—LEADER GUIDE—
KINGDOM OF GOD SMALL GROUPS
Starting the week of January 23 we are launching our 6-week small groups that will cover the biblical concepts of God’s Kingdom. Our Sunday services will give vision for Kingdom life while our small groups will specifically cover parables of the Kingdom of God and help us apply those principles to our daily lives. We are calling those principles the keys to the Kingdom.
THANK YOU!
Small Group Leaders, thank you for stepping out to host a Kingdom of God small group. We pray that God uses these next 6 weeks to build your life and help others connect with our Spiritual Family. We believe your group along with the keys to the Kingdom will empower each one of us to take our next step in our faith journey. At any point, if I can assist you, please let me know (adam@gracelife.com or text me at 919-264-1539).
SMALL GROUP LEADER FOCUS
Over the next 6 weeks we want you to focus on the people in your group. We don’t want you to be masters of the biblical concept of the Kingdom going into the group. We want you to care for the people in your group. That’s your focus. When you care specifically and intentionally for each person in your group, you are sharing God’s love—you are displaying His Kingdom.
There are 3 specific ways that we want you to CARE for your group:
1. PRAY—pray for each person in your group before you even meet, during your group, after your group, and during the week. You can even text them a prayer if God puts it on your heart. Pray that God connects them to others. Pray that the Holy Spirit gives them the wisdom they need in life. Pray protection, provision, and life over your group and their families. God has set you apart during these 6 weeks to affect positive change in your group.
2. CONNECT—help each member of your group feel welcomed, appreciated, and accepted. How do you do this? (1) Communicate with your group about the details of your group before each meeting. Don’t be afraid to repeat yourself. Leaders always feel like they are repeating themselves, but it’s important to continuously convey important info. (2) Create a welcoming environment in your group whether by food, smiles, or a positive attitude. (3) Lastly, follow-up with your group about prayer requests and just reach out to them to show that you care.
3. FACILITATE—during the group, your role is to ask questions, keep the conversation moving, and to direct the conversation in any helpful way. You are a facilitator. Our goal is for people to connect, so if someone brings up something that is personally important to them, but not necessarily on topic, feel free to focus time and energy on that person. This isn’t a class. This is doing life together. And if someone ever asks a Bible question that you don’t know, just say you don’t know. You are a facilitator, not a Bible Answer sheet. Feel free to email me at adam@gracelife.com if you want me to address the question. Your main goal is to help people connect with each other while they explore the keys to the Kingdom. Temporarily unanswered questions aren’t a problem.
WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD?
Some of us might not be as familiar with how pervasive the concept of the Kingdom of God is in the Bible, so below is a brief overview of the Kingdom of God. If you have questions about the overview, or if it is confusing, no worries; your role as leader isn’t to teach or have biblical knowledge: it’s to pray, connect, and facilitate. We are relying on the Holy Spirit to help us apply the keys of the Kingdom to our lives.
OVERVIEW
Jesus came with the announcement “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matt 4:17). The theme of God’s Kingdom coming was central to His mission. He taught men how they might enter the kingdom (Matt 5:20, 7:21). His works proved that the Kingdom of God had come (Matt 12:28). His parables illustrated truth about God’s Kingdom (Matt 13:11). In His famous prayer, He taught us to say “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10). Before His death He assured the disciples that He would share the happiness and community of the Kingdom with them (Luke 22:22-30). He also promised that He would return on the earth and bring the Kingdom (Matt 25:31, 34). How you define what the Kingdom of God is, affects how you view the mission of the church and your role in the Kingdom. Moreover, seeing your identity as a citizen of God’s Kingdom now, empowers you to advance His Kingdom and help the hearts of others turn their lives over to His rule and His ways.
To put it simply:
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS THE RULE OF GOD IN THE HEARTS AND LIVES OF THOSE WHO FOLLOW HIM.
That is why Jesus taught about the Kingdom in so many parables. The Kingdom of God isn’t what you would expect and it can be hard to explain. Jesus taught His disciples that the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed (Matt 13:31-32); it appears small and insignificant, then it grows into a massive, strong tree, where creatures live. And He taught them that it’s like yeast (Matt. 13:33); it quietly spreads and lifts the whole batch of dough with great subtlety, but, also, with great effectiveness. God’s Kingdom seems imperceivable but its powerfully at work in our hearts and lives. These 6 weeks will help us explore what it means to be part of God’s Kingdom right now and how to live out the keys to the Kingdom.
WHAT TO COMMUNICATION BEFORE YOUR FIRST GROUP MEETING
Make sure you communicate with your Small Group members again a few days before the group starts to let them know key details about your small group including day, time, location, childcare, Zoom link, etc. There aren’t any participant materials for these 6-weeks, but you can encourage people to bring a journal, a pen, and their bible.
If you are meeting at the Grace Church building and want to know what room you are in, please click the “Church Building Room Assignments” button.
FOLLOW A SCHEDULE
Here’s an example of a 65 - 75 minute schedule for each of your 6 small group sessions. Your group can change it up but have a plan:
Meet, Greet & Mingle (10 minutes)
Ice-breaker (5 minutes)
Play Video (15 minutes)
Group Discussion (20-30 minutes)
—Every discussion can finish with the question, “How do we apply this to our daily lives?”
Pray (5 minutes)
Wrap it up/Hang out
WEEKLY SESSION GUIDE
Below is your web-based leader guide. If you would like a print off of this entire guide, you can pick one up on Sundays at the Resource Center kiosk in the lobby of Grace Church. Just use the password, “I’m a small group leader and I want a Kingdom of God Leaders Guide,” to a FIT member and we’ll get you one.
Each week we have 4 items for you in the leader guide:
ICE BREAKER—this is a warm up question or activity so your group can better get to know each other. Feel free to use 1 of the ideas, all of the ideas, or none of them. As the leader, we want to empower you to facilitate with your gifts and what you sense is best for the group.
VIDEO—each week we will have a video by Pastor Kendrick on a parable of the Kingdom. Pastor Kendrick will break down a key to the Kingdom from a parable and help us apply it to our lives. These videos will be embedded below and they are hosted on VIMEO. You can download them from VIMEO by clicking the download arrow. If you have questions regarding the videos, please let me know (adam@gracelife.com).
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS—we will have 3-5 discussion questions based on the video each time. The purpose of these questions is to get your group discussing the parable and the key to the Kingdom that Pastor Kendrick presented. Use the questions to best facilitate a productive and meaningful discussion. A lot of times in small groups, the discussion questions are a launchpad for personal issues in your group’s lives. When people are vulnerable and share their lives, that’s a big WIN. Allow for personal connection and personal moments. They are a gift when they occur. When the discussion is mostly abstract or academic, feel free to ground it by asking how it applies to our lives. When we apply God’s word to our lives, we are transformed, so that’s always a great question: “How does this passage, or this key to the Kingdom, apply to our daily lives?”
PRAYER—we will give you a couple of prayer points each time. It’s always good, if time allows, to ask for prayer requests and to have the members pray over each other. We will have many different faith levels and spiritual backgrounds represented by the people in our groups so make prayer time gracious and pressure-free as possible.
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Here is your weekly leader guide with all the resources you need:
WEEK 1: THE LAW OF FAITHFULNESS
IF YOU’RE FAITHFUL WITH A LITTLE, YOU’LL BE GIVEN MUCH.
ICE BREAKER
Tell us a little bit about yourself, including your name, where you’re from, and how long you’ve been attending Grace, plus anything else you’d like to mention.
Then, after you tell us about yourself, answer the question:
What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given? OR What’s the worst piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
NOTE: For WEEK 1, we suggest that you, the leader, go first. Modeling how we want these times to go is helpful so people know what is expected of them.
VIDEO
Video Link: https://vimeo.com/668721071
Go here for written notes on the video. You can give the link, gracelife.com/kognotes, to your participants during or after your small group session, if you’d like to.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What is in your hand today? How can you be faithful with your gifts?
2. How can you be faithful in your resources - with your finances? In your relationships? In your marriage? In raising your kids? In your job?
3. What time, talents, and treasure do you have right now? How can you use your time, talents, and treasure to advance God’s Kingdom?
4. Being faithful to God with your time, talents, and treasure, is what He is calling us to. If there is one practical step that you can take this week to continue to be faithful with your time, talents, and treasure, what is it? In other words, how can we be like the faithful servant in the parable this week?
ENCOURAGEMENT
During the video, Pastor Kendrick gave us 3 encouragements. After the discussion, you can reiterate these encouragements for your group:
1. Be here. Make attendance a priority. Set aside these six weeks to catch every Sunday message and make the six small groups meetings. God will meet you.
2. Be hungry. Come with hunger and humility. Come ready to learn and grow. Lord, speak to me. Help me grow.
3. Be open. Come ready to share personally about your struggles and places of challenge.
Be here. Be hungry. Be open. The six weeks will go by quickly. If you go all-in, many of you will build strong lasting relationships. You’ll grow spiritually. My heart is for you to get the most out of this time. It’s significant.
PRAYER
Prayer Points:
Pray that we all are faithful to God with our time, treasure and talents.
wisdom and courage to use our time, treasure and talents for God’s purposes.
Thankfulness for our time, treasure, and talents.
For the rest of the 6 weeks, we are here, hungry, and open.
WEEK 2: THE LAW OF REWARD
ICE BREAKER
1. When you die, what do you want to be remembered for?
2. What is your absolute dream job? Why?
3. What’s the best reward, or trophy, or prize that you’ve ever received?
4. What is your favorite item you've bought this year?
VIDEO
Video Link: https://vimeo.com/668742940
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Are there areas that you’ve seen this principle at work? Are there areas that you haven’t seen this principle at work yet?
Are you motivated by rewards? What motivates you? When we believe God rewards those who diligently seek Him, how does that affect your perspective?
How does Colossians 3:23-24 ESV change your perspective on day to day living? It says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”
How can we apply the law of reward to our lives?
PRAYER
Prayer Points, (organize prayer however you feel is best for your group, e.g. people volunteering for specific requests, etc.):
ask for prayer requests.
faith to believe that He rewards those who diligently seek Him.
faith that we can store up treasure in heaven (Every cup of cold water is rewarded)
vision to apply this to our lives in a Christ-centered way
WEEK 3: THE LAW OF RETURN
ICE BREAKER
1. What’s your favorite scent? And why?
2. What current fact about your life would most impress your five year old self?
3. What’s the last great TV show or movie you watched?
4. What is the most interesting story about your family growing up (that you can think of)?
5. What’s the best investment that you’ve ever made?
VIDEO Link: https://vimeo.com/668767839
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What are you sowing into your life and future right now? Both here on this earth and laying up treasure in heaven?
2. How are you investing now for an eternal return?
3. What small step of faith can you take to sow for an eternal return…for the sake of the Kingdom of God?
4. Where have you seen small investments in your life really pay off? How does that apply to the Kingdom of God?
PRAYER
We all want to reap a huge harvest, in Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23, The Parable of the Sower the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word of God—the message on the Kingdom—and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. This is how Pastor Kendrick mentioned that he prays about it:
Lord, I don't want my heart to be hard, shallow or distracted. I want a good heart that receives your Word, and by God’s grace, I want to do your Word.
Additional Prayer points:
trusting God as we keep sowing seeds to the Spirit—He will bring a harvest.
Keep forgiving. Keep being kind. Keep being faithful. Not growing weary of doing good.