“Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:10–11

Heavenly Father, thank you for our adoption into your family, the church; help us be what you call us to be so that the world may be struck by the sweetness of our love and unity and come to know that God is here. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

Questions courtesy of Redemptive Family Devotional and Workbook by Howard Webb and the Love Your Neighbour team 2021
​

Our mission: To Nurture Redemptive Relationships

1. Have you ever had someone take a real interest in you that was more than skin deep? How did this make you feel?
2. Has your relationship with anyone changed the course of your life for the better? Tell your story?

Dig
 Read 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

1. Paul challenges us to not regard others from a worldly point of view.  What is the problem with doing this?
2. Paul says if we are in Christ, we are a new creation! This is now core to us.  What have you noticed yourself?  What do our friends tell us they see?
3. Paul uses the word “reconciliation” frequently in this passage, which is all about mending relationships.  Should this be the core mission of the church, or is there something else?
4. If we are to serve as ambassadors for Christ, what would need to be true?

Reflect

1. This passage is full of “us’ and “we” rather than “me”.  Is that significant?
2. What is one thing this group can do to help us grow to be ambassadors for Christ?

'He allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live,  so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us."  Acts 17:26-27

Heavenly Father, thank you for our adoption into your family, the church; help us be what you call us to be so that the world may be struck by the sweetness of our love and unity and come to know that God is here. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

Embracing our Place

1. Are you more of a homebody or a “rolling stone that gathers no moss?” How has this played out in your life?
2. Have you ever known someone who seemed to know everybody and always knew what was going on in the neighbourhood? What role did they play in the community?

Dig
Read Jeremiah 29:4-14

1. Look at 1 Peter 2:11-12.  How is our situation as Christians similar to God’s people in exile who are being addressed in this passage from Jeremiah?
2. The false prophets spoken of in this passage were telling God’s people not to settle down.  Why do you think this was an appealing message to Gods’ people in a foreign land?
3. God had a purpose for His people putting down roots in Babylon.  What reasons can you see from the passage?
4. God’s message to those in exile was not that they should assimilate with Babylonians by losing their identity or by giving up their religious practices or hope of future rescue.  What impact do you imagine they had by both “seeking the prosperity of the city” and being true to their God?

Reflect

1. If we as a church family are taking our belonging to our place seriously, what difference can we expect to make?
2. What is one thing this group can do to better embrace the place where God has planted us?

​Heavenly Father, thank you for our adoption into your family, the church; help us be what you call us to be so that the world may be struck by the sweetness of our love and unity and come to know that God is here. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

Change begins with me

1. Have you ever given up something good in order to gain something better?

Dig
 Read Hebrews 10:11-25

1. Verses 11-18 compares the Old Testament way of being in right relationship with God with the New Testament way. The writer to the Hebrews is addressing an audience uncomfortably torn between the old and the new.  Why do you think this was so?  Why was it important that they give up the old way?
2. 3. As we have journeyed through the Redemptive Family series together some may have been envisioned or convicted by the Holy Spirit that change is necessary (v15). What have you heard the Spirit say to you?
3. The next part of this passage (vv.19-23) emphasizes our spiritual independence.  Even though we are part of a church family we also have to stand on our own two feet spiritually and we each have direct personal access to God. In light of this, what is my responsibility if God has spoken to me over these past weeks?
4. The latter part of this passage (vv. 24-25) emphasizes our spiritual interdependence.  Why is it not enough to see to do God’s will on my own? Why do we need to be spurring on and encouraging one another?
5. The passage concludes with the urgency of our mission, because Jesus is coming back (v.25). How does this fact colour what we have been talking about?

Reflect

1. How can this group be a role-model for behaviour that will help our church embrace its role as a redemptive family?

 

” Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.” ​1 Corinthians 12:14

Questions courtesy of Redemptive Family Devotional and Workbook by Howard Webb and the Love Your Neighbour team 2021
​

Doing mission together as a family

1. Have you ever been in a team that worked together to achieve something special? How did that make you feel?

Dig
 Read Ephesians 4:1-16

1. Verse 1 exhorts us to lead a life worth of our calling.  What is our calling? What Scriptures can you think of that relate to our calling?
2. Verses 2-7 are about nurturing and protecting the church family.  How is this related to us fulfilling our calling?
3. Verse 8 points out that God has given gifts to His people.  What gifts are mentioned and what is their purpose according to verses 11-13?  What is your God-ordained role in the church family?
4. What is described in verses 14-16 is a church family discipling each other.  What aspects of discipleship can you see in these verses?
5. Verse 16 sums up the passage by telling us that this is how the church grows.  Are you experiencing the body growing spiritually and numerically? Can you see the part you are meant to play?

 ​Reflect

1. When others say “ I can be a Christian without going to church”, they are really saying that personal salvation is the important thing and being a part of a church family is optional.  How would you respond?
2. How can we be accountable to each other about the part we are playing in the mission of our church family?

 

​"Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved." Acts 2:46–47

​Being Family
1. What is your happiest childhood memory of being together?  How did this experience make you feel?
2. Have you ever been uncomfortable around someone because of their appearance or background yet later became friends? Tell of your experience.

Dig
Read Romans 12:3-16

3. How does “ belonging to each other” run counter to our cultural conditioning?
4 The passage mentions several ways we live our belonging to each other and supporting each other.  How many can you find?
5. In this passage Paul moved back and forth between talking about our conduct inside the family and our conduct outside it.  How does consistently practicing being authentic family together train us for mission together?
6. Imagine yourself an outsider looking in on a family living by these values.  What would you be thinking and feeling?
​
Reflect
7. What is our biggest challenge to putting this passage into practice for ourselves?
8. What is the one thing this group can do to enrich our experience of a family together?

“After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly.” Acts 4:31  

Life-giving God, as we experience your healing, may we proclaim your deeds, and turn to you to offer thanks and praise; through Jesus Christ our Liberator, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

​God our shield and our rampart, it is your strength, not the size of our faith that supports us in all life’s difficulties; may we be content to simply serve, and, when our labours are done, all gather as equals around your table; through Jesus Christ our Liberator, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

• 2 Chronicles 7: 11- 20 
• Luke 11:1-13

 

1. Listen again to Matt Redman’s Heart of Worship and 10,000 reasons and ask “What is the purpose of prayer and worship?”
2. Look at the headstone and consider the message depicted?
3. How often do we pray?
4. How often do we pray for a ‘wish list’?