Discover the results of our recent church survey and learn how to grow in your faith and connect with our community. Explore the demographics of our church, the importance of relationships, and our goal of spiritual flourishing. Together, we will learn how to commit to relationship building, turn spiritual problems into clear questions, and explore the Bible to answer those questions. Don’t miss this opportunity to grow in your faith and connect with our community.

Groups Discussion Guide

To view the Leader Guide, click here.

To view a .docx version of this guide, click here.

Introduction 

Spend a few minutes discussing with your group how the application from last week went. What specifically is everyone trying to apply and how has practicing that application gone? 

After your time of connecting, begin your meeting with prayer.  

Key Verse for the Week 

Read this verse to your group first, then encourage the practice of memorization through the week. 

Hebrews 10:24-25 

“Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”  

**When practiced consistently, memorizing Bible verses can be an important spiritual practice that centers your mind around the truth that God has given us. 

Connect  

• How often do you evaluate how you are doing in your life (spiritually, emotionally, physically, mentally)? How can processing how you are doing lead you to better growth?  
  • Which aspect of your life have you done this the most? 
• How can you observe growth in a person’s life? What does this look like in a person’s relationships? 
  • How much do you want to grow this year? 

Opening Thought  

It can be easy to want to just keep doing life as “normal” and not try to evaluate where we are emotionally, spiritually, and relationally. We often try to think that we don’t need to even, especially when it doesn’t feel like anything is wrong. Unfortunately, however, this can sometimes lead us to being complacent and stagnate our growth. God calls us to not just live life normally, but to flourish with him. To do this, we should be aware of where we are and how we are doing, so we can see where we need to go to flourish with God. We can do this together by following God’s words and being honest with ourselves with how we are following them.  

This leads us to our big idea for the week:  

Big idea for the week
Together we can follow God’s playbook for spiritual flourishing 

Unpack 

Go around your group and have someone read each of the following verses, then discuss the connected questions:  

Read 

Colossians 1:16 

John 1:12 

2 Corinthians 5:17 

1 John 3:2 

Unpack 

• How do you think God view us?  
  • How often do you see yourself in this way? How does this affect you? 
• How do these verses help us know how we should view ourselves? When you evaluate how you are doing, why should you consider this?  

Read  

Philippians 2:2 

Ephesians 4:3 

Unpack 

• How often do you view others as “having the same mind”? How could viewing others in this light foster a desire for relational growth? 
• How much emphasis do you place on growing in relationships with others?  
  • What factors could hinder you from valuing growing in this area? What factors could help you? 

Read  

Colossians 2:6-7 

Ephesians 2:20-21 

Unpack 

• The verses in the book of Colossians we read said we should let our “roots” grow in Jesus and our “houses” built on Jesus. What do you think these analogies mean in regard to how we should live with Jesus? 
  • Where are the areas in your spiritual walk with Jesus where you could be better “rooted” in him and have more of a foundation on him? 

Apply 

Take a moment to discuss this section as a group to decide what your action steps for the week can be: 

• Pastor Alex during the service on Sunday talked about one way we can address places we see as a problem or struggle in our spiritual lives into a question. (i.e instead of “I don’t know how to pray” change it to “How do I pray?”).  
  • What “problem” could you explore as a question in your spiritual life? 
• How can you be unified as a group to explore all these areas in each other’s lives together? 

Closing 

Read this to your group and then move to the Prayer and Verses section: 

When we follow God’s playbook, we can flourish, and we can (and should!) do this together as the Church of God. To know how to do this, we must remember to evaluate our lives together to see what direction we should go. To put this into action, however, we need to rely on God’s direction and by developing the relationships around us so we can go forward in this effort together. Let’s put this into action together this year as a community of people striving towards following God’s playbook so we can look back later and know that we are in a state of flourishing. 

Prayer and Verses 

Ask for prayer requests and conclude your time with prayer then share the Key Verse for the Week and Daily Devotional Verses with the group. 

Daily Devotional Verses  

Use the S.O.A.P. method to reflect on the verses below. 

Scripture: Read the verses several times, even out loud. 
Observation: What can you observe about the scripture you read? 
Application: What is God wanting you to believe, do, or feel, based on what you have read? 
Pray: This is a chance to talk to God about what you have read and ask him for help in living out what you’ve learned. 

Day 1: Romans 12:10 

Day 2: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 

Day 3: Mark 1:17 

Day 4: 1 John 3:11 

Day 5: John 4:24 

Day 6: Proverbs 18:10 

Key Verse for the Week 

Hebrews 10:24-25 

“Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”