Tag: lifeway

The Gospel doesn’t change. The way we share it should.

August 9, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Engage_Banner

I’ve been a part of a handful of projects with Lifeway, but none that I’ve been as excited about as this one.

I was one of 4 authors to collaborate on a small group book/study called Engage: A Practical Guide to Evangelism, and I love how it all came together.

Here’s the overview:

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The simple truth of the gospel does not change. And while this truth is timeless, we must always evaluate the presentation of that truth to make sure it’s connecting in a culturally relevant way. Engage is a practical study examining the act of sharing your faith. Engage: A Practical Guide to Evangelism answers questions like, How do you begin a conversation about Jesus? What if they have questions you’re not sure how to answer? What do you say if they respond positively or if they reject God’s message?

Engage is a small group study that helps you:

  • Discern the full meaning of the gospel of Jesus Christ
  • Understand why all Christians are called to share the good news
  • Prepare for spiritual attacks against the gospel
  • Have tangible ideas for how to share your faith with those who don’t believe in Jesus.
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Here are a few quotes from the book…written in a way that’s easily shareable on Twitter or Facebook, if you’d like.

Twitter

  • Sharing our faith requires reminders of the beauty and depth of the gospel. #engage @threadsmedia http://lfwy.co/19OYiFA
  • Jesus lived the perfect life I should’ve lived and died the death I had been condemned to die. #engage @threadsmedia http://lfwy.co/19OYiFA
  • We can approach God with boldness because He sees us according to the accomplishments of Christ #engage @threadsmedia http://lfwy.co/19OYiFA
  • You can never earn the title “Christian”—Jesus earned it in our place & gave it to us as a gift #engage @threadsmedia http://lfwy.co/19OYiFA
  • We’re accepted before God not because of what we do but because of what Jesus has done. #engage @threadsmedia http://lfwy.co/19OYiFA
  • What’s inside of our hearts gushes out and compels us to action. #engage @threadsmedia http://lfwy.co/19OYiFA
  • Evangelism is seeing Jesus as our greatest delight and the ultimate lover of our souls. #engage @threadsmedia http://lfwy.co/19OYiFA
  • Loving God & loving others is the fuel that propels gospel proclamation & disciple making. #engage @threadsmedia http://lfwy.co/19OYiFA
  • Sharing your faith is much less complicated than we often make it. #engage @threadsmedia http://lfwy.co/19OYiFA (via @BenReed)

Facebook

  • Unbelievers are looking for real answers not easy ones. They’re wanting to see that men and women of faith struggle with questions, too. #engage @threadsmedia http://lfwy.co/19OYiFA
  • The gospel of Jesus is the announcement that Jesus is Lord and has won a great victory on our behalf. The gospel is not a command that we should do better so that God will accept us, but the announcement that Jesus has paid the full penalty for our sin. No longer do we need to live in fear. The battle has been won on our behalf—we need only to believe and receive it. #engage @threadsmedia http://lfwy.co/19OYiFA
  • The gospel isn’t just the “beginning point” of Christianity, a prayer you pray to begin your Christian life, or the diving board off of which you jump into the pool of Christianity. The gospel is the pool in which you swim, day by day. Once you’ve believe the gospel, the way you grow in Christ is by going deeper into the gospel. You become more aware of how gracious He is and how incredible is the gift He has given you in Christ. #engage @threadsmedia http://lfwy.co/19OYiFA
  • The world needs to know who Jesus really is and what the benefits are of putting faith in Him. Jesus gave us the responsibility to make those truths known. The potential impact of obedience to that calling is world-changing. #engage @threadsmedia http://lfwy.co/19OYiFA
  • We not only need the gospel to cover our sinfulness and to guarantee a glorious eternity; we need the gospel for everything! From the most mundane activities of our day-to-day lives to the “big ticket item” decisions that pivot the trajectory of our lives—the gospel should infuse all of it. #engage @threadsmedia http://lfwy.co/19OYiFA
  • For an unbeliever, we can’t support the legitimacy of the Bible solely on its own word. We have to look at history, at the present day, and even within ourselves to see that God’s Word is true and can be trusted. #engage @threadsmedia http://lfwy.co/19OYiFA
  • Your story is compelling. Riveting. Life-changing (assuming you actually have been changed). And sharing your faith involves sharing your story. Be honest, transparent, and vulnerable. People will connect with your brokenness more quickly and fully than they ever will your “awesomeness.” Share the mistakes God’s redeeming you from, the sin you’re done with, the bigger picture He’s inviting you into, and the ways His grace is sufficient and His love is captivating. #engage @threadsmedia http://lfwy.co/19OYiFA
  • Sharing your faith is much less complicated than we often make it. But it’s also much more difficult. Much more engaging. Much more demanding of your time and effort. Much more challenging of your life. #engage @threadsmedia http://lfwy.co/19OYiFA
You can pick up your copy HERE.
 

Discipleship Customized

May 9, 2013 / / 2 Comments

At Long Hollow, we primarily plug people into small groups in two different ways:

  • Connection Events
  • Sermon Alignment

We ust finished with our latest sermon alignment, where we launched short-term small groups around our Sunday morning sermon series. We chose a series, and crafted it in such a way that it was accessible for a wide variety of spiritual maturities. It was incredibly effective for us, as we launched groups across our campuses, connecting bucketfuls of folks who hadn’t previously been connected.

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If you’ve ever tried to line up a sermon series with your small groups in a way that was productive, though, and plan this all out far enough in advance to get the whole series printed and produced before you start the series, you know how much of a logistical challenge this is. From working with the teaching team to get the sermon series info, to crafting content that’s engaging, to producing videos that go along with the series, it’s a lot of work.

I’ve got a way to help one of the biggest steps for you.

We used Lifeway’s Discipleship in Context to help us produce the content. And they were incredibly easy to work with.

I sat down with their team, and laid out the whole series for him. I told them conceptually where the series was going, where each individual week would go, Scriptures that our team was wrestling through, and the general flow (introduction questions, sermon recap, application questions) we were looking for. They produced exactly what we were looking for. They hit it perfectly on the head.

I also told him how we needed a “leader’s guide” so that our leaders could be one step ahead of the folks in their group. They went over and above, including an easy-to-follow Bible commentary for leaders.

On top of it all, it was incredibly cost-effective.

I talked with a company recently that wanted to do everything for us…branding, printing, and video production. And they wanted to charge us tens of thousands of dollars.

I chuckled when they told me that, knowing that we could never afford that.

Thankfully, the Discipleship in Context guys know that churches can’t afford prices like that. And though they don’t do the videos, they’ll produce content that’s crafted in your church’s language, tailored to your exact sermon series.

We were thrilled with the product we got from them (you can click HERE to see it all). Absolutely thrilled. And I guarantee you we’ll use them in the future to help us craft the content for our groups and the alignment series we launch.

I think you should use them, too.

Here’s a video further explaining the Discipleship in Context team’s work:

 

 

Building Biblical Community

February 7, 2011 / / 16 Comments

Congrats to Tiffany Malloy for winning this prize pack!

I review small group curriculum.  A lot.  Some of it’s good.  Some of it I wish I had never wasted my time looking over.

But I’ve just stumbled on a great study from Lifway.  Which, to be honest, is shocking to me.  Lifeway has been putting out Sunday School curriculum for years in the form of quarterly material that you subscribe to.  And I had no interest in figuring out how to fit Sunday School curricula into our small groups system.  They’ve found a format that works for small groups, and brought together a couple of small group veterans (Steve Gladen and Bill Donahue) to help facilitate the DVD portion of the material.

If you want a chance to win a free copy of the material, keep reading!

What I like about Building Biblical Community

  • It starts by encouraging everybody to share their story. I believe that this is foundational to healthy, biblical community.  Without knowing people’s stories, it takes much longer to build authentic relationships.  Without sharing your own, it’s easy to hide.  Sharing your story, and understanding what expectations you (and the group as a whole) are bringing to the table help launch the group on the right foot.
  • There’s real interaction with Scripture. There’s no question that this is truly a Bible study.  Discussion is encouraged around the meaning of the text, both historically and practically.  And there is a distinct push for you to incorporate Scripture into your everyday life, asking questions that prompt you to integrate the Gospel into the normal flow of your day.  And I agree with Spence Shelton, that a Building Biblical Community, vol II focusing further on applying the Gospel to community life could be a great follow-up resource.
  • There are short, daily devotionals for in-between the week’s meetings. And these are built on the previous week’s discussions, which means that they’re not vital to the following week’s discussion.  So the homework is important, but if you don’t get to finish it, you won’t be lost in the following week’s discussion.
  • It’s simple. It’s often easier to say more, citing more Scriptures, and asking more questions than it is to say less.  Thankfully, Lifeway didn’t take the easy way out.
  • It’s short. It’s only 4 weeks.  I’ve found that longer studies seem to grow stale because they take so long to finish.  And, like I said HERE, change (even when it’s something as small as your group’s curriculum) feels like progress.
  • It’s a great overview of group life. It hits on each of the major areas of healthy small groups without spending too much time on any one category.  Here are the 4 sessions: Becoming a Celebrating Community, Becoming a Learning Community, Becoming a Loving Community, Becoming a Serving Community.
  • The leader notes are in the back. It saves money from having to buy another book.  Last time I checked…that was a good thing.  And leader notes give the group facilitator hints on how to continue the discussion, helping them feel even more comfortable in the role God has called them to.

How I’m going to use the study

  • New small groups.
  • Small groups that are restarting.

I don’t quickly put a curriculum into our regular flow of recommended curricula at Grace Community Church, where I’m on staff.  But this one’s going in the rotation immediately.

If you’d like a chance to win a free copy of this material (I’ll be giving it away on Friday, 2-11-2011), all you have to do is

1. ReTweet (or share on Facebook) this post.

2. Leave a comment below, telling us why you’d like to win.

 

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