VOL. 6 ISSUE 2 | COMMUNITY BIBLE STUDY
A term has been floating around CBS recently at leadership gatherings, Servants Team meetings, and in discussions about the focus of CBS – Missional Mindset. Do you know what it means? Do you have one? When Christians are missional in their thinking, it affects every part of their lives. Disciples of Christ are agents, representatives of the kingdom of God carrying the charge of God into every aspect of life. As the salt of the earth and the light of the world believers share with others the story of Jesus Christ. Most often that sharing happens through daily behavior, conversations and the addressing of problems. Believers are living in the same world with the same sufferings, problems, and concerns but approaching them by following God’s design for living. This lifestyle doesn’t confuse or offend those who don’t believe. Such doors lead to opportunities to share the truth about Jesus. - Are you living with a missional mindset? - Do you intentionally enter into others lives? - Do you really care about the spiritual well being of those you know?
P.1
How much time do you spend surrounded with other believers? Are you isolated from those who don’t believe what you do? Have you recently developed any relationships with those who need to learn about Jesus? Are you satisfied with your answers? As a leader in Community Bible Study you have heard and read the CBS mission statement. The mission of Community Bible Study is to make disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ in our communities through caring, in-depth Bible study available to all. How is your class reaching your community with the Word of God? Does the membership of your class look the same today as it did a few years ago? Are new people studying the Bible in CBS for the first time? Are you satisfied with your answers? Philippians 2:4 says, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among you, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” Having a missional mindset parallels having the mind of Christ. The pattern of Christ was to reach out to all kinds of people who needed a Savior. Doing that requires sacrifice –developing relationships, stepping out of comfort zones, sharing the truth. Do you want to be more satisfied with your approach and your CBS class’s approach to your community? Then do this: 1. Pray to see others as Christ sees them and to love them as He does. 2. Listen after asking questions to get to know others. 3. Show genuine concern for others and their circumstances. 4. Learn how to share the gospel in a simple understandable way. 5. Invite others to join you in studying the Word of God. What would happen if every person in CBS brought one new person? What would happen in your class if every leader, every class member brought someone with them? When that happens you will be living out the mind of Christ.
P.2
PERMISSION
TO
SPEAK
When you come to understand grace don’t you want others to understand it as well? When you fall in love with Jesus and His Word, don’t you want the same for others you know? When you begin to understand the truth, it sets you free. Do you know people who could be set free? Something that is so important needs to be and should be shared. There are many people who need to hear about Jesus - but how is it possible to tell those you don’t know well? Start by being sensitive to the people God continues to put in your everyday path. The parents on the soccer field every week, the babysitter, the co-worker in an adjacent cubicle, the neighbor mowing his lawn. Get to know them. Be friendly and willing to talk. Ask questions of them: Where are they from? Where did they go to school? What are their interests? Ask about their family. People love to talk about themselves, they want to feel known, and they want to be heard. Listen well. Do you hear their desires, fears, aims, goals, needs and burdens? Be patient – don’t force the relationship. Relationships take time and effort and they involve prayer on our part. Look for common interests that provide reasons to meet together. Invite neighbors to dinner or dessert, have a game night, or on a summer night – have a barbeque together. Connect with coworkers at lunch or join them in an activity outside of work, play together – golf, tennis, walk.You get the idea – find a way to see them socially to get to know them better. And they will get to know you and see that something is different in you. Keep your antenna up. Look for ways to serve them - volunteer to help with children, provide a meal when there is a crisis, help with home projects, send a hand written note or card, mow the yard. At work praise their work, encourage them, ask for their help! Be alert. God will show you ways to care for them. This is how people see the beauty of the gospel lived out. The final objective is to build meaningful relationships and to serve them. By doing this they will get a taste of something rare in our culture today. Interest and kindness build the bridge to invitations to CBS and meaningful conversations.
P.3
Conversations with friends cover many subjects, so why is it such a struggle to bridge the gap between everyday life and the Lord. What does driving to work every morning, playing golf, washing the dishes or doing homework with the kids have to do with our spiritual lives? How can we make a comment based on an everyday situation that will cause friends to ask us what we meant? Remember people are not projects. People have families, loved ones, scars, delights, and a lot of questions. It is hard work listening to people and not simply thinking about what you’re going to say next. Look people in the eyes, really try to hear and understand them. Ask good questions like Jesus did with the woman at the well in John 4. Illustrations from Life: BUSINESS
Coworkers often ask each other, “How’s it going?”. Rather than give a standard reply, why not answer with something like this: “Well, financially, okay; family-wise, pretty well; and spiritually, things are great. Which one do you want to talk about?”
RELOCATIONS
When someone moves into a new home, it’s natural to discuss whether they’ve found good places to shop, dine out, or get their car repaired. Why not add a query concerning whether they’ve found a good church? Even if they tell you that they weren’t looking, it’s a natural lead-in to talking about faith-related topics.
HOBBIES AND SPARE TIME
When discussing hobbies and spare time, it’s easy to include a ministry-related activity that you enjoy. For example, if you work with the sound system at your church, you could say , “Well, on the weekends I like mountain biking and working with sound equipment.” The automatic response of many people will be to ask for details. Similar approaches could be used in almost any area.
MUSIC
If you listen to the lyrics of songs, you’ll discover many songs raise spiritual issues, even those written and performed by secular artists. Talking about the lyrics can lead into talking about the answers you’ve found to the important questions they raise.
SPORTS
There are incredible opportunities to talk about many well-known athletes that are Christians. If you follow sports, it’s pretty easy to refer to a recent game or event and tell friends about a particular athlete on the team who’s a believer. This will often expand into a wider discussion about what that means.
P.4
Loving Like Jesus in a Fractured World By Pastor Rick Warren Last year was a very difficult year in many ways. Our culture has been battered by one crisis after another: scandals, shootings, angry protests, and a constant barrage of mad pundits shouting at each other in the media 24 hours a day. Our nation is deeply polarized and fractured into splinter groups that demonize each other on the internet. And, we have witnessed a dramatic increase in violence in our streets, schools, theaters, and now even in churches. We’ve seen the rise in vile bigotry, hateful racism, and ignorant prejudices against different cultures and immigrants. And we’ve seen the videos and heard the voices of people genuinely hurt by injustice or poverty, or by having their job shipped overseas. How should followers of Jesus respond to all the anger we see erupting today? How can God’s family, the church, be the “peacemakers” and the “ministers of reconciliation” that Jesus commands us to be? How do we build bridges to each other instead of walls around our hearts and homes? We can begin by loving like Jesus loved. Here are five important ways to do just that: Dignity - Psalm 8:5 says, “God made people just a little lower than the heavenly beings, and he crowned us with glory and honor” (NIV). That means God created every person with dignity. To love others, we have to realize that we all have been given the same dignity. You can’t give it to someone. It comes from God. You can only deny or affirm it in others. Diversity - God intentionally created everyone to be unique. You’re not one in a million, you’re one in seven billion. If you’ve got a problem with people who are different from you, you’ve got a problem with God. Racism, prejudice and bigotry are like telling God he messed up because he didn’t make everyone like you. Community - We need each other and we’re better together. God never intended for us to go through life alone, lonely, and without the support of other people. God wanted a family, but he wanted it to reflect diversity. “Jesus, who makes people holy, and those who are made holy are from the same family” (Hebrews 2:11 NCV). Love - We were put on this earth to learn how to love. As Jesus says in the Great Commandment, it’s all about learning to love God and learning to love people. If you don’t learn that, you’ve missed your purpose on this planet. We can be agents of love with people who are completely different from us when we listen to them, look them in the eye, learn from them, and laugh with them. Reconciliation - As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to be facilitators of reconciliation. If we’re not helping people reconcile, we’re not the church. Mathew 5:9 says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God” (NIV). My prayer is for spiritual revival and awakening for all of us. Society can’t keep heading the direction it is going right now, because it leads to a dead-end. Eventually, we’ll either have a spiritual breakthrough or a social breakdown. Excerpted from Loving Like Jesus in a Fractured World by Rick Warren. This and other articles like it can be found on www.pastors.com.
P.5
RELATIONSHIPS – A MESS WORTH MAKING - by Tim Lane and Paul D. Tripp When plans A, B, and C aren’t working, consider Plan D: Recognize that God has the last word on those messy, conflict-ridden relationships. He can use them to make you into someone who can give and receive love with God and others. Impossible? Idealistic? Not really. In Relationships: A Mess Worth Making, Tim Lane and Paul Tripp show you how God does it, and how it can happen for you. They show you the deeper issues that drive our reactions, choices, and behaviors. And they show you how God steps in to help you build relationships that are all He intended them to be. Gospel in Life - by Tim Keller If you are looking for a short study that can be used by leaders over the summer and that will encourage a missional mindset, consider this resource. Join author and pastor Timothy Keller in an eight-week video-based study of the gospel and how to live it out in everyday life. In week one you and your group will study the city, your home now, the world that is. Week eight closes with the theme of the eternal city, your heavenly home, the world that is to come. In between you'll learn how the gospel can change your heart, your community, and how you live in this world.
Soularium provides fifty 4x6 original photographs and a few simple exploring questions that allow you to engage in meaningful spiritual conversations with others. Click Here for this great tool.
P.6
1. How do we cheer on and build momentum with our leaders and class members during the long winter months? How do we encourage class attendance? • Having a healthy competition among core groups can easily encourage attendance…of course a prize for the winner is an added bonus. • An outside activity for the ST and/or Leaders Council can promote big fun as you enjoy it together! Click on this link for a creative suggestion list.
2. Staying connected to our leaders over the summer is a challenge. What are some easy ways to do this, without encroaching on the “summer break”? • Choosing a regular day/time to meet somewhere and offering it as “optional” has been a successful choice for many classes. Try a certain day/time every other week. Open it to all of Leaders Council. Having a regular place to meet makes it easy to remember. Consider a local park (bring your kids!), a coffee shop, or a kid friendly restaurant for breakfast. Keeping it loose and regular offers the most freedom while keeping in place an opportunity to “stay connected.” Click on this link for a more extensive list of “tried and true” ideas for staying connected over the summer.
Does your class look like your community? It may be time to add a specialty core group for Young Adults, for adults with intellectual disabilities (AGAPE) or for those for whom English is a second language (ETHNOS). Login to FISHER and search under resources for Young Adult, AGAPE or ETHNOS and learn how to get started. Leadership Development Team Amy Baker Helen Bradick Dawn Griffin Rick Hale Kristine MacDermott Jenny Shropshire
Elevate is a publication of the Leadership Development Team of Community Bible Study. Elevate is designed and published exclusively for use of Community Bible Study leaders. The views expressed by authors cited in this publication do not necessarily represent those of Community Bible Study.
The Leadership Development Team can be reached with comments or questions at lead@communitybiblestudy.org
P.7