LifeWay

Group Ministry

Conversations on Group Practices

Uncategorized

Happy Are Those Who Mourn

By

By Dr. Derwin L. Gray

Over the years of sitting at Jesus’ feet, I’ve found that the more time I spend with Him, the more I am connected to His heart. And somehow, in a way that only He understands, I am a better person because my love for people and their plight increases. 

Mourning is necessary for Christians to understand and embrace. So often we are bombarded with messages of positivity and “keeping it moving.” We don’t take the time to slow down, feel pain, and mourn with those who are mourning. We want to move past those painful feelings and get back to the happy feelings. I have learned, however, that taking the time to sit in the pain is necessary for discipleship. There is no other option than to know God in our suffering and the suffering of others.  

Lament

The Bible speaks of “lamenting.” Lamenting is a holy hurt. But the hurt is a pain that pushes us deeper into faith, hope, and love. 

Deeper into faith in Jesus and His redemptive purposes. 

Deeper into hoping, which is a knowing that one day all things will be made new. 

Deeper into loving people. 

In the midst of human suffering, having someone who cares for you, comforts you, prays with you, reads Scripture over you, and nurtures you through the rising river of pain is a gift. It’s as if God heals us as we become instruments of healing touch. 

Those who lament will be cemented in God’s comfort. God’s comforting grace will be experienced in the present through the Spirit’s presence, and in the future, when ultimate redemption is realized in the new heavens and new earth. Just like the cross, out of great sorrow, comes great comfort. Happy are those whose hearts break for what breaks God’s heart, for they will be comforted.

Hope has a name, and it’s Jesus. Through His cross and resurrection, our bodies, along with all of creation, will be made whole. But until that time, God lovingly enters our suffering and is broken on a cross to heal our brokenness. Our hope is not a mere wish, but an assurance, because God, through the Holy Spirit, is pouring His love into our hearts. 

Lament moves us to action. 

Happy are those who lament, for they will be cemented in God’s comfort. 

Help Others Mourn

How do we help our people mourn? There is no perfect formula, but I humbly offer these suggestions:

  1. Slow down. Do not rush past sin, hurt, and sadness. Take time to sit in it. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak through these feelings and do a work in you. As you experience suffering and mourn it, you will be conformed to the image of Christ. 
  2. Pray. Talk to God about what is going on. Cry out to Him. Scripture is filled with God’s people crying out to Him. If you don’t have the words, know that the Holy Spirit groans on your behalf. 
  3. Read Scripture. Again, we see many examples in Scripture of God’s people crying out to Him. Spend time in the Psalms. Remember God’s promises written in the Scriptures. 
  4. Allow lament to move you to action. We have seen many instances, both in Scripture and in recent history, where lament moves people to action. They see hurt happening around them and decide to do something about it. Ask God how He is calling you to move to action. 
  5. Spend time in community. God has given us a family to walk through difficult seasons together. Don’t try to go through mourning on your own. Lean on each other. 

A Prayer for a Season of Mourning

Here is a prayer from my most recent book that I hope will minister to you as you walk through a season of mourning.

Blessed Trinity,
you are not distant or disinterested in us. 

Thank you that I can approach your throne of grace and mercy in my time of need. 

In every moment of every season, including moments of disappointment, doubt, and despair, you have determined to be present with us. 

You enter our worst moments and teach us how to lament and long for a day when all wrongs are made right, when tears of sorrow turn to tears of joy, when hurts are healed. 

Teach me to lament well. Teach me to cry out to you. 

May my lament over our broken world be a battle cry of victory, for in Christ, we are more than conquerors in him who loved us. 

As I lament, encourage my heart and cement me eternally in the truth that nothing will ever separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus. 

In Jesus’ name, amen. 

This post was originally published here on LifeWay voices. Reposted with permission.

Free Bible Teaching

Free Bible Characters Devotion for Your Group

By

The last few months have been incredibly unpredictable. 

What we have experienced as a nation and in our own personal lives is beyond what we anticipated when we rang in New Year for 2020.

As we strive to move forward, we’re facing much of the residual upheaval. We might be wondering about what we’ve seen inside ourselves as we’ve had time to hear our own thoughts. We might be wondering about our relationships as we’ve had to navigate conflict. We might be wondering about the future we thought was secure. We might be wondering what our once stable group dynamic will be like this fall.

Even though the specifics that moved us into this state of upheaval might be unique to this time and place, we know we are not the first ones to experience hardships and difficulties. In fact, trials, temptations, and challenges have been endured by believers for centuries.

What if we could learn from others? And not just anyone, but characters within the Bible?

They were human, just as we are. They struggled, just as we do. They made mistakes, but they also learned. As we all strive to continue seeking the Lord and growing through these challenging times, we can learn from their stories recorded in the Bible through a free 7-Day Characters devotional. 

Learn from Abraham, Ruth, Josiah, Malachi, Jesus, Philip, and Barnabas. The first devotional (centered on Abraham) is excerpted below. Use it to equip your group during this challenging time. You can download the entire 7 day devotional here, at lifeway.com/charactersdevotional. 

ABRAHAM

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone (other than Jesus) who figures more prominently in the Bible than Abraham. His story is referred to frequently by the biblical writers, and even by Jesus Himself.

But in the beginning, Abraham is just Abram, an aging and childless man who heard a simple call from God to go. Abram obeyed, and his story began as he followed God in faith, waiting for the fulfillment of the promises given to him. These promises frame the entire biblical story, for from Abram would come the nation of God’s chosen people, the Israelites. And in the New Testament, we find that Abraham’s fatherhood extends beyond blood to all those who believe in the same way that he did.

God told Abram to go, and that is what Abram did. Abram had a clear word from the Lord. God wanted him to leave the land where he lived and go to a new land. Abram was faced with the decision of obedience or disobedience.

This was a significant decision, and God knew it. To obey meant leaving everything he knew behind to pursue God’s promise. If Abram was willing to act in faith, then he would be the father of a great nation. He would be blessed, and his name would be made great. And in the end, every nation on the earth would be blessed through him. God chooses to use ordinary people who put their full faith in Him as conduits of His blessing to the ends of the earth. Those great blessings begin with people willing to take

God at His Word and step out in faith.

In Abram’s case, this promise was fulfilled in the person of Jesus. Through Jesus—born of the lineage of Abraham—people of every tongue and tribe can be blessed with the greatest gift, eternal life. When we turn from our sin and trust in Jesus we are grafted into the line of Abraham by faith. The blessing God promised Abraham belongs to us in Christ. And it all begins with a step of obedience, a willingness to trust Christ and respond to His call.

To learn more about the Characters Bible study series, visit lifeway.com/characters.

 

Group Leadership

Hungering and Thirsting for Righteousness in Unprecedented Times

By

You’ve heard it said, many times by now. These are unprecedented times.

Truth is, they are in many ways. But it’s also true that these times are exposing things in our life, work, relationships, and goals that might seem unprecedented. Yet, these times aren’t revealing just inward realities. They’ve once again called to our attention the underlying realities of deep injustice amid a time of global health crisis.

Derwin Gray shares about the desire for a deeper justice in his newly released Bible study “The Good Life: What Jesus Teaches about Finding True Happiness” (partially excerpted below):

America is in the middle of a mass shooting epidemic. The past year has been filled with news of sexual abuse that religious leaders were covering up. These leaders were supposed to represent Christ and protect children. When we think about the many homeless men and women sleeping on the streets, children without parents, the thousands of abortions that will happen in one day, and the many other injustices that occur daily in our broken, grieving world, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with the magnitude of the needs.

Perhaps prolific injustice has even led some of us to wonder how there can really be a powerful, loving God if there’s so much ugliness in the world. If you find yourself there today, keep reading. Whether or not you realize it now, your anger, disappointment, and desire for the ugly realities of our broken world to be fixed are a longing for the beauty of God. Consider this question:

How do we know something is unjust unless we believe there’s a standard of justice?

If we long for goodness, beauty, and justice, there must be one who created these things. That Creator must exhibit those things because we can’t give away what we don’t possess. As we yell and shake our fists at all the wrongs in the world, we’re longing for God to make the sad things untrue, to make the ugly beautiful, to heal the hurt.

Read Psalm 33:5 and Amos 5:24.

How do we reflect God’s character when we long for justice?

How does knowing God is righteous and just change the way you feel about the injustice you see around you?

The triune God made creation good, and we messed it up. We introduced death and decay, but God didn’t leave us in our mess; He joined us in our brokenness. He even allowed all the sad things that have happened to us to happen to Him on the cross. His resurrection births a new creation in the heart of the old. The righteousness and justice we long for walked out of a tomb in Jerusalem. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, He wants us to become actors in the divine drama of redemption. We become His agents of redemption.

We can seek to be agents of redemption in a time of brokenness and darkness, even as we rely on Christ to keep transforming the brokenness sin causes inside of us.

Derwin Gray has much more to share about how we hunger and thirst for righteousness as he unpacks the Beatitudes in his new study, partially excerpted above. Engaging with this content will walk you through lamentation, peacemaking, humility, mercy, and more.

Find a free sample and other resources at lifeway.com/thegoodlife as we all strive to better bring glory to Christ during these particularly difficult times.

Online Bible Study

Join the Online Bible Study (and Free Giveaway!)

By

It’s almost time!

Starting this Tuesday, June 16, we are beginning an Online Bible Study of Help My Unbelief by Barnabas Piper!

What’s the Bible study about?

All of us have questions about faith, but we often feel awkward or uncomfortable asking them. We assume doubt is always a bad thing. God is infinite, beyond our understanding—yet He chooses to reveal Himself in ways that spark our questions rather than settling them all. Instead of making Himself smaller and easily understood, God invites us into a larger faith—one that has room for questions, victories, failures, and mystery. Belief in an infinite God by finite humans is an act of exploration. It’s a process of learning all we can understand and trusting God in all we can’t. Through this Bible study, we will engage with questions about doubt and faith alongside Barnabas Piper.

How does it work?

First, you’ll head over to the Facebook Group to request to join the Online Bible study hosted by us as the LifeWay Groups team.

Once you’ve joined the free group, you’ll look for a new video to be posted every Tuesday. Each week at 7 AM, we’ll post a teaching video from one session of Piper’s Help My Unbelief Bible study. Since there’s six weeks of content, we’ll continue posting for six weeks. (The videos will stay live throughout the duration of the Facebook group, so even if you miss a video one week, you can still go back and review it).

Next, you’ll jump into the discussion. With each video, we’ll be adding a few questions from the Bible study to spark conversation. In the comments section under the video, you can answer the question and engage with other people who are also answering the questions.

Who can join?

The Facebook Group is open to anyone! You can join individually and engage with others in the group. You’re welcome to invite your friends to join the group and even watch the sessions together to discuss in person.

The author, Barnabas Piper, will also be joining the group and will be engaging with discussion questions and sharing additional insight into the content.

What do I need?

The session videos will be provided for free, and they correspond to the sessions in the Bible study book itself. You can get an eBook version of the Bible study book or a physical copy to complete your study experience. Then, you’ll be able to find the additional session material referenced by the videos as well as personal study “devotions” to continue diving into the content each week.

Want a free copy?

We are giving away free copies of the Bible study to equip you to best engage with this online Bible study experience! Complete the form below to be entered into the giveaway.

We look forward to joining you on the study journey!

Giveaway form

by filling out this form you agree to receive more information from LifeWay Groups.
Church Leadership

How to Disciple New Christians

By

Do you remember what it was like?

You’d heard the word “Christian” before. Maybe you were a teenager, fighting the fact that your parents frequently brought you to church and you didn’t really see why. Maybe you were far along into adulthood, struggling with the purpose of what you did.  Maybe you were yet a small child, hearing about concepts of Christ and the cross and trying to piece things together.

Whatever your story of coming to know and cherish Christ, we all began somewhere and had to then begin the next step in our journey: understanding more fully what we believe and how to follow Christ.

Where did you turn?

A specific person might have started to intentionally disciple you. Perhaps a book became pivotal in your spiritual formation. Maybe a church, through preaching and small groups, stepped into this foundational time.

Yet maybe the process of pursuing spiritual understanding and growth wasn’t so smooth. You could have floundered finding sure sources to teach you.

Now, you might be on the flip-side. Leading a small group, you might be surrounded with people new to the faith or asking how to rebuild their life on the foundation.

The need for accessible, direct, helpful, and deep discipleship resources for new believers cannot be understated. And, because of this need, we acted. 

Meet My New Life: A New Christian’s Guide to Building Your Life on the Word of God.

This is a six week Bible study which covers the basics of the Christian faith for new disciples of Christ. Each session contains sections that introduce you to scripture with a specific focus, provide questions to help you engage with the scripture, and give a prayer focus and journaling sections to conclude your weekly study.

What topics are covered? 

  • Week One: My New Life in Jesus
  • Week Two: Understanding the Gospel
  • Week Three: The God Who Made Us
  • Week Four: Abiding in Jesus
  • Week Five: The Importance of the Church
  • Week Six: Joining God on Mission

You can engage with this study on our own, give it to those in your group to do individually, or go through the content with a group. 

No matter the way you use the resource, it is our hope that it can serve as a go-to for early discipleship, centering new believers on the Word of God and the cross of Christ as we seek to be faithful to the Lord and as He transforms our hearts.

Here’s to growing in our walk with Christ. Here’s to intentional, practical discipleship. Here’s to more new believers in 2020.

Find out more about this recourse, access the first session for free, and find more additional church items at lifeway.com/mynewlife.

Deborah Spooner is a Minnesota-born analytical creative serving as a Marketing Strategist for LifeWay’s Groups Ministry. As a pastor’s daughter with a background in Digital Communications and Media and Biblical & Theological Studies, you can find her at her local church, in deep conversation, or with a book or pen in hand as she seeks to know Christ more and make Him known.

 

Church Leadership

Top Studies for the New Year

By

2019. A year is ending, and with it, a decade comes to a close. Many, Bible study groups included, begin to reflect over the past year as we excitedly look towards a new beginning when another page in the calendar turns.

What are your hopes for the next year? And how can you work to craft these hopes to be centered on Christ for your whole group?

We’ve been thinking about it, too. Here’s six resolutions for your group (and the Bible studies that can help you work towards achieving them) as 2020 rounds the corner.

  1. Discover who you are in Christ

Defined: Who God Says You Are

When you introduce yourself to someone for the first time, you have an opportunity to define yourself. You disclose your name, profession, and interests. These factors help our culture define us, but are those answers enough? There are bigger questions our culture can’t answer: who am I? and why do I matter? And before asking, who am I? you must first answer, who is God?  The Scripture teaches that we are all made in the image of God. We do not define ourselves—the Creator does. We were all created to be known and loved by God. Once the answers are clear, we can move forward and discover all God has called us to be. (8 sessions)

Join LifeWay Women for an online Bible study staring January 9th!

  1. Say yes to anything God asks

Something Needs to Change: A Call to Make Your Life Count in a World of Urgent Need

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 heart-wrenching 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 needs. (8 sessions)

Have  the first two sessions of the Bible study for free here (and find a 7-Day prayer guide for unreached people groups)!

  1. Rest in the love of God

The Prodigal Son: Discovering the Fullness of Life in the Love of the Father

At some point we have all been tempted by the allure of a life outside God’s design. Thankfully, Jesus addressed this issue through the well-known parable of the prodigal son from the Gospel of Luke. In this story, we meet a young man who demands his inheritance, then goes and squanders it in a far-off country away from the watchful eye of his father. When he realizes that the world and its pleasures do not deliver on their promises, he arises and returns home. This Bible study walks through the parable verse by verse, showing us that the best life is found in the love of our Father. (8 sessions)

  1. Experience more of God

Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God

Revised and expanded, this classic study guides readers to experience a relationship with God through which they come to know and do His will by learning to recognize when He is speaking. It also helps them understand the importance of His timing. Many truly amazing testimonies are included in this revised version. (13 weeks)

  1. Learn how to follow Jesus

My New Life: A New Christian’s Guide to Building Your Life on God’s Word

The new Christian can become easily overwhelmed trying to figure out how to be a Christ-follower. For the believer to grow, it’s necessary to have an understanding of God’s Word, God’s character, prayer, the gospel, and so much more. This study explains these deep biblical truths in short and simple to understand chapters. It will help a new believer grow in knowledge of God’s Word and provide a foundation on which daily trust in Jesus will grow for the rest of their lives. (6 sessions)

Church Leadership

Top Bible Studies for Christmas

By

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.

 

 

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.

 

Church Leadership

How to Encourage 1:1 Mentorship in Your Group

By

You spend time together as a group. You talk about following Jesus. You encourage each other to confess, repent, and keep pushing forward.

But, even though you do this more intentionally through a small group separate from the larger Sunday congregation, there’s a level of accountability and discipleship that still can’t happen in a larger group setting.

When 1:1 mentorship develops within small groups, the group itself can be strengthened as well as individuals’ relationships with the Lord. Even Jesus had his ministry to the masses, his specific ministry with the twelve disciples, and more ministry with the three closest to him. 

Here are three practical ways to encourage 1:1 mentorship within your small group. 

1. Talk about it

Sometimes, when people get into small groups, they assume their discipleship and mentorship needs are being met. They can assume the accountability and natural growth from group discussions is enough. And this makes an impact! But, when a group leader reminds the group about the value of intentional, outside-of-group 1:1 mentorship, people can remember the impact of personal accountability and discipleship plans.

Try encouraging 1:1 mentorship in your group by talking about it. Simply bringing up the biblical value and role of deeper mentorship and challenging your group to mentor each other or others outside of the group can be a first step towards this type of life-change. 

2. Provide resources

People can be intimidated when they hear the word “mentorship” or even “discipleship.” They might not think they’re qualified. They might never have had a mentor and don’t have an idea of what this relationship is “supposed” to look like. They simply might not know where to start.

Try providing them with resources as they begin their mentorship journey. This could be as simple as a list of questions you’ve found helpful when discipling and mentoring, or it could be more substantial such as a Bible study to work through. Either way, giving practical resources makes a big difference in the effectiveness and confidence of the mentors as they begin. 

3. Provide feedback

Checking in on your group’s mentors will help them grow in their mentorship skills so they can be as effective as possible with their mentees. When people know that, as they begin to mentor, they are not alone, this can increase their confidence in wanting to step into such a role. If they know they can trouble-shoot with you as a trusted leader or have consistent suggestions for how to continue to strengthen their mentor/mentee relationship, they can gain courage from this type of support.

Consider having monthly or bi-monthly meetings with your group’s mentors to check in and offer any support or encouragement that might be necessary. 

Mentorship is worth it. The type of personal discipleship that comes when we take our small groups and encourage intentional mentorship is powerful as we all seek to follow Christ day by day.

Deborah Spooner is a Minnesota-born analytical creative serving as a Marketing Strategist for LifeWay’s Groups Ministry. As a pastor’s daughter with a background in Digital Communications and Media and Biblical & Theological Studies, you can find her at her local church, in deep conversation, or with a book or pen in hand as she seeks to know Christ more and make Him known.
Church Leadership

Top 5 Articles to Send Your Leaders before Fall

By

Fall is right around the corner. Kids are going back to school, the weather is falling back into cooler days, and you may be stepping back into your small group routine. As you get ready for the fall kickoff, how can you prepare your leaders?

Small group leaders can gain key wisdom from this roundup of practical small group leadership articles.

The Top Five Questions Every Small Group Leader Has

Every small group leader has questions. Most have lots of questions. It can be intimidating to take on the leadership of a group, but you can be assured that (almost) every small group leader has the same doubts, concerns, and questions that you do. The second that we as leaders think we have it all figured out is when we should stop being leaders. I have discovered that the best leaders always have questions—and they’re not afraid to ask them.

How to Train Your Small Group Leaders to Deal with Just about Anything

One of the great privileges of leading small groups is having the opportunity to help someone work through a tough issue. Yet, the fear of dealing with these issues can actually cause a leader to never step up to lead, or to quit or do all they can to remain on the surface to avoid an issue. It’s also what can cause a well-intentioned leader to become a “Bible answer assault person,” quoting Bible verses at someone hoping to fix the problem, unaware of how to come alongside the person and help.

Three Ways to Improve Your Skill as a Small Group Leader

When I enlist leaders for new groups, I look for one key trait: a teachable spirit. The value of any teacher—whether he or she has never led a group or has been leading groups for fifty years—is his or her desire to learn—and keep learning. Unfortunately, too many leaders assume they know exactly how to lead a group, and that assumption is based on how someone once led them. Too often, bad teaching skills are simply passed down through the years.

The Importance of Rest for the Small Group Leader

Some of you don’t need this post. If you feel like your day and your week have a good rhythm; if you aren’t burnt out, exhausted, or stressed; if you seem to have enough time to get everything done that you need to do, then feel free to skip this one. This post is for the people who aren’t sure how they’re going to get everything done, whose task list outpaces their availability, who feel like they’re juggling not just one too many things but three too many things.

3 Things a Small Group Leader is Not

The number one barrier to someone stepping up to lead a small group is the word leader. Take five seconds right now and think about what you imagine when you hear that word. Go ahead, I’ll wait. What came to mind? A CEO of a large company? A head of state? The senior pastor of your church? We all have preconceived ideas of what a leader should be, sound, and look like. I imagine someone who is tall (I’m short), extroverted (I’m an introvert), a scholar (I, um … struggled), and forceful (definitely not me). Basically, someone who is the opposite of me.

Deborah Spooner is a Minnesota-born analytical creative serving as a Marketing Strategist for LifeWay’s Groups Ministry. As a pastor’s daughter with a background in Digital Communications and Media and Biblical & Theological Studies, you can find her at her local church, in deep conversation, or with a book or pen in hand as she seeks to know Christ more and make Him known.

 

Church Leadership

Help Your Group See Jesus in the Entire Bible

By

What’s more important than the Gospel? Nothing.

As Christians, we recognize the importance of finding God’s redemptive plan throughout the Word of God. We desire to live with this plan in mind, being ambassadors of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:11-21). We seek to take up our crosses daily to follow Christ while remembering His finished work on the cross even as God is still working in believers’ lives today (Matthew 16:24).

But how do we maintain a focus on Christ even in difficult passages of the Bible? Can we see Christ connections throughout all of scripture? Can we see Old Testament connections even in the New Testament?

Thankfully, we can. 

And we can help you lead your groups to dig into these discoveries as well. 

Gospel Foundations is a seven volume, year-long journey through the storyline of scripture, seeing how Christ is hero from beginning to end. Each of the individual volumes has seven sessions and can be done individually. 

But there’s more.

We’ve chosen many of the graphs that detail how we can see Jesus in various portions of the Bible and put them in a “Gospel Guide” for easy reference. Along with sample content from the studies, wallpaper, sermon outlines, video previews, and more, you can access this all for free here.

Because Jesus is that important.

 

All Ministry Sites

Pastors
Leadership
Kids Ministry
Student Ministry
Groups Ministry
Women’s Ministry
Worship Ministry

Digital Resources

Ministry Grid
LifeWay Worship
Digital Church
KidEvent Pro
MyCurriculum Manager
Simulcast Manager
LifeWay Reader eBooks
Generosity
WORDsearch
SmallGroup.com

LifeWay Network

LifeWay Research
B&H
Ridgecrest