Groups Guy

You may know that starting January 10th the sermons will be in the book of Galatians. We will go through this important book through the end of March. If you would like to follow along with your ABF or HABF you may use our curriculum. In fact, we think its a great way to teach one idea between the sermon and your H/ABF each week.

Here’s what you need to know.

1) The curriculum is designed for our Galatians in mind. It has two parts to each lesson. There is a group interaction time and a biblical portion. I believe both are crucial for any group, but we particularly are focusing on those two for our Galatians Group. We have a major part of the lesson about group building. Don’t skip this part. People that are connected and know each other are more apt to stick around and come back. They can get a get lesson in many places today (mp3, radio), but they can’t get good relationships there.

2) Curriculum will be available every Friday online for the upcoming sermon or you can pick it up Sundays at the Welcome Centers. You have a choice depending on when your group meets. You may want to follow up the discussion from the sermon or look forward to the next week’s issues passage. You can make the choice.

3) The Bible portion of the curriculum may seem a little short for your group. We are designing it with newcomers to community in mind. We are also trying to help our Galatians Groups finish their meeting in an hour. If you feel like you need to beef up the lesson, we will also provide our study notes from our preparation.

4) You may also want to dig further in the book through some commentaries. We have made available in our libraries several copies of John Stott’s commentary and Scott McKnight’s work too. Only our teachers and leaders can check these out so we should have enough for all. Let us know if you can’t find it.

We have powerful themes coming up this Winter from Galatians: freedom, grace, gospel, apostleship. I am looking forward to what the Lord teaches me.