ways we can.
Here are some Bible study suggestions to help you, as the group leader, keep your focus on Christ during this season, and here are some resources to help center your group on Christ as 2020 rounds the corner.
For You
- Foundations: A 260-Day Bible Reading Plan for Busy Believers
With Foundations, you can read through the key, foundational passages of the Bible in one year, while still having the flexibility of reading 5 days per week. Along with supplementary devotional content each day, you can experience the miracle of reading and responding to God’s Word. By using the H.E.A.R. journaling method, you will be guided through Highlighting, Explaining, Applying, and Responding to passages, allowing for practical application throughout the year-long plan.
- Foundations New Testament: A 260-Day Bible Reading Plan for Busy Believers
Based on the success of Foundations (described above), Foundations: New Testament uses the same H.E.A.R. method to provide a 5-day a week, year long devotional scripture reading experience that takes studiers through only the New Testament. You’ll also be guided with weekly scripture memory options for the duration of the study
For Your Group
With the recent Thanksgiving release of the latest Kendrick brothers movie, OVERCOMER, you can launch your group into thinking through themes of identity and overcoming difficulties this Christmas and New Years season. Many people feel they are less than who God says they are. We get our identity from our careers, our political positions, our roles in the family, and a number of other lesser things. However, when we understand who God is, we more fully understand who we are. This new small-group Bible study uses clips from the Kendrick Brothers film OVERCOMER to examine how we determine our identity and how we can find our true identity in Christ. (5 sessions)
Most Christians want to make real, noticeable progress in their walk with Christ. We long to forgive, to have a pure heart, and to find peace, but we just don’t know how to get there. It’s time to get unstuck and build momentum toward a more godly life. The understanding and strength we need to pursue holiness are available through the path Christ laid out for us in the Beatitudes. Find out what it really means to be poor in spirit, to be meek, and to mourn, and discover how those qualities will help you live a life in which God’s blessings are abundantly clear and present. (8 sessions)
Christmas and New Years is a time of reflection, so why not direct your group to reflect towards eternal change? When David Platt took a trip to the Himalayan mountains, the staggering hardship he witnessed transformed the trajectory of his life. Now, in this study, he’s inviting you to reflect and wrestle with him as he describes his life-altering trek through the Himalayas. You’ll ask hard questions alongside Platt about human need, suffering, faith, the gospel, and our role. For Christians, ignorance of profound human need is not an option. Neither is indifference. It’s time to explore what it means to follow Jesus in a world of urgent physical and spiritual need.
You can have the first two sessions of this Bible study for free here! And you can also find a 7-Day guide, showing you how to pray for the unreached people of Asia for free here.
The Gospel is foundational to all aspects of the Christian life, so why not finish out a Christ-centered Christmas by keeping the momentum towards seeing Christ in all of scripture continuing throughout the entire next year? From cover to cover, the Bible is the story of God’s plan to redeem sinners through Jesus—the gospel. Gospel Foundations tells that story. From the creators of The Gospel Project, this six-volume resource is comprehensive in scope yet concise enough to be completed in just one year. Each seven-session volume is video-enhanced to help your group engage in discussion with a clear understanding of how each text fits into the storyline of Scripture.
See the first two sessions of this Bible study as well as gain access to wallpapers, sermon guides, and more here.
Christmas doesn’t have to be the most stressful time of the year. Here’s to keeping the focus on Christ and to helping others do so as well.
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