NEXT - WEEK 2 - COMMUNITY

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1) Encourage people to check out the Churchstarter link that we announced on Sunday.

2) Daily reading plans for term 1 are available here There are four options that you might choose to do as group over this term. PDFs will also be posted in the facebook group. Contact Anna for any physical copies you might need.

LEADERS NOTE:

1)If you ran out of time last week, make sure you have an opportunity to arrange any practical plans or rosters that your group may need.

2) You may want to start having time for a couple of people to share their stories and to receive prayer each week, this week could be a good week to let your group know in advance so nobody is caught off-guard.

Read 1 Corinthians 12 :12-26
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

DISCUSSION

1) In reading through this passage what words, phrases or ideas stand out?

2) What are the reasons given here that the church should be united?

3) Verse 15, using the analogy of a foot and hand, describes a person who feels they don’t belong because they lack a particular trait. What might be a real life example where someone in the church might feel this?

4) Verse 21, using a different body analogy, describes a person who looks down on others as unnecessary, or who feels sufficient on their own. What might be a real life example where someone in the church might feel this?

5) Do you tend to feel that you are a valuable part of the body of Christ? Why or why not?

6) When has been a time that serving others has made you feel more a part of the body?

7) What would it look like for our Community Group to function like a body?

Share and pray.

What is one way that you would like to grow in serving others this year?