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From coffee morning to Sunday morning

From coffee morning to Sunday morning. Session 3:First steps. Session 3: First steps. Do you feel apprehensive about what we are doing together? It’s natural to do so. Discuss together how these two definitions of outreach might help us feel more confident, and why:

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From coffee morning to Sunday morning

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  1. From coffee morning to Sunday morning Session 3:First steps

  2. Session 3: First steps • Do you feel apprehensive about what we are doing together? It’s natural to do so. Discuss together how these two definitions of outreach might help us feel more confident, and why: • “A journey with a friend, not a confrontation with a stranger”; and • “Loving your neighbour until she asks why, then speaking of Jesus”. • St. Francis of Assisi said “Preach the gospel always; sometimes use words”. Discuss how far you think the relationship with people should have progressed before you should try to put into words what your faith means to you (clue: we don’t necessarily get to that stage in this course!).

  3. Session 3: First steps • Developing who we are: We need to • 1. Grow our own faith • Through prayer, worship, church home groups or Bible studies and other opportunities. • 2. Discover our gifts • We should try to identify our “spiritual gifts” – the things that God has helped us to be good at • and look for the “fruits” that the Holy Spirit has been growing in our lives. It is often easier for others to spot these!

  4. Session 3: First steps • Bible Focus: Galatians 5, verses 22-23. • Discuss how each of these “fruits” is important for your relationships

  5. Session 3: First steps • 3. Allow God’s love to be implanted in us.  • Bible Focus: 1 Corinthians 12, verse 29 to chapter 14, verse 1a • Discuss how this passage helps us to understand why love is the premier gift of the Holy Spirit.

  6. Session 3: First steps • 4. Be available • to God, listening to how He may prompt us • to our friends, by being sensitive and listening. • 5. Relax and let the Holy Spirit take the strain! • This is God’s mission. He simply gives us the privilege of being His fellow-workers

  7. Session 3: First steps • Developing what we do • Discuss these and other ways in which you think you may be able to take some first steps in developing your relationships. • 1. Be open to the wishes, agendas and needs of your friends. • Simply keep your eyes peeled, your ear to the ground and be open to what you find out. • You will discover who would value what you can offer, and who prefers not to. • Don’t force the pace, love prefers to wait for the door to be opened – check this out together in Revelation 3, verse 20.

  8. Session 3: First steps • 2. Spend time • Set aside time, to spend quality time with the people whom you find appreciate this, even where this means dropping some of the other jobs that you do or meetings that you attend. • 3. Take something with you • It might be the church flowers, the church magazine, a recording of a Sunday service, a screwdriver or long-life light bulbs. You choose.

  9. Session 3: First steps • 4. Listen a lot, talk a little • Listen out for their agenda rather than imposing yours or the church’s, and look out for what is behind an issue, such as anxiety or simply a search for meaning in life. • 5. Practise hospitality • People may really appreciate being invited to your home for coffee, tea, a chat or even a meal, once the relationship has started to grow.  • Bible Focus: Mark 2, verses 13-17. Discuss how you would feel if you attended the dinner-party as a friend of Levi (Matthew) but had not met Jesus before.

  10. Session 3: First steps • 6. Pray for your friends daily. • Pray also for the issues that you learn about from them as time goes by. • 7. Value people who are not so easy to get on with. • Let them make the pace and give them their space, but don’t abandon them unless they want to discontinue the connection.

  11. Session 3: First steps • 8. Welcome your friends at any church events, personally and individually. • Not just a cheery “Hello!” but a demanding commitment. • Can you go as far as being prepared to make others part of your lives so they really feel they belong?

  12. Session 3: First steps • 9. Above all, love your friends! • Let the Holy Spirit shine God’s love through in the practical service you do, how you listen, what you say and who you are. In this session, we have been thinking about taking some first steps, but be assured that this is a real, integral part of our mission and evangelism. In the next part of the course we look at some next steps.

  13. Session 3: First steps We close this session with the course prayer And now we give you thanks because by the Holy Spirit you lead us into all truth, and give us the power to serve you as a royal priesthood and to take the joy of the gospel into all the world. Amen (Methodist Worship, p.56)

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