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3 Ways Instagram Can Help Your Small Group

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Social media.

What do those two small words make you think and feel? Maybe a lot.

Some of us are only reading this article because we found it on social media. Others just think of our kids and how deeply we wish they wouldn’t spend so much time behind a screen.

Added to our personal experience and opinions, we can get caught in conversations among Christians about the role social media plays in the lives of the church and small group members. Does it bring people closer together? Or encourage comparison and division?

No matter the ultimate resolution of the debate, the world we live in lives in a world of social media, and this tool can be used both for ill and for good. 

So how can your group maximize its social media use on Instagram, specifically, to build community? It might seem simple, but three easy actions can help add to Christ-centered unity and community (and even help you recruit new small group members).

  1. Use stories, creatively.

Instagram stories are almost becoming a social media platform in themselves. And some of their features can be used to strengthen community, get feedback, and invite others to join. Something as simple as snapping a picture of your latest Bible study book and asking people to reply if they’re interested in joining the study can help you build community. You can start a poll to survey your followers to see which topic they’d rather study as you prepare for what’s coming next in a group. You can take a boomerang of your group flipping through their Bible’s pages and post with the date and time of your group to spread the word to potential new members. You can use stories to post screen-shots of upcoming group events to invite others without your regular feed looking spamy. 

  1. Use hashtags, personally.

Hashtags are a # followed by text that, then, is searchable to others across the social media platform (e.g. #blessed). What if your small group created their own group hashtag? This could encourage your members to post about group which can spread the word to new members and keep members who’ve been missing from group in the loop about what’s happening. It can also be a way for the leaders to communicate encouragement to their members. If a leader is posting daily devotional content to the group hashtag, the content can be easily found, commented on, and liked, so that your group’s community continues to be strengthened.

  1. Share and tag, communally.

You can challenge your group members to post, even once a month, what God has been teaching them through group, what their favorite part is about group, things or people they’re thankful for within the group, and more. This will encourage the group members to stay invested in each other’s lives, but it can even be a wider encouragement to the church if they tag. By tagging the church in their individual posts, the shared image and description can be viewed by others. Other church members not in group can see and be encouraged or inspired, and people visiting the church and searching for the church’s social profiles can see what the life of actual members is like within the church community.

It might seem simple, but simple encouragement to your group members to use stories, remember hashtags, and intentionally share and tag can make an impact not only in your group’s existing community but also as you look to recruit new members.

What’s more? You can be intentional in who you follow, to be encouraged and inspired. Recently, the Groups Ministry team here at LifeWay has launched an Instagram page. Check out the profile to stay up to date on the latest small group studies and to find other tips, tricks, and helpful content for all your small group needs.

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

Five Roles of a Small Group Leader

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A small group leader has many roles to fill. The key to a healthy and multiplying group is to give as many of those roles away as soon as possible. You can identify which roles to give away first by knowing which ones are naturally weak for you. We all have areas of leadership where we are stronger and weaker. Someone in your group is going to excel in a role where you might struggle.

Here are what I believe are the top five roles (not in order) for every group leader. As you read the list, think about which ones you should start giving away now.

1. Fun Planner

A key to your group staying healthy is being intentional about planning fun activities during every semester or quarter. That can be a game night instead of a doing the study, going to a ballgame together, or organizing a picnic during the spring or summer.

2. Food Planner

The beginning of every group meeting should be a time of just hanging out, and food can be an important part of that first 20 minutes. It gives people in your group something to do while having important bonding conversations before the study portion of the meeting.

3. Host

Every group needs someone to officially host the meeting. That may include providing the space for the meeting, but it always includes being a smiling face at the door to set the tone for night. A good host will help lead to an effective meeting.

4. Shepherd

Your group members are needing more than a social time and a Bible study. The goal should be to have your small group feel like family. Families care for one another and are there for each other when circumstances are great and not so great. We should celebrate and weep with our group members equally.

5. Prayer Time

Prayer is an important element during the group time, but it’s also essential between meetings. A praying leader is a leader worth following. You should pray consistently and specifically for your group members each week.

Is there a role or two on that list that you can give away soon?

Chris Surratt is a ministry consultant and coach with more than twenty years of experience serving the local church. Chris served on the Executive Teams at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN., and Seacoast Church in Charleston, S.C., prior to becoming the Discipleship and Small Groups Specialist for LifeWay 
Church Leadership

Why Your Small Group Needs to Study Biblical Women

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Heroes of the Bible.

When you hear this phrase, who comes to mind? 

  • David, a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14).
  • Joshua, a leader who brought God’s people to the promised land (Joshua 1-5).
  • Peter, the one on whom Jesus built his first church (Matthew 16:18).
  • Paul, an Apostle to the Gentiles (Ephesians 3:1-12).

All of these are incredible people who, by God’s grace, knew God and made Him known in powerful ways. We learn from them. We are inspired by them. We, in many ways, want to be more like them.

But, who might we be missing?

Some other heroes of faith often take longer to come to mind.

  • Ruth, a widow self-sacrificing, kind, and devoted (Ruth 1).
  • Deborah, a catalyst courageously speaking truth (Judges 4-5).
  • Anna, a prophet dedicated to fasting and praying (Luke 2:36-38).
  • Lydia, a hard-worker worshipfully showing hospitality (Acts 16:11-15).

These are just the beginning of women of faith who, by God’s grace, also knew Him and made Him known through their lives. 

Why study biblical women?

In our small groups and Sunday schools, we have strong reason to not overlook the sometimes shorter or less emphasized stories of the Bible, including the stories that highlight women.

In fact, we miss out when we do not study these.

  1. We all need the example

Amid a culture of women’s rights and feminism, and within the church’s subculture of egalitarianism and complementarianism, what it means to be men or women and the ways we handle biblical manhood and womanhood are intensely debated. We can look to what’s happening around us and our experiences within us to try to make sense of it all. But, why not the Bible?.

Just as we look to people in the Bible to learn how to deal with suffering, to learn what fruit of the Spirit we should have, or to explore what it means to trust God, we can look to the Bible to see what it means to be women who follow God. Whether we need this advice or whether we need to encourage women in our life toward seeking God, we can learn from what women (just as we can learn from men) did, what they said, how they prayed and praised.

  1. They show unique expressions of faith

As we dig into their stories, we will learn from their lives. First, we can see their relationships with the Lord. We can see the ways they talked about Him. We can look for the way the knowledge of God shaped how they spent their days. We can see the expressions their faith took: worship, prayer, fasting.

We can also see how this relationship and fear of the Lord impacted their relationships with people. We can see the ways they were loyal, courageous, truth speakers, justice seekers. We can learn from their actions about how to lead lives that model God’s truth and grace.

What and how can everyone learn from biblical women?

Women in the Bible can show us far more than we might imagine.

They can show us about relationship with the Lord. They can show us about relationship with others. They can encourage our faith. They can shed light into the sometimes difficult and often deeply personal discussions of manhood and womanhood.

Yet, just as any story in the Bible, they can bring us further into the heart of God and spur us forward into a life compelled by God’s love (2 Corinthians 5:14). 

What can we learn from biblical women? Much more than we might imagine.

How can you get started? Try studying, walking through the very texts of Scripture where these women are chronicled.  It starts with scripture. Seeking out the stories of women and diving in. 

But we don’t want to leave you alone in your search. We can help you and help you lead others on this study. LifeWay’s Women’s Ministry Specialist, Kelly D. King, walks us through six stories of biblical women in Bible Studies for Life: Living by Faith – Women who Trusted God. She’ll lead you into the stories of Rahab, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, the poor widow, and the Samaritan Woman. 

What you’ll find? Hope, strength, perspective, wisdom, and so much more. Find out more here.

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

What is the Balanced Discipleship Pathway?

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As Christians, we understand the importance of balance. Balance in our lives, our family, our prayer time, and even our health. Do you ever stop to think about balance in your discipleship plan?

Being a group leader, there is nothing more daunting than picking out the next study for your group. If you start by searching for small group Bible studies in your search engine, you are immediately given 57,300,000 results. It’s going to take some time to sifter through those results to find the perfect Bible study for your group.

Our goal as the LifeWay Groups Ministry is to help the Church in Her mission of making disciples. This applies to small group ministry. Having a balanced discipleship plan should be easy, but it can oftentimes be difficult to remember and keep up with.

In an effort to make it easy for small groups and their leaders, we have the Balanced Discipleship Pathway. This pathway, or plan, is built on three characteristics of Bible study: centered on the Gospel, expanding in scope, and displayed in real life.

LifeWay research has done studies to find out what would be included in a balanced discipleship plan, and these steps on the pathway are lifestyle patterns that ought to be growing in ever-increasing measure the longer a person walks the pathway of discipleship.

The eight signposts on this pathway are:

  • Obey God & Deny Self
  • Engage with Scripture
  • Share Christ
  • Exercise Faith
  • Seek God
  • Build Relationships
  • Live Unashamed
  • Serve God & Others

By choosing a study from each of the following categories (signposts) over the course of a year, you will ensure your group is taking a balanced approach to attaining spiritual maturity.

Friday Features

Our Crippling Misunderstanding of the Bible

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This week’s post is inspired from on J.D. Greear’s new Bible study, Gospel Above All. Fill out the form at the end of this post by Saturday, March 9th at 11:59pm to enter for a chance to win this free resource!

Please open your Bibles…

We love the Word of God, and we get the privilege of studying it with our groups. But what does it all come down to? What would we and our group members say about what the Bible is really about and its purpose?

To know what we think, we can look at how and when we use the Bible.

Maybe one of our group members calls us. They are struggling with a specific temptation. What might we tell them? When it comes to temptation, the Bible says that we…

Maybe we want to talk about finances for your group’s next season. So, we can turn to the Bible and look for all the places money is mentioned. When it comes to money, the Bible says that we…

Maybe we want to learn more about the end times because this keeps coming up in group. We can come to the Bible and look for what it says. When it comes to the end times, the Bible says that we…

All of these actions are actually really good. We need the Bible to be the basis of our decisions, and it is the best source of guidance for how we live. But, what if this type of use of the Bible was limiting? What if we were missing something? What if we were ending our search too soon and missing the primary focus?

“Many of us have been taught that the Bible is a guide book for life. Although the Bible contains abundant direction for our lives; that’s not the primary reason it exists. The main point of the Bible isn’t how to live but how to know God. We come to know God by the gospel, the central message of the Bible.” (J.D. Greear, Gospel Above All)

What is the Bible? It may not primarily be our guidebook for life, but the source of how we know God. It’s giving us the catalyzing and empowering message of the gospel.

When we turn to the Bible exclusively as our handbook for life, we can miss Christ. We can approach the book in a self-centered way, only looking from what we can quickly get from God instead of seeing how the fullness of who God is informs the entirety of how we live our life.

We can approach the Bible and lead others in our group in such a way that we ask questions that center around ourselves instead of ones that lead us to the feet of Jesus.

“A better question to ask than “Who am I?” is “Who is Jesus?” Then we should ask, “How should we live in light of who He is?” We can’t know who we are until we understand who God is” (J.D. Greear in conversation with Jen Wilken, Gospel Above All).

When we start centering our life and identity around who God is, we find new power to, then, be catalyzed by the gospel to actually do what the Bible says. And? We can do this with strength and joy.

“What has been done for us in the gospel frees us to obey God’s commands because we’re no longer motivated by obligation but by the joy of being known, loved, and accepted by God. Gospel change empowers grace-driven effort toward obedience” (J.D. Greear, Gospel Above All).

As we obey the Lord, we will continue reading and being transformed by the Bible. We’ll keep leading others in our groups to this place as well. But, we can do it with a shifted perspective. Instead of only looking for quick answers to the way we should live, we can look for Christ and the Gospel as we make it our primary focus to know God better through His word. Then? We will still look to the Bible for guidance on how to live, but it will be centered on the knowledge of the finished work of Christ and the way this empowers us to actually obey the Lord. It will leave us not ending on our sin but focusing on the Lord, knowing Him and making Him known.

“Reading the Bible shouldn’t be a burden or a chore. Instead, it should be a means for us to see and know God better” (J.D. Greear, Gospel Above All).

Let’s lead our groups to read the Bible in order to see and know God. And? This is only the beginning of what J.D. Greear delves into in his study Gospel Above All. Fill out the form below for a chance to enter a free giveaway. 

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.

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Church Leadership

The “Why” Behind Small Groups

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by Jared Musgrove

Why do we do Groups? Why does any church have some type of smaller group context? Even if your church does not have a formalized pathway for this, I can almost guarantee you that it is happening in some informal sense. 

We do groups because we’ve always done them. As the church of Jesus Christ, We have 2000 years of God’s people leaving large teaching gatherings going into smaller contexts, usually homes, to encourage one another and build each other up. 

We see this as early as Acts 2. They met in First Century homes and groups, gathered around the Word (at that time the apostle’s teaching), they broke bread to mark and celebrate milestones, had fellowship out of the shared story of life transformation in Jesus, and they prayed with and for one another. And it had an incredible evangelistic effect as “the LORD added to their number day by day.” 

“Why groups?” is a question each of us needs to be asking. Where in your church context are you making time and space for Christians speaking words of life, for Christian practice of the 59 One Another passages of the New Testament? Where is the context for Christian courage to be enflamed? For believers to speak a word in season to a soul who needs it?  Where is there time and space into which others, maybe even outsiders, may be welcomed in to see Jesus at the center of our circle? Where are Christians getting personally encouraged in your church?  

Encouraged Christians are incredibly brave with the gospel. 

One example of this is from our own Home Groups: We had a man very hesitant to join one of our groups. “Why share my feelings?” he said. “What more do I need but my Bible and a study guide that tells me exactly what God’s Word says?” But he did reluctantly joined a Home Group. And it so happens that the group was halfway through sharing their individual testimonies of Christ transforming their lives. And this man, sitting in that circle, was so powerfully affected by each of these stories being told that he was given the courage to share his Christian testimony with a group of people for the very first time. 

And he wouldn’t stop sharing it after that!

What happened in this 21st Century small group was that this man sat in the center of Christian practice of sharing his testimony. Out of this he was given Christian courage to continue sharing it with believers and non-believers alike. That’s plugging into the ancient stream of what brothers and sisters have been doing in and out of smaller groups for 2000 years. This is why we do Groups. 

So I encourage you to consider in your church where you are making time and space for such a circle to encourage one another and build each other up. Groups are a standard part of almost every church, but why are they so important? For almost 2,000 years, groups have provided a critical space for Christian practice. And Christian courage to share the gospel. 

Jared Steven Musgrove serves as Groups Pastor and elder at The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from The University of Oklahoma, a Master of Divinity in preaching from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Doctorate of Ministry in leadership from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the husband of Jenny and the father of two sons, Jordan and Joshua. You can follow him on Twitter @jsmusgrove.
Friday Features

Friday Feature: Counter Culture

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This article is an excerpt from the Bible study Counter Culture.

Christianity and culture. Our faith and our world. Truth and love. How do we engage with our culture in a way that both shows the compassion and love of Jesus while also pointing back to the foundational truth of the Gospel?

Often, instead of doing this well, we in our churches and Christian communities can engage with culture in ways that are not helpful to others or ourselves.

In his Bible study A Compassionate Call to Counter Culture: In a World of Poverty, Same-Sex Marriage, Racism, Sex Slavery, Immigration, Persecution, Abortion, Orphans, Pornography excerpted below, David Platt lays out different approaches Christians often take to culture. We can aim to identify which category our group might fall into as we seek to lead ourselves and others into healthy, constructive engagement:

For the sake of simplicity, let’s say we can have one of four possible responses in engaging our culture.

  1. WE CONFORM. We start compromising what we believe and the way we act in order to appeal to and appease the surrounding culture. We may even genuinely believe that doing so is both loving and strategic, hoping somehow people will be attracted to Jesus through a less offensive form of Christianity and will ultimately be saved. However, we have to realize that our goal isn’t to make following Jesus easier. We’ll look more closely … at the message of the gospel, but we’ve already seen that at its core, it’s necessarily countercultural and offensive to the human heart.
  1. WE CHECK OUT. The opposite extreme is to secede from culture, distancing ourselves so completely that we never have any interaction with the world around us. Again, the intent may seem honorable and sincere because we want to remove even an appearance of evil and the temptation of sin. But Jesus specifically prayed that His Father wouldn’t take His followers out of the world but protect them while they were sent into it (see John 17:15-16). The world around us desperately needs the life-changing power of the gospel. Forming an isolated, insulated subculture may feel countercultural, but it isn’t an appropriate response. Countering culture doesn’t mean withdrawing and isolating ourselves from culture.
  1. WE COMBAT. This approach is antagonistic and defensive. While the intent begins moving in the right direction, refusing to give in to or give up on the world around us, it misses the heart of Jesus. This response sees culture as an enemy to be defeated instead of people to be saved. Our desire mustn’t be to prove ourselves right or to force our way on the world around us. Instead, our goal is to show Christ to be true and worthy. Just as wrong as running away from our culture is driving people away from the church. Countering culture doesn’t mean attacking it.
  1. WE COUNTER. Countering culture means engaging culture with conviction and compassion. We stand firmly on the truth of God, empowered by the Spirit, to extend the love of Christ to a lost and dying world. Our desire isn’t to conquer but to redeem. It matters what we do, how we do it, and why we do it. A wrong response to culture is more than unhealthy or unhelpful. It’s potentially damning. Engaging our culture is literally a matter of life or death—eternal life or death.
How do we move past these three harmful responses to culture and engage with “countering” like Jesus would? Platt dives deeper into the problem, the solution, and practical ways to start living in the remainder of his Bible study. Find out more at LifeWay.com/CounterCulture. 

 

Church Leadership, Friday Features

Mentorship Isn’t as Hard as You Think

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Fill out the form at the end of this post by Friday, February 22 at 11:59pm to enter for a chance to win a free copy of  Mentor: How Along-the-Way Discipleship Will Change Your Life.

Mentorship.

We love the idea. People investing in other people to share their knowledge and experiences. Mentees being inspired to come alongside others and become mentors themselves. Yet, this picture often remains little more than an idealistic dream as schedules fill up and time for “mentorship” dries up.

But what if mentorship wasn’t as hard as we made it? What if it, instead, was actually our best tool for preparing our companies, others, and ourselves for the future? What if it actually were a vital part of following Christ?

In his study Mentor: How Along-the-Way Discipleship Will Change Your Life–partially excerpted below–Chuck Lawless gives insight.

What’s Mentoring Anyway? A Simple Definition

Here’s my definition of mentoring. Mentoring is:

A God-given relationship in which one growing Christian encourages and equips

another believer to reach his or her potential as a disciple of Christ.

Mentoring is about relationships.

The Bible is filled with stories of people who invested in other people. Moses and Aaron. Moses and Joshua. Eli and Samuel. Naomi and Ruth. Elijah and Elisha. Jesus and the disciples. Paul and Timothy. Paul and Silas. Paul and Titus. Barnabas and John Mark. This list shouldn’t surprise us, because God is a God of relationships.

Now God has given us the church—that is, Christian people—to relate to us, teach us, and guide us. The church loves one another, serves one another, prays for one another, confronts one another, and forgives one another. This body of Christ, when obedient to its marching orders, produces disciples by preaching the gospel and teaching believers (see Matthew 28:18-20). When we develop discipling relationships, then, we’re doing what God told us to do.

Mentoring requires a growing Christian.

In a mentoring relationship one person leads, and another follows. Somebody must be in front, even if only slightly. Only when we’re growing can we guide others toward growth. Ideally, believers have both mentors who teach them and disciples they teach. We find an example in the New Testament in the relationship between Paul and Timothy. Paul was a leading apostle in the early New Testament church and the writer of multiple New Testament letters. He served as a mentor to Timothy, a younger early-church leader. We all need a Paul and a Timothy. Our Paul challenges us to grow, and we then urge our Timothy to grow also. In this way mentoring becomes a generational effort as the person we mentor gleans not only from our influence but also from the influence of our mentors (and our mentor’s mentor and so on).

Mentoring is a balance of encouraging and equipping.

Following Christ is difficult. A very real enemy fights against us (see Ephesians 6:11-12). Trials happen. Disappointments come. Friends sometimes reject our message or betray us. Trusting God is difficult when life seems unfair or the future is unclear. Without encouragement, giving up is a real temptation. Mentors can help in times like these. Good mentors encourage us when we’re stressed and equip us when we need training.

We need more than encouragement, though. In the midst of life’s struggles, we also need help doing what God calls us to do. We know we need to study the Bible, but we don’t always know how. Pastors tell us that prayer matters, but we don’t always understand how to pray. Telling others about Jesus is essential but not always modeled. We don’t need someone to tell us what to do as much as we need someone to show us how to do it. We need equipping.

In addition to encouraging, mentoring teaches Christian disciplines and life skills. Encouragement without equipping might lead to restored hope, but seldom does it produce life transformation—the goal of mentoring. Mentoring should change the way we live.

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.

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Church Leadership

Why the Image of God is So Important to How You Lead

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The image of God.

What does it even mean? It can be like a vague idea that doesn’t impact how we lead at home, work, or church. But what if it actually played an important role in our daily lives? Turns out, it does.

  1. Sin corrupts

We are made in the image of God. Made to know God and make Him known. Made to be ambassadors of reconciliation. Made to bear God’s image in all the ways that he equips us. But sin. We all have sinned and just miss the mark. Romans describes how we can fade (Romans 1:18-25). Our thinking becomes worthless (v. 21). Our hearts are darkened (v.23). The image of God that could be showing so clearly through us now isn’t everything that it was intended to be.

  1. We exchange

Yet it doesn’t stop with our lives being corrupted by sin. We start looking, but as we are no longer reflecting God’s image and his goodness like we could, we make an exchange. We decide seeking other things, lesser gods–idols–to worship. And? We begin to reflect whatever it is that we worship. One psalmist describes it this way:

“Those who make them [idols] are just like them, as are all who trust in them” (Psalm 115:8).

As we give our lives over to seeking and worshipping anything less than God himself, we reflect those things in place of the Creator who gives it all life. Power, money, fame, sex–the image we begin reflecting can be deeply scarred.

  1. We change

We become blind. No longer worshiping God’s image, we start to be blind to seeing it.

“The god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Then, we can’t see Jesus as He is. Life becomes hopeless, apart from the grace of God. And this grace? Changes everything. The grace enters by the Holy Spirit’s power, and just as Jesus healed many from physical blindness, our spiritual blindness is lifted. It shows us the sinfulness of our fallen world, God’s righteousness, and the judgment coming and our rebellion. Only when we see the depths of our sin can we see the power of Jesus’ redeeming life.

  1. He restores

Seeing Jesus as He truly is, is our first step toward the imago Dei being restored within us. The step that can bring us back into reflecting his image as we were made to, and being the men and women God has created us to be. This restoration doesn’t stop with our first step; it continues as we live for Jesus, following Him and trusting the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We start changing, being restored, more fully reflecting God’s image.

“We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

And your journey with the image of God is just beginning.

These ideas are adapted from LifeWay’s Imago Dei Bible study created in partnership with The Gospel Coalition and Mike Cosper. Check out the resource to see how understanding the image of God can continue to impact your life as you understand it biblically, relationally, and missionally.

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.

 

Friday Features

How Understanding God’s Image Changes You

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 Paul painted a bleak picture of the fallen heart:

God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness andunrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress thetruth, since what can be known about God is evident among them,because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, that is,his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since thecreation of the world, being understood through what he has made. Asa result, people are without excuse. For though they knew God, they didnot glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking becameworthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise,they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God forimages resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexualimpurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. Theyexchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served whathas been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.

Romans 1:18-25, CSB

Sin leaves us with deeply corrupted hearts. Paul said, “What can be known about God is evident” (v. 19), but humanity chose to suppress the truth. As a result, our “thinking became worthless” and our “senseless hearts were darkened” (v. 21). God turned humanity over to its rebellion and let us go from bad to worse. Key here to our discussion of the imago Dei is Paul’s teaching that humanity “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles” (v. 23). In rebellion we looked for lesser gods—idols—and we failed to reflect the goodness of God. The image of God was effaced, but it wasn’t erased. Humanity retains its dignity and a measure of its glory, even at its most corrupt. But that glory is dimmed or hidden. Only through Jesus can we begin to flourish and reclaim God’s design for our lives.

Romans 1 is true for all image bearers. When have you exchanged the glory of God for lesser images? What were the results?

If we’re not reflecting God’s glory, we begin to reflect whatever we worship. As one psalmist put it:

Those who make them [idols] are just like them,

as are all who trust in them.

Psalm 115:8

If we give our lives over to worshiping fame, power, money, or sex, we’ll begin to reflect what we worship without reflecting the God who gives any of those things their purpose. And the image we present won’t be pretty.

List specific ways you see image bearers (including yourself) becoming like the idols they worship.

When we worship idols, we fail not only to worship the image of God but also even to recognize it when we see it. Paul wrote:

The god of this age has blinded the minds of the

unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the

gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

2 Corinthians 4:4

As a result, we’re left blind to Jesus’ identity and His nature. It’s a hopeless situation apart from the grace of God. But that grace is extraordinary, and when it touches our lives, it changes everything.

Grace comes by the power of the Holy Spirit. Just as blind men were healed and able to see when Jesus touched them, our souls are cured of their spiritual blindness when the Holy Spirit touches them. Jesus Himself described this transformation when He promised the coming of the Holy Spirit. He told his followers:

It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor

will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will

convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: About sin, because

they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the

Father and you will no longer see me; and about judgment, because the ruler

of this world has been judged. I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t

bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the

truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears.

He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify me, because he will

take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything the Father has is mine.

This is why I told you that he takes from what is mine and will declare it to you.

John 16:7-15

Jesus was describing the work of grace. It begins with the Holy Spirit’s convicting work, revealing the sinfulness of the world, the righteousness of God, and the judgment that’s coming as a result of our rebellion against God. Only when we’re taken to this low place and made aware of our sin and our idols are we able to fully comprehend the depth of our sin. At that point,we’re able to see the light of the gospel in the redeeming work of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. From this place of humble brokenness, the Spirit continues His work, guiding us to truth. The Spirit enables us to see Jesus for who He truly is, and that’s the first step on the road to the restoration of the imago Dei within us.

As you’ve walked with Jesus, how have you begun to see more clearly the sin in your own heart and in the world around you?

How does the Holy Spirit’s ongoing restoring work help you see the image of God more clearly?

Restoration continues as we live our lives with Jesus, seeking to follow Him in all the ways He taught and learning to trust in the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Such a life is transformative. As we begin to look more like Jesus, we begin to more beautifully reflect the image of God:

We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory

of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image

from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:18

The imago Dei is shattered and distorted by sin, but it doesn’t have to remain broken. In Jesus we have a pathway to its restoration and, furthermore, to a restoration of the world around us. The restored imago Dei makes us better neighbors; better caretakers of creation; and better husbands, wives, brothers, and sisters. Image bearers are the best-equipped people to bring peace and reconciliation to society. They’re best equipped to tear down boundaries of race, class, and ethnicity. Their presence heals their communities as they carry the glory and love of God with them wherever they go. As we go about our lives in this tumultuous world, we should pray that God will give us a vision for ways to demonstrate the healing power of His image.

This article is excerpted from the Bible study Imago Dei.  See more on this study at Lifeway.com/ImagoDei