God in Five Minutes!

Small Group Questions

1) When you were a kid, what was the best or most expensive candy you could buy? How much did it cost?

2) Have you ever had to value something(s)? E.g. tag sale, products for sale, your own labor, etc. How do you determine what something is worth?

3) The heart of the Christian message is God loves us simply because the Lord made us as children of God -- you can't earn it. Are you able to love yourself like that? Is it hard to change your thinking from your answer to question 2 to your answer to question 3?

4) Do you think Pastor Dave's sermon, and this podcast, are a cop-out: that everyone should be either pro-life or pro-choice?

5) How do you apply your faith to the answer to question 4?

Small Group Questions

1) Growing up, was your group of friends diverse or very similar?

2) What do you find now to be interesting about a diverse workplace or neighborhood or church? What do you find challenging?

3) Pastor George said he doesn't think political ideologies are the answer to bringing diverse people together in the kind of harmony pictured by the Bible. Do you think he is right? Wrong?

4) Evolutionary biologists describe our tribal nature as a survival mechanism learned thousands of years ago. That's a tough trend to break! How can we live out a biblical vision that goes contrary to that?

5) The USA is the most diverse country in the world. It is an experiment in multi-cultural government and society. What role does the church in the USA have in leading our nation to a better understanding of one another? a) No role. b) only a spiritual role. c) as activists. d) through God changing hearts. e) Other. Explain your answer.

Small Group Questions

1) Where are you in the birth order growing up?

2) What was your family of origin like? What warm memory do you have of it?

3) Pastor George quoted a church leader who called church "corrective family." What do you think that means? Why do you think that can happen?

4) The power of God's transformation seems to center around God's unconditional acceptance of us. Is it hard for you to believe in that kind of love?

5) The spiritual power of this "corrective family" would appear to be in the church's ability to share and live out this unconditional love. What are ways you can live this out in your life? In our life together as a church?

Small Group Questions

1) When you were growing up, were kids your age with disabilities in your class? Why or why not?

2) Have you ever had, or have now, a visible disability? What was or is your experience with that?

3) Pastor George mentioned a time when he was uncomfortable around a person in a wheelchair. Have you ever felt uncomfortable around someone with a disability? Or avoided them? If so, where do you think that comes from inside of us that we feel uncomfortable?

4) Pastor Meghan said all of us are created out of the same ground in Genesis 2. All of us. What does it mean that we share "common ground" with those so different from us or appear in a body not like ours? Can you think of ways we can live out a faith that "sees" differently?

5) Are there barriers to the disabled in your place of work, or in your home? What can be done about that?

Small Group Questions

1) Growing up, did you play a sport, dance, do recreation (fish, camp, etc), or other way you used your body?

2) Some people divide the human person up as: Mind, Body, Soul...some add Spirit. Where do the emotions come into this?

3) What do you think really drives human behavior: reason, mind, or gut?

4) Can you describe a time when your "parts" were divided and out of alignment? What was that like? How did you get better?

5) Do you have a method that brings back together the divided parts of who you are in a prayerful way? Can you share it?

Small Group Questions

1) As a kid growing up, what messages did you receive from parents, school, or significant others about your future? For example, what you might be or do later in life?

2) Describe a time when you felt really directed -- you knew each day what you needed to do; and a time when you felt like a boat without a rudder. What did those two different times feel like?

3) The Bible says each one of us is gifted for a purpose. Are you able to share one or two gifts or attributes you have that serve a meaningful purpose? (e.g. I help people feel welcomed in our home as guests; I help organizations grow and thrive; etc.).

4) Pastor Lee says that the Christian story is about more than we are sinners who are forgiven by Christ ("the Fall and Redemption"). He says the story is about so much more especially that we are created with a purpose to participate with God in the renewing of creation. Wow! That seems lofty. Can you narrow that down to you -- what you are doing, or could imagine doing, to help bring about the renewing of your world?

5) Do you know one or more of the people in your group such that you can identify ways they seem to live out a divine purpose?

Small Group Questions

1)   Did you play war games as a child?

2)   Do you think war and aggression are just part of human life?

3)   The Apostle Paul seems to take our warring spirit and re-direct it, away from people, and to those things that are evil and hurtful. Do you agree with his strategy in using the war analogy in this way? What do you think Paul meant that we fight against principalities and powers in the heavenly realms"?

4)   Pastor George believes churches need to proclaim Jesus boldly because of the power of God to change lives that, in turn, can prevent bodily hurt and fight evil instead. How can churches do that?

5)   If you feel comfortable doing so, what is in your own heart (anger, jealousy, etc.) that needs to be addressed to bring peace to you and those you influence?

Small Group Questions

1)   When you were a kid, were you in a group you really liked (Scouts, youth group, group of friends, etc.)? What made it so enjoyable?

2)   Were you ever in a group as a kid or adult where you felt inclined to be someone you weren’t? What made it that way and how did you feel about it?

3)   If A is rugged individualist and E is communal lover, what letter are you between A and E (e.g. C would be in the middle)?

4)   Churches are often filled with similar kinds of people though they may encourage all kinds to come – why do you think this is true?

5)   Describe an experience when a person different than you challenged you to think differently.

Small Group Questions

1)   In elementary school, were you more likely to be the bully or the one fighting/running away from the bully?

2)   Do you remember the names of any bullies in your school?

3)   Can you think of an experience where you saw someone else, or perhaps yourself, in an adult bullying situation such as at work or another context?

4)   What are the “tools” Christians have when faced with hostile environments?

5)   While the New Testament seems more often to talk about Christians being peacemakers, what are appropriate times for Christians to fight: physically, mentally, spiritually? How do or should Christians fight?

Small Group Questions

1) When you were a child, what kinds of name calling went on with other kids? As a youth, how were groups of kids identified (e.g. jocks, nerds, etc.). What group did you identify with?

2) Reflecting on question 1, why do you think we separate people into groups, or name-call people different from us?

3) What do you think it was like in Paul’s day when Gentile Christians, who did not observe Jewish laws (e.g. washing, work rules, etc.), went to a church that was predominantly made up of Jewish Christians who did?

4) Pastor George suggests embracing people who are “different” is actually harder than we think, and he bases this partly on evolutionary trends (we inherently distrust the outsider). Do you think he’s right? Is it really that difficult?

5) Jesus teaches us to expand our margins and see all people as children of God. Pastor George suggests really listening to people who are different is a way to respect these differences. What are other ways? What works for you to break down walls of hostility?