Bible Study: Growing in Love

For starters...

1. Can you remember a time when you have been shown love in a really practical way by your church family?
2. What did your non-Christian family/friends think of it?

Into the Bible
Read John 13:33-35 and 1 John 4:7-12

1. What are the similarities between these 2 passages?
2. From the passages what are the big principles about love we are to learn?

• Who is the love for?
• What is the quality of the love like?
• What will the ‘world’ decide about us as we love one another?

Application
Below is a collation of the feed back from Sunday.

What can we practically do to make our church a more loving community? (5 categories)

• Practical Help – sharing of gifts to help each other, DIY, gardening, cooking, childminding, driving, etc
• Our own attitude – be willing to ask for help, share needs and vulnerabilities, listen to people and pick up on needs, be sensitive, welcome people, be gentle with one another
• Structured church things – attend homegroup as a priority, speak to people on the fringes, welcome new people, be on time, attend community events and offer to help
• Hospitality – loads on this but will be dealt with as a priority in a few weeks. Feed each other, welcome people in to family life, watch TV together, spend time outside church activities together.
• Spiritual Life – Pray for one another regularly, send encouraging texts, ask about answers to prayer, remind each other about the truths of the gospel, challenge gently in the context of love and care.

How can we make sure those who don’t know Jesus can see us loving each other?

• Cross-fertilisation – mixing unbelieving and Christian friends together, intentional relationships, invite to homegroup socials
• Spiritual life – pray for non-Christian friends, behave in a godly way, do for our non-Christian friends what we do for church family i.e. meals after a baby is born. Speak openly about Jesus,

1. From the above where do you think your homegroup is strongest and where is it weakest?
2. What practical steps can you implement to change things?
3. When are you going to do it and how are you going to monitor it?

Bible Study: Growing in Jesus

For starters

• Can you remember what first drew you to trust in Jesus? e.g.
• a particular story in the gospels or particular words of Jesus’
• hearing about Jesus from someone at a particular time in your life
• What did you find most attractive about him – and why?

Read over Colossians 1:15-20

• Make a note of what we learn about Jesus from this passage. What stands out for you about Jesus from this passage? e.g.
• anything that surprises you
• anything that confuses you
• anything you find comforting
• Why do you think Paul emphasises the things he does for the Colossian Christians?
• Paul presents Jesus here as the Lord of all creation and the Lord of his people, the church. Which of these do you more readily remember? Which do you more easily forget?

Turn to Colossians 3:12-4:6

• From this passage, how does knowing Jesus affect:
• the way we relate to one another as a church family (3:12-17)
• our physical family relationships – wife & husband, parents & children (3:18-21)
• the way we view and do our work (3:22-4:1)
• From vv.12-17, how practically can we help one another grow in our love for and worship of Jesus – both individually and as a church family? Apply this particularly to the life of your homegroup.
• Look at 4:2-6: What principles do we learn here about we can live ‘as God’s chosen people’ in this world?

Application

• ‘We want to grow as people who love Jesus and worship him as Lord over every aspect of our lives’. What one insight or principle from the book of Colossians do you think could help us do that as a homegroup?
• What do you most need to remember about Jesus in your life at the moment? Ask for prayer from the group that you would grow in your love for and trust in him.

Start of the new term

With the start of the new term, we thought it would be good to have a short discussion about Homegroup, how we're getting on and how we can make it better. Not that we want to be naval gazing but it is helpful to ask some questions like what is the purpose of the group and how can we best support/encourage each other in it. So have a little think and we can discuss and pray tomorrow night.

It would also be good to sort out the plan for the term ahead, leaders and venues etc.

With all this in mind here is a helpful article that is worth a read about how to be a small group member.

How to Be a Small Group Member