Community Bible Study Conversation Guide: Starting Well in Your Small Group

by Andy Stanley

Overview

Community. It's a word we often hear, but what does it really mean? And why is it so important to your spiritual life? Because you can’t grow spiritually unless you’re connected relationally. God designed us that way. He wants to use other people to grow us and he wants to use us to grow other people.

In this 8-session video-based study (DVD/digital video sold separately), specifically designed for launching new small groups well, you’ll explore how building deep relationships with the people in your small group and serving in the larger community around you will grow your faith. You’ll learn why your unique story matters… to God and to the people you do life with.

Community is a great way for small groups to grow together and for churches to connect new people in their congregation. This conversation guide is a necessary tool walking you through each session with group starters, leader’s notes, discussion questions, and weekly reading.

Sessions include:

1. Show Up
2. Pursue God
3. Join In
4. Be Real Part 1
5. Be Real Part 2
6. Be Real Part 3
7. Be the Church
8. Be Together

Designed for use with Community Video Study (sold separately).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310816263
Publisher:	HarperChristian Resources
Publication date:	12/23/2013
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Communicator, author, and pastor Andy Stanley founded Atlanta-based North Point Ministries (NPM) in 1995. Today, NPM consists of eight churches in the Atlanta area and a network of 180 churches around the globe that collectively serve over 200,000 people weekly. As host of Your Move with Andy Stanley, which delivers over 10.5 million messages each month through television, digital platforms, and podcasts, and author of more than 20 books, including Irresistible; Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets; and Deep & Wide, Andy is considered one of the most influential pastors in America.

Read an Excerpt

Community Conversation Guide

---

By Andy Stanley

ZONDERVAN

Copyright © 2013 North Point Ministries, Inc.
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-310-81626-3

---

CHAPTER 1

SHOW UP

INTRODUCTION

Community isn't just a nice option; it's a need—like food, water, and shelter.

God created in us a need for him and for other people. We're relational beings because he is a relational being. Our community with others becomes the real-world setting where we practice the love that relationship with God produces in us.

Over the next eight sessions, we'll explore the connection between relationship with God and community with other people. We'll talk about how the two are essential components of growing spiritually and living life to the full.

The central purpose of this study is for you to get to know one another so you can set a firm foundation for a great Community Group experience.

You'll spend three of the eight sessions just telling one another your stories. But before you do that, we'll spend a couple of sessions talking about why community is important, why your stories matter, and how to best tell your stories.

WEEKLY READING: WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE GROUP EXPERIENCE

Community can be challenging because it's organic—every Community Group is different. Each is made up of different people with different backgrounds and experiences. But the very thing that can make community challenging can also make it great. As we get involved in real people's lives, faith leaves the realm of religious information and becomes a vibrant part of life in the real world. Jesus didn't give us a specific system or program with which to grow in our relationship with him. He gave us each other. He gave us community.

Life is better connected because connected people go further, faster.

Though the need for community is universal, there's a difference between what every person needs and what every group will provide. All groups are not equal at delivering community because all relationships are not equal at providing it.

Most small groups are comprised of social and personal relationships. The deepest community happens through personal and intimate relationships. We hope this group will provide you with deep community. Whether it does will be partly determined by factors outside your control, like personal chemistry among the group members.

But some things are under your control. We'd like for you to do three things:

1. Show up.

Make a commitment to be at group meetings. You can't form community with other people if you aren't around enough for them to get to know you.

2. Join in.

Take part in group discussions. Listen to what others have to say. Be part of the community you're trying to form.

3. Be real.

Let the people in this group know who you are. Be authentic and transparent. You don't have to reveal all your deepest, darkest secrets. But be open to the possibility that you may eventually form the kind of deep relationships in which you can share those secrets.

ONE THING IS CERTAIN: God has a purpose for this group and for everyone in it.

It may be a good experience for you or it may be a great experience. It will definitely be a place of growth and ministry if you pay attention to what God is doing through your relationships with one another.

YOUR FIRST GROUP MEETING

During your first session, you'll meet socially to begin to get to know one another. It's a good idea to commit to coming to the meeting with an open mind. Pray that God will use the group to grow his relationship with you and the other members of the group.
(Continues...)

---

Excerpted from Community Conversation Guide by Andy Stanley. Copyright © 2013 North Point Ministries, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of ZONDERVAN.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

Contents

WELCOME....................     7     

HOW TO USE THIS STUDY....................     8     

A TYPICAL GROUP MEETING AND LEADER RESOURCES....................     9     

SESSION 1 Show Up....................     11     

SESSION 2 Pursue God....................     19     

SESSION 3 Join In....................     31     

SESSIONS 4-6 Be Real....................     41     

SESSION 7 Be the Church....................     51     

SESSION 8 Be Together....................     63