Category Archives: Growth Group tips

Growth Group tips

The 7-arrows approach to leading bible thought and discussion

There are many ways to skin a cat (or so they tell me). There are many different ways to lead a successful Growth Group meeting through the bible. Here is a link to one more helpful approach to reading the bible and thinking through its meaning and impact. It’s just another method to add to your toolbox of ways to discuss the bible. The article helpfully reminds us that the ingredients in discipleship making are the reading of scripture, relationships and time.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/2013/10/22/7-arrows-for-bible-reading/

Tell me what you think.

Growth Group tips

Oh no, we studied 3:27-31 last week…!

Hello friends,

A number of people have mentioned to me that they studied both last weeks passage (3:21-26) and this weeks passage (3:27-31) together. If that was you, I have a suggestion for what you could do this week. It comes from Stuart Starr (Church planter at Oran Park) and links in nicely with one of the main application points that have come out of our sermons in the last few weeks.

It is called 316441 and it is a systematic way of praying for people who are not yet Christians using a simple card. Stuart writes…

Please find attached the links to the PDFs for the front and back of the 316441 Cards.

A couple of quick things:

a) 316441 because we’re aiming to pray John 3:16 (that’s the 316) for four people for one year (441)

b) We ask people to put one name in each spot. A friend, A family member and a neighbour. If they don’t know one already they need to go and meet them as a first step. If they have bad relationships with their neighbours present this as a place to start the reconciliation process – just by praying..

c) The “Person I’m yet to meet yet” can’t be filled in yet. It’s about prayerful expectation and changing our outlook. The person you write down is someone that God brings into your life over the course of the year and should be written down when you have your eyes opened.

d) We ask at the start of our Growth Groups each week what’s happening with your 316441 people and what we can pray for to see everyone move just one step further.

Lastly, if you get them printed and use them in your services and then in your churches the only thing I’d ask is that you share stories as the people you pray for come to know Jesus!

Front cover
Back Cover

We have used this in our growth group and it took most of a night for us to share names and stories and where people are up to in Christ and to pray for people. We revisit the names and pray for them regularly.

The other thing I did was to get people to map their 4 people on a line between “determined atheist” and “keen Christian”. This helped them visualize the place their 4 people were and also think about what step could be taken to move them along.

I pray this works in your group as it has in ours. Remember the first task in evangelism is always prayer!

NF

Growth Group tips

“I’m never going to remember all this…!”

“I’m never going to remember all this…!”
This comment was made by one of the members of our Tuesday Night GG. He was feeling overwhelmed with Romans and felt like he was not going to get full value out of our sustained study of the book. Perhaps you or members of your group feel like this too. It is hard to remember what you had for lunch yesterday, let alone what we studied in church last week and the eight weeks before that!

Well, here is an idea you might want to implement in your group – ONE WORD SUMMARY.

How does it work?
Each time you finish a chapter, ask each member to come up with one word that summarises the message of that chapter. 
You don’t all have to have the same word – you just have to have a word that helps you remember what went on in that chapter.
(You don’t even have to have one word, you could have two or three but one word means you end up with only 16 words to remember the whole book.)
We did it last Tuesday and we came up with a collection of words for Chapter 1 & 2.

Chapter 1 – Gospel, Power
Chapter 2 – Unsafe, Fairness

My plan is to ask at the end of each chapter for new words but then also to review all the previous words to aid memory. In this way we will continually remember what has gone before. So I will ask, “What is your word for Chapter 1 and why? What is your word for Chapter 2 and why? etc etc”

If your group gives it a go, why not share the words you come up with here or on the church FB page.