Grace Blog
Proverbs 8 Study Guide & Discussion Questions
In our Grace Community Groups (GCGs), we have been seeking to apply God’s Word (text) to our lives (context) as preached from Pastor Tom Ascol and his series through the book of Proverbs. In our October GCG, we took up chapter eight of Proverbs, focusing on the nature, value, and accessibility of wisdom. I am making the study guide and discussion questions available online for download to anyone who might find it profitable for their small group or personal devotion.
To download the Proverbs 8 study guide and questions, click here (PDF).
Labels: Community Groups, Grace Baptist Church, Proverbs 8 | posted by TimBrister at 1:39 pm | Categories: Community, GCG Study Guides, Proverbs, Resources, Small Groups |
Stetzer on Missional Small Communities
Ed Stetzer: “We should not be so concerned about the container but the church being contained.”
Missional Small Communities from Ed Stetzer on Vimeo.
Here is the outline for his talk:
1. Can small communities be missional?
a. Made up of people living on mission
b. Most likely place for life transformation
c. Less to maintain = more focus on mission
d. Yo-Yo Illustration: Centrifugal Force (missional) & Centripetal Force (attractional)
e. Do something for the gospel, not just ourselves
2. Why small communities?
a. Accountable relationships
b. Provoking is possible (specific vs. generic)
c. Flat structures help people live on mission (vs. hierarchy)
d. Maximum participation (from rows to circles to the world)
3. What are some hindrances to missional small communities?
a. More of a concern for knowledge than life transformation
b. Leaders love to teach more than to help people learn
c. Reflections of the past
d. Segmentation of the mission (”every expression of the church owns all the mission of God”)
4. What are some key practices of missional small communities?
a. Mission orientation
b. Word-driven community
c. Multiplication mindset
d. Incarnationally valid
e. Stranger welcoming
f. Kingdom focused
5. Build a strategy that is communicable and understandable for our people
a. Connect
b. Grow
c. Share
d. Go
Conclusion: “The most likely place for life transformation and missional engagement is in small communities.”
Labels: Community Groups, Ed Stetzer, Missional Small Communities | posted by TimBrister at 12:46 pm | Categories: Community, Evangelism, Missional, Small Groups |
Community Groups on Mission
Tim Keller, in his influential article “The Missional Church” explains the difference between the practice of church in “Christendom” and the church in an increasingly post-modern, secularized culture. His argument is that if the church is going to reach the world in which we live today, we cannot accept the traditional mode of existence within Christendom since it no longer exists but instead embrace a missional posture which seeks to engage and influence the non-Christian society in which we live.
At the conclusion of his article, Keller lists six ways a community group can take on the missional posture, and I want to commend them to you as you participate in our Grace Community Groups.
You are a community group on mission if:
1. Its members love and talk positively about the city/neighborhood
2. They speak the language that is not filled with pious tribal or technical terms or phrases, nor disdainful and embattled language
3. In their Bible study they apply the gospel to the core concerns and stories of the people of the culture
4. They are obviously interested in and engaged with the literature and art and thought of the surrounding culture and can discuss it both appreciatively and critically
5. They exhibit deep concern for the poor and generosity with their money and purity and respect with regard to opposite sex, and show humility toward people of other races and cultures
6. They do not bash other Christians and churches
THEN . . . Keller says that
A. Seekers and non-believing people from the city will be invited in
B. They will come and will stay as they explore spiritual issues
Labels: Community Groups, Culture, Missional, Tim Keller | posted by TimBrister at 12:21 pm | Categories: Community, Missional, Small Groups |
Why One Group and One Place: Community Group Q&A (PDF)
This evening, I followed up with addressing two questions that have been asked: (1) Is it okay for me to attend various community groups? and (2) Can we have various host homes for the same community group? Regarding these questions, I sought to address with biblical considerations, current realities, and specific reasons why the pastors and elders recommend Grace Community Groups meet in the same place and members commit to one particular community group.
I have made the PowerPoint presentation available to download as a PDF document. To download it, click below:
“Why One Group and One Place? Grace Community Groups Q&A“
Labels: Community Groups, Grace Baptist Church, Incarnational Ministry, Theology of Place | posted by TimBrister at 8:00 pm | Categories: Community, Resources, Small Groups |
Nuts and Bolts of a Great Commission Vision (PDF)
As promised, I want to share with you the PowerPoint slides in a PDF document for you to download for further review, prayer, and reflection. The nuts and bolts of this Great Commission vision is a project in the making; nevertheless, this document gives you a pretty good idea of where the pastors and elders of Grace have been thinking and praying for the past 6-8 months to better facilitate the Great Commission with a strategy and structure for our church scattered and sent on mission for the glory of God.
To download the document, simply click here:
“The Nuts and Bolts of a Great Commission Vision of Grace Baptist Church“
Labels: Church Planting, Community Groups, Grace Baptist Church, Great Commission, Leadership Development | posted by TimBrister at 8:38 pm | Categories: Church Planting, Community, Evangelism, Missional, Resources, Small Groups |
A Great Commission Vision for Grace Baptist Church
Below is the manuscript from Sunday night’s message I delivered focusing on where we’ve been and looking to head regarding community groups and church planting. For those who could not attend, I pray this will be an encouragement and help to you as you continue to pray with us about what God has instore for Grace as we seek to reach SW Florida for Christ!
:: A Great Commission Vision for Grace Baptist Church ::
[Introduction]
I think it is safe to say that the most vivid and significant moment in the life of Grace last year was the day when Pastor Tom was struck by lightning. It was a serious and sobering time of intense prayer, genuine concern, and deep reflection on the providence of God. However, what many if not most of you may not be aware is that Pastor Tom was struck two days after he preached the message on the Great Commission and expressed his desire to see Grace Baptist Church become a church planting church. I don’t want to draw too strong of a connection between Pastor Tom’s message and the lightning strike, but one thing is for sure: the devil does not want us to be on the offensive! He does not want us to be full of faith, confident in the Spirit’s work of drawing sinners to Jesus, courageous in preaching the gospel and establishing churches! I suppose there could be numerous reasons as to why one might speculate why God allowed Pastor Tom to be struck by lightning, but in light of our recent study on spiritual warfare, we cannot forget that our enemy’s goal is to destroy the work of God wherever it is found.
The work of God here at Grace over the past few years has been a growing desire and commitment to embrace the call of the Great Commission like never before. As Pastor Tom mentioned in his message last summer, embracing the Great Commission is essentially embracing the call to be a church planting church. Knowing that Christ has promised to build His church and that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18), and knowing that God has chosen the church as the vehicle through which “the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (Eph. 3:10)-then we should rest assure that the advancement of the gospel through a Great Commission church is a principal target for the fiery darts of the evil one.
Labels: Church Planting, Community Groups, Grace Baptist Church, Great Commission | posted by TimBrister at 8:48 pm | Categories: Church Planting, Community, Evangelism, Gospel, Missional, Sermons, Small Groups |
The Means of Biblical Fellowship
Continuing in the series based on the book Why Small Groups?, I want to pick up where I left off on second chapter focusing on rediscovering biblical fellowship. The last post in this series address the nature of biblical fellowship, and today I want to address the means of biblical fellowship.
John Loftness, author of the second chapter, argues that the “failure to practice [these] means of fellowship denies us the opportunity to draw on fellowship as a means of grace.” That’s a significant statement to consider. What does Loftness mean by this?
When God saved us, He called us into community with one another. No Christian has the liberty to live a life of individuality. The child of God has been adopted into the family of God where God is our Father. We do not pray, “My Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name” but “Our Father . . .”. Being in Christ means being connected to the body of Christ. Therefore, to unite with Christ by faith effectively translates into being intimately connected with brothers and sisters in Christ who call upon His name.
God has so designed the Christian life that the means of grace for personal growth are bound up in the means of biblical fellowship as we live in community together. What that means is a Christian can never fully understand the life of a Christian in isolation. To deny the means of biblical fellowship is to deny the very good that the gospel brings in the exchange of lives through the bonds of a covenant commitment to one another.
The various means of fellowship Loftness mentions include corporate worship, prayer and intercession for one another, utilizing spiritual gifts, carrying one another’s burdens, sharing spiritual experiences, correcting one another, confessing sins to one another, and serving in practical ways. Although this list is not comprehensive, it gives us a good idea of what God has provided us in the means of biblical fellowship. Means are meant to be used, and to the degree we take advantage of these means reveal the nature of our commitment (or lack thereof) to experiencing biblical fellowship.
As you examine your spiritual life and take inventory, I encourage you to not consider only the spiritual disciplines of private devotion but also the disciplines that accompany devotion to one another. The disciplines of the Christian life are exercised in a life devoted to Jesus and His Church, that is, for His glory and their good. May our growth in grace manifest a undeniable connection to our growth in biblical fellowship!
Labels: Community Groups, Means of Biblical Fellowship, Why Small Groups? | posted by TimBrister at 7:23 am | Categories: Community, Small Groups |
Community Groups of Grace
We have just started posting new information and details regarding the community groups that will be starting next month. Much more information will be provided in the coming weeks, so please stay tuned! For now, you will find two pages of interest: community groups (located under “ministries” menu bar) and host homes. Please continue to pray about Grace scattered all throughout Southwest Florida in community groups so that the gospel will run deep into our hearts and wide into our lives.
Labels: Community Groups, Small Groups | posted by TimBrister at 8:09 pm | Categories: New Website Content, Small Groups |
