Okay… so its only been like 9 or 10 months since we used this last… but hey. So here’s the plan… i’ll try to throw some options up here for new studies for our small group. You can comment on them or let me know if you have other ideas too and I’ll put those up as well.
A couple things to think about: What is the purpose of our small group? seems like a strange question… but it is important. Here’s a little review of where we’ve been –>

We started off with a study of the “upside-down” kingdom of God… we studied how Jesus flipped messianic expectations on their head. He was not a powerful military leader who victoriously brought Israel back to the top of the national scene; he was crucified. He challenged the rich and powerful; he spent most of his time with the marginalized and uneducated. He questioned religiosity and honored love and sacrifice. Jesus is awesome and radical… got it.

We then studied the book “The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience”. Some main points were: American evangelical faith (in large part) has unfortunately not produced faithful followers of Christ; Many professing Christians live just like everyone else (if not worse) in regards to materialism, divorce, sexual promiscuity and biblical worldview. The author challenged us to deny a simple “believism” faith where we simply believe in Jesus and go to heaven; instead he offered a “wholistic” faith where Jesus challenges individuals to radical transformation and importantly the Church to faithful witness to God’s Kingdom. Though we often fail, God is calling his people (the Church!) to be a faithful community that is truly a witness to the world of how God is redeeming the world… sweet.

We then studied Love and Respect which (although long…) I thought was a great tool for our relationships and marriages… important.

Now what? some questions that pop into my head: Are we growing (spiritually)? What is the next step for us individually and as a group to continue growing? What do we value about our group/community? How do we share that with others? Should we “be” the church together in new ways (service/outreach/jet skiing)? Are there areas we can continue to grow together in? How can we incorporate more parties? just kidding…

Think about these questions and post any comments or just think about them. I think it is helpful as we move forward to think about some of these things, even if it is easier not to. I’ll email you if and when I update the blog with some ideas for next steps.

I love you all and am so happy we have spent the last year together!

- Adam

Okay everyone… here are some ideas… JUST IDEAS about books we could study at small group. I would love it if we would actually each couple buy the book and read it chapter by chapter (come on, you can read a chapter every two weeks). This way we all have our impressions of the material. I am hoping to check out some actual group bible studies in the bookstore, but here are some ideas for actual books that might be interesting:

This book is basically a general overview on Christian faith and life… it would be mostly helpful for us to understand and share our faith with others.

“Sex God” is by Rob Bell (the dude in the Nooma videos). It would be a good book for us as couples to think about …. you know….

The next four books would be more along the lines of what we’ve been talking about. They will be more “provocative” and push us as Christians to seek out what living as disciples of Jesus truly means.

Feel free to post a comment if you have any ideas or if you hate all these books or if you just want to follow up on Brent’s sermons or if you just want to have BBQ’s at Matt and Tanya’s every week or what. No, seriously… give some feedback or i’ll pick the most boring one.