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SWITCH DISCUSSION GUIDE TIPS Switch is a church-wide campaign designed to help the average church member turn on a missionary mindset. As a Community Group Leader it will be important to listen as Pastor Levi teaches each Sunday morning on the week’s lesson. Knowing what Pastor Levi says from the pulpit will enable you to have a full understanding of the direction we feel the Lord is leading our church during this series. Switch is a four-part sermon series taught by Pastor Levi with four complimentary lessons for your community group on Sunday morning. Each community group lesson follows each Sunday morning sermon. From children to wiser adults, Switch is designed to get everyone on the same mindset, a missionary mindset. Be prepared to lead discussion and share your own experiences with your group. The more you’re willing to share what you’re learning and how you are going to follow through on what each lesson teaches, the more willing your group will be to follow your lead. We hope this series will be a challenge for each of us as we study and discuss together what the God says about turning on a missionary mindset. If you have any questions about the series, please contact the staff at the church office.
Make Disciples Everywhere, The Concord Staff
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CONTENTS INTRODUCTION!
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LESSON 1: EYES OPEN! !
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Evangelism Style Questionnaire!
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LESSON 2: HEARTS ON FIRE! !
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LESSON 3: HANDS ACTIVATED!!
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My Circles Worksheet !
LESSON 4: FEET MOVING!
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My Story Worksheet!
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INTRODUCTION WELCOME/EXPECTATIONS/LEADER’S PRAYER
Welcome and Introduction End Goal for Switch: To lead the average church member to embrace the missionary mindset. What you should Expect during the experience: • Community group lessons are complimentary to Pastor Levi’s sermons each morning, so it’s important to be in worship. • Each week’s focus in the lesson is a stepping stone toward the final goal of the series, so attendance each week is encouraged. • Week to week there will be take aways from community groups which you will want to complete and bring back with you the next week. • Group discussion is encouraged as it will build camaraderie and help all of us turn on the missionary mindset. You could share these expectations during the first community group lesson as an overview for what they can expect during the series. Pray that your group will be open for God to use this experience to impact their lives and help them see their community as Jesus does, ripe for the harvest.
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LESSON 1: EYES OPEN MAIN POINT We are all missionaries -- activated to participate in God’s work. This morning, Pastor Levi encouraged us to “open our eyes” to the people and opportunities around us. We need to look at people through God’s Eyes and see them as part of God’s creation and perfect plan.
LESSON GOAL For each individual to learn his or her own personality/evangelism style.
INTRODUCTION Begin class by getting the conversation going. Ask the following questions: Someone share about an opportunity you had to share the Gospel? Where has God planted you to share His love? Are you taking advantage of the opportunities? What could you do to be better prepared? Each of us have family and friends who do not know Christ. All of us cross paths with the lost every day -- whether at school, work, shopping, social interactions. We are called to make disciples everywhere, but we have to start right where we are. To help us better prepare to share the Gospel we’re first going to learn about our personal evangelism style. In other words, we will answer the question how has God wired me for sharing His Word?
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LESSON Understanding Your Evangelism Style As the teacher, spend some time this week determining your style of evangelism (if you do not already know it)1 . Share with your class the following information: The following descriptions of evangelism styles come from Contagious Christian by Bill Hybels, Lee Strobel and Mark Mittelberg: Peter’s Confrontational Approach — Acts 2:22-41 If Peter was convinced he was right, there was almost no stopping him. He was direct, he was bold, and he was to the point. Instead of complying, he defied. Instead of being quiet, he proclaimed. He was very direct. Paul’s Intellectual Approach — Acts 17:15-34 Paul was a thinker. He wrote the awesome book of Romans. He thought through how to present the Gospel to Greeks, Jews, Romans, and others in a contextually appropriate way. His treatment of the Altar to the Unknown God at Athens is a testimony to one who can present a rational case, and debate philosophers in a way that they want to know more. CS Lewis might be a modern day example of this. You may not enjoy his writing, but many people have come to faith because of a little book called “Mere Christianity.” Blind Man’s Testimonial Approach — John 9:1-15, 25 This man, born blind, could only speak from his experience. He confidently declared: “One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” That’s hard to argue with, isn’t it? Many people can only talk about the radical change in the life that has happened since they started following Jesus. They may not have the boldness like Peter, or the intellect to defend the rationality of faith like Paul, but what you have is a testimony of a changed life. You may not know all that you believe, but your life has been transformed and it’s worth talking about. 1
At the end of this lesson there is a blank Evangelism Style Worksheet which you can use to help determine your own personal style of evangelism. Please use this worksheet BEFORE your first class discussion.
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Matthew’s Relational Approach — Luke 5:27-29 Instead of inviting people to church right off the bat, Matthew invited fellow tax collectors and sinners to his home. Do you enjoy having people into your home, sharing a meal, and spending time in conversation? Many people will never be reached until someone takes the time to build that kind of closeness with them. He was allowing himself to get close first and spend time outside of “the church.” Samaritan Women’s Invitational Approach — John 4 When Jesus encountered this woman, and transformed her life, she ran back to town and started inviting people: Come and See. She immediately went to her town and brought her friends to the well to hear Jesus for themselves. This simple invitation resulted in His staying in their town for two days. Many of these men and women became His followers. Many people are excited about what God is doing in their church, and in their own life. Instead of feeling confident about sharing their own faith story, they are eager to invite people to their church to see what God is doing and to hear others proclaiming the news. Come and see, is a great invitation to give. Dorcas’ Servant approach — Acts 9. Gifts of Hospitality, the welcoming of strangers, acts of service to those in need are all viable forms of evangelism. Its a tangible way of expressing the love of Jesus.
YOUR Personal Evangelism Style Let me ask you this? What style do you see yourself fitting into best? Do you still need help figuring it out? Here is a short test to take and see (if time permits you can allow those in your small group to take the assessment -- most likely, they will need to take the assessment with them to take before next Sunday). See attached assessment entitled: “Evangelism Styles Questionnaire”
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CONCLUSION What’s next? 1. Identify someone to share the Gospel with. 2. Begin reading through Colossians in preparation for week 4 lesson. 3. Answer this morning: What are some things that keep you from sharing the Gospel? Not things that keep people from sharing, but you specifically. If time permits you can allow those in your small group to take the assessment -- most likely, they will need to take the assessment with them to take before next Sunday. If some were able to finish the assessment during Community Groups, have people share their style and what they learned.
PRAYER Close with a prayer for group members to have Divine opportunities this week to share the Gospel with the lost. Pray for strength, knowledge and wisdom as well as the courage to share. Ask for God to use us as willing vessels and for Him to speak through us.
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LESSON 2: HEARTS ON FIRE MAIN POINT Since we are all missionaries, we must rely upon the Holy Spirit to empower us to live like missionaries. This morning we were challenged to have a heart for those who are far from God. One of our primary examples was Paul the Apostle. He lived to share the Gospel wherever God had planted him. Just as Paul thought like a missionary, we are challenged to think like one too. Today, we are going to actually think about the people God has put us around who need to become followers of Jesus.
LESSON GOAL In the same manner that the Gospel went forth from Jerusalem, we want to see how the Gospel can go forth from us as individuals. Therefore, we need to identify those whom God has planted among us who do not have a personal walk with Jesus. The Holy Spirit will empower you to be a witness to your family, friends, neighbors and acquaintances. The goal is to identify 2 people in in each above mentioned categories.
INTRODUCTION Begin class by getting the conversation going. Ask the following questions: Your class is leaving for Luhansk, Ukraine tonight to live as missionaries for the next three years. Other than learning the language, name 5 primary steps will you take to become an effective missionary? Have the class respond with answers. Of these answers, which ones could you do right now where you live? It is amazing when we talk about going on a mission trip how quickly we begin to think like missionaries. However, the bottom line is that we are missionaries right here. We just need to learn how to think like one. Let’s open our Bible’s to Acts 1:8
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LESSON Read Acts 1:8 “You will receive power (supernatural power) when the Spirit has come upon you and you shall be My witnesses (martyrs) both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” This is actually a verse of Scripture that outlines the entire book of Acts. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
I. You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem Chapters 1-7 ! a. City evangelism in Jerusalem ! b. Primary Leader Peter II. You shall be my witnesses in Judea and Samaria Chapters 8-12 ! a. National Evangelism ! b. Primary leader Peter III. You shall be my witnesses to the remote parts of the earth Chapters 13-28 ! a. Cross Cultural Gentile evangelism led primarily by Paul the Apostle. ! b. In the power of the Holy Spirit, the Good News of Jesus Christ was ! carried out.
How does the Holy Spirit empower us as His witnesses? ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
1. The Holy Spirit gives you words to speak. ! a. Read Acts 4:1-13 ! b. Peter and John had been thrown into prison for sharing the message of ! Jesus. They were put on trial before the religious officials and yet they ! were unafraid (See Luke 12:11-12) ! c. Because of the promise given to these men from Luke 12 and Acts 1:8 ! these common men astounded the Jewish leaders with their words ! about Jesus. ! d. Question for the class: Can anyone give testimony of a time when you ! were given words to speak to another person about Christ? 2. The Holy Spirit directs us to those who need salvation. ! a. Read Acts 8:26-31 ! b. We know Levi preached on this today, however, we note together in ! verse 29 that the Holy Spirit actually directed Philip to go to the chariot ! c. As we begin to live life as a witness for Jesus, there will be times when ! the Holy Spirit prompts us to share Jesus with others. ! d. Can someone share a time when they know the Holy Spirit was telling ! them to share the Gospel?
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3. The Holy Spirit protects and invites us to join His work. ! a. Read Acts 18:1-11 ! b. What three things were promised to Paul in verses 9-10? ! c. Persecution was increasing in Corinth, this caused him to wonder about ! whether or not he should stay in that city or continue moving on. In a ! night vision, the Lord told Paul to stay because “I have many people in ! this city.” ! d. Jesus promises that there were still those in the city who needed to ! hear the message of salvation. Therefore, Paul would be protected and ! he was invited to join the Spirit’s work.
Restate the points: The Holy Spirit empowers us to be His witness by giving us words to speak, directing us to those who need salvation, and protecting and inviting us to join His work.
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CONCLUSION What’s next? Since we have the promise of the Holy Spirit to empower us, we need to begin thinking about where He wants us to be His witness. Consider the Gospel Moving through the Book of Acts:
Now Consider the Gospel moving through your life to others:
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Now consider for a moment your personal style of evangelism, how can you begin reaching these people (at least 6) in your circles? As we move through the Switch Series, these people (at least 6) will be those that we will commit to sharing the Gospel with this year.
PRAYER Pray for those people that you named from your circles. Pray that the Holy Spirit will give you an opportunity to share the Gospel with them in the coming days/months. Ask God to remind you of the promise of His power as you go out to make disciples.
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LESSON 3: HANDS ACTIVATED MAIN POINT Since we are all missionaries, we must live unashamed of the Gospel. This morning we saw how Philip was sensitive to God at work all around Him. The Lord was already working on the Ethiopian Eunuch drawing Him to Christ, Philip just obeyed God to go and share. God could very well be working on one of your “8” which you identified in your community group last week, now you just need to pray for boldness and design a plan to reach out to them with the Good News of Jesus.
LESSON GOAL Today, our goal is to walk out of our time together with a plan to reach out to those God has planted around us. We will review our CIRCLES and begin considering how to INVEST in them and INVITE them to Jesus.
INTRODUCTION Begin class by getting the conversation going. Ask the following questions: Why do you think that many followers of Jesus are timid when it comes to sharing the Gospel? A member of your class says, “I’m not cut out enough to share the Gospel.” How would you respond? ! ! ! !
You could give one of THREE answers: ! A. “That’s okay, not everyone needs to share the Gospel.” ! B. “That’s okay, just SHOW that Gospel by your lifestyle.” ! C. “Every believer is called to unashamedly share the Gospel.”
The letter ‘c’ is the Biblical answer. Today in our lesson we are going to be challenged to be unashamed of the Gospel while praying for boldness and open doors to share.
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LESSON Read Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed* of the *gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” *Ashamed: means: to be timid, scared, fearful. It gives the image of a coward afraid to stand up and speak for himself, always hiding in fear of what others might think or say. *Gospel literally means ‘good news.’ Paul was saying in essence: “I am not going to be timid, I won’t be scared, I am not going to shrink back in fear of what everybody else says or thinks about this ‘Gospel’ I possess.” It was this kind of boldness that the New Testament church continued to pray for throughout the Book of Acts. Which is why, if we are going to live out the mission of making disciples we must pray like the believers did in the book of Acts. If we are going to live unashamed we must... 1. Pray for Boldness. !
Read Acts 4:23-31 Peter and John were preaching the Gospel of Jesus and then quickly thrown into jail and put on trial. After they were tried and released they gathered with the other believers and had a time of prayer. Notice in the text what Peter and John did not do: • They did not say, “Perhaps we aren’t really cut out for sharing Jesus with others.” • They did not say, “We should just stop speaking and just live by example.” Notice what they did not pray for: • They did not pray, “Lord, remove us from these circumstances!” • They did not pray, “Lord, just bless us with safety!”
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What did they pray for? • They prayed specifically for boldness to share even in the midst of the persecutions. 18
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Ask, what do you think that it means to be ‘bold’?
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Boldness is not simply speaking loudly or in a harsh tone. Boldness is confidence. You don’t have to be yelling to be bold, but it does involve telling.
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As missionaries, we have begun to identify those in our circles who are far from God. Now, just like the early believers, we must begin to pray for boldness in sharing the Good News.
2. Pray for open doors. !
Read Colossians 4:3 Paul is actually in prison at the time that he is writing to the Colossian church. Besides being bold with the Gospel, he is inviting the Colossians to pray with him that an opportunity (a door) might open for him to share the Gospel. Although Paul is locked behind the door of a prison, he’s still looking and praying for doors of opportunity to open for the Gospel. Please note, although Paul is praying for open doors, he is not silent while waiting. According to Philippians 1, Paul is sharing the Gospel with the Roman guards who are watching over him. While he prayed for open doors, he was intently taking advantage of the circles of influence that he possessed in his life. Ask, what are specific ways you could pray for doors of opportunity to be opened for the Gospel to be shared with those in your circles? This goes beyond simply praying, “Lord open doors of opportunity for the people in my circles.” Example: “Lord, today I will have lunch with Jim. I know he is far from You and I need you to give me boldness to share the Gospel with him. Give me an open door for the truth to be shared in His life.” Think about it…we are typically sensitive to God at work around us when we are praying that God allows us to be involved in His work. But when we don’t pray for boldness and open doors, we seldom see God at work around us. Example: If I pray for my lunch with Jim, I am going to be more aware of the doors of opportunity God is trying to show me. If I disregard praying, then I’m not prepared to see those doors with Jim.
Restate the points: As missionaries we are called to live unashamed for the Gospel and encouraged to pray for open doors to share the Gospel.
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Before moving on, share the quote below.. A young African pastor who was martyred for his faith wrote this the night before he was killed for refusing to renounce Christ. It was written on a tattered piece of paper & found on the bunk in his cell after his death. I'm a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have Holy Spirit Power. The dye has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I'm a disciple of His. I won't look back, let up, back away or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power. My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way rough, my companions few, my Guide reliable, my missions clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won't give up, shut up or let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up and preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me. And when He comes for his own, He will have no problems recognizing me -- for my banner will be clear!
CONCLUSION What’s next? Since we are all missionaries we need to be bold with the Gospel and begin to think about how we will INVEST in those in our circles and INVITE them to Jesus. Consider using the Reach My Circles Worksheet to create a plan for sharing the Gospel. Remember, your plan should consider how you can INVEST in the people in your circles and then how to move to INVITE them to Jesus by sharing the Gospel.
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See the Reach My Circles Worksheet Example for ideas on INVESTING and INVITING. Don’t forget your personal evangelism style and take that into consideration as you begin to put together a plan to reach your circles. You don’t have to have a plan before you leave today, but using this example, prayerfully consider your plan this week and bring it back with you next week to community group. You will not be made to share it, but if you feel lead you may. Sharing how you will reach your circles might inspire someone else or give them boldness to know they’re not the only one actively participating in the Gospel.
PRAYER Pray for those people that you named from your circles. Pray for boldness and doors of opportunity. Ask God to show you this week how to INVEST in your circles for the purpose of INVITING them to Jesus. Pray that our entire church will work together for the Gospel during this Switch series.
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LESSON 4: FEET MOVING MAIN POINT It is time to get your feet moving. God has given you a unique story to share as you present the Gospel. This morning, Pastor Levi encouraged us to “get our feet moving” and share the Gospel with those around us.
LESSON GOAL For each individual to learn to develop a personal story to use in sharing the Gospel.
INTRODUCTION Begin class by getting the conversation going. Ask the following questions: Someone share about an opportunity you had to share the Gospel since the “Switch” series began Jan. 12? Are you taking advantage of the opportunities? What could you do to be better prepared? As the teacher, take a few minutes to share your story with the group. Use as an opportunity to give an example of how your story is God’s story -- a great story to share as you tell others about the Gospel.
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LESSON Telling Your Story What do we know? • God uses the church to carry out His mission. • If we are members of His church, we must equip ourselves to do the work. • We cannot stop at just being equipped, we must challenge ourselves to make a disciple. So where do we start? • You must start with your salvation story. • In order to be a disciple, you have to first know Jesus authentically. Have someone read Col. 1:13-14 Salvation Story This salvation story makes the following points: • Rescued: delivered, saved • Domain: authority and rule • Darkness: evil world, hell • Transferred: caused to move • Kingdom: sovereign rule of a king • Redemption: release, freedom, deliverance • Forgiveness: pardon and liberty Salvation Story Example Have someone read Paul’s story in Acts 26:4-23; A salvation story talks about life before Christ, how a person came to know Christ, and what has changed since that time. • Before he met Jesus, vs. 4-11 • Story of meeting Jesus, vs. 12-18 • After he met Jesus, vs. 19-23 If time permits, allow the class to break into smaller groups of three. Allow each member of the group to share their testimony with the group. There is a My Story Worksheet at the end of this lesson that they could use write down their testimony.
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CONCLUSION What’s next? 1. Schedule/Make a time to talk with the person (or persons) you have already pinpointed to share the Gospel. 2. Have someone pray for you and hold you accountable to sharing.
PRAYER Close with a prayer for group members to have Divine opportunities this week to share the Gospel with the lost. Pray for boldness to follow through with their commitment and to not shrink back in fear. Ask the Holy Spirit to give the words to say and a trust in His power, not ours.
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My Story Worksheet Before I met christ...
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© Concord Baptist Church, 2013. All rights reserved.
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