SESSION 5
OPENING: Spend time going round the group and hearing from each member - how their spiritual practices have been going - whether they would like to commit to be part of the mini-order, and -what their "frontline" is - the place or group of people they spend most time with, whether it is a workplace, place of study, family grouping or leisure activity. ACTIVITY: Shaped to serve God's purposes The Body of Christ is an image that indicates our interdependence and the need for every part to fulfil its role - but it also suggests diversity: different gifts; different ways to make a difference. Everyone can complete a spiritual gifting questionnaire - a starting point to think about what and where God might be calling us to. There are lots of these spiritual gifting questionnaires freely available on the internet. The following link is one example: www.umc.org/what-we-believe/spiritual-gifts-online-assessment Personality and passions; skills and interests are important considerations too. There are other courses that group members may wish to undertake at another time to help prayerfully unlock God's lead and direction for their lives. The course “Your SHAPE for God’s Service” is an excellent course. Group members may wish to complete it at another time. The author, Revd Canon Amiel Osmaston, makes it available free to download from the website of the Diocese of Carlisle www.carlislediocese.org.uk/our-faith/learning/shape-course-exploring-gifts.html INPUT: Two kinds of missional. As the questionnaire that the group has just completed suggests, the group is made up of individuals with their own unique contributions and particular frontlines. As a mini-order, the group can pray for, encourage and equip one another when they are together, for the times when they are apart. But the mini-order itself may also be intentionally missional. You will need four voices: one person to be the narrator, a second to be Richard Medcalf, a third to be Neil Hudson and a fourth to be Mark Greene. Apologies the characters are so male this week. NARRATOR: Near Paris, a group of English-speaking Christians called Engage has been on a journey. RICHARD MEDCALF: In 2010 our home group felt called to something more outward-focused and to learn what being an extended family on mission together might look like. This was really something God had bubbled up amongst us; it wasn’t a church programme and frankly missional communities weren’t on the radar of the leadership at all. We obtained permission to experiment, but apart from that we were left to figure things out ourselves! The first thing we did was agree on our “mission vision”: who we are looking to reach out to. Our group consisted of a couple of families with young children and a couple of slightly older ladies from our church. We felt our calling together was to internationally-minded young families in the local area. We started with a flurry of outward activity that ended up being unsustainable. We had a complicated monthly diary of social, “spiritual” and service events which, frankly, was too much burden for a small core group. People got tired and it all became complicated to manage. So we dialled back on the programme and spent a considerable period of time encouraging the team to see themselves as missionaries to their neighbourhoods and networks and we have seen people really switch mindset. It has taken much trial and error to find rhythms that are both missional and sustainable. We have found monthly community meals (where we invite friends) and a monthly “core team” night of prayer, planning and Scripture to be foundational elements. When the kids were very young we found that hanging out in the local toy library on a Saturday morning was a great place to build relationships. Now we have switched to Sunday afternoons in the park, where we bring snacks and increasingly include a small spiritual component: praying for the kids before school term, or bringing and blessing food in winter before giving it to the local food bank. Our wider circle of friends has responded well to this. We have also established some traditions such as a Christmas party where we bring a clear Jesus-focus amongst all the mince pies and mulled wine, and it has been encouraging to see our friends looking forward to such fixtures. Over time, relationships have led to deeper engagement. A couple of us organise a monthly beer and curry night for anglophone guys in town, which has proved popular and met a real need for community amongst hard-working professionals. This has given rise to smaller discussion nights in the same bar, where conversations are getting deeper and bigger questions raised. Similarly, the women in the group found some of their friends eager to engage with a monthly Bible study. So how does a home group become a missional community? I would say: with time, persistence, many mistakes and lots of encouraging words from mentors on the way! NARRATOR: Some mini-orders will be called to this sort of joint missional activity. Others will not - but that does not mean they have nothing to do with mission, it's just that each group member will be on mission in a different place! Here are some words from Imagine Church by Neil Hudson (IVP 2012 - quoting pp16-18): MARK GREENE: The overall mission strategy of the church is to recruit the people of God to use some of their leisure time to join the mission-initiatives of church-paid workers. NEIL HUDSON: But what might happen if we change this? If all of God's people recognised that all of their lives matter to God, and these ordinary lives can be directly involved in God's mission? What would happen if they realised that their lives are of real significance specifically because of God's desire for the whole world to be reconciled to himself? What would happen if the 98% of Christians who are not in church-paid work were engaged in mission not for three to ten hours a week, but for 100% of their waking time? At the very least, it would change their morning prayers, wouldn't it? MARK GREENE: The UK will never be reached until we create open, authentic, learning and praying communities that are focused on making whole-life disciples who live and share the gospel wherever they meet people in their daily lives. GROUP DECISION: Which of these kinds of missional is this mini-order being called to? How can it involve more than talking about "spiritual" things like prayer and Bible-reading, and ensure it's involved in spiritual things like living our ordinary lives gloriously for Jesus? With all this in mind, what should the mini-order be called? PRAYERS: Everyone prays one word for the "frontline" of the person on their left - and then for the frontline of the person on their right. HOMEWORK: Next time we meet, we're going to decide what our 3-4 commitments are as a mini-order. Let's pray and reflect about that until then. SESSION 6: OPENING: What 3-4 commitments should we be making as a mini-order? Use paper and pens to write them down - often the group will find that they have effectively the same point made in different ways, and will amalgamate until they end up with exactly the right wordings. Make sure there's a balance of missional and devotional, and that everyone's ideas have been included in some way. To help explain this idea and to give an illustrative example, the following are the 4 principles that emerged for the Rule of Life of the mini-order that first completed this course in Autumn 2012: Unconditional love: this key idea emerged from the group’s overall vision statement and thoughts about how principles should be applied in our daily lives Gratitude: the motivation for our response to other people and God in terms of relationships, financial giving, service and mission Devotions for perseverance: a commitment to prayer and Bible study every day Practising the Presence of God: practices to keep us close to God throughout the day GROUP DECISION: What will our commitments be? INPUT: Acts 8:26-40 Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch 26 Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) 27 So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” 30 So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. 32 Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” 34 The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. 36 As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” 38 He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. Can you find evidence that Philip shows the things included in this mini-order's commitments? What does Philip give, and how has he received this? Do you see any evidence of spiritual devotions and missional priorities in Philip’s life? PRAYER For one another by name. Particularly pray for anyone who has come to the six sessions, but decided not to take the mini-order's vows. PREPARE Go over some practicalities for the group's retreat day or half day. See the tab on 'Retreat and Vows'.
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