Small Group Curriculum

I have just recently started to write small group curriculum if you would like more information about the small group curriculum please email me. All small group curriculum previews will include through week one as it would read from the leaders guide.

Beyond the walls

Leader’s Guide
Empowerment

Beyond the walls is a small group curriculum that was designed to build a creative, evangelistic aspect to your ministry. The first thing you must understand as a small group leader is that you are not just the owner of the house where your small group meets or simply an event coordinator that puts something together once a week. Instead, you have to start to see yourself as a Pastor. Just like on Sunday mornings it is your Senior Pastor’s job to make sure that the flock God has trusted him with is getting fed life through the Word of God, it is your job to do the same within your small group. Think about it like this, all the events that churches traditionally hold on their own, such as prayer meetings, outreaches, worship nights, cookouts, and family gatherings are all events that you should feel empowered to host and hold within your small group. Small groups are not a new idea, but a very old idea taken straight out of the book of Acts. The early New Testament church would hold small groups regularly.  They would all get together for a big service only on certain occasions. Most people today grew up with very event focused churches where everything that the congregation did was held at the church. The difference between the two is the empowerment and opportunity for discipleship. Some pastors are great preachers and some are great pastors.  This means that some enjoy and are very talented speakers, and others are good at shepherding their flock.  However, one thing will always be true about both abilities, neither one carries a strong influence of discipleship. Discipleship is accomplished during one on one encounters where discussions are able to take place, questions are able to be asked and people are in warm friendly environments where they will let their guards down and open up and be real about the issues that they face. Sure this can also be accomplished in a sit down meeting in the pastor’s office, but with nowhere near the efficiency and regularity of a weekly small group meeting in a comfortable living room with friends. You, as a small group leader, should feel empowered to interact and engage yourself in each one of your attendee’s lives. You are not just a volunteer that is fulfilling a need in your church, but you have been given the opportunity to truly be able to change lives.

Week 1 – Purpose and place
Leaders Guide
(This week is designed to reveal to your small group that they are not at their jobs or participating in certain hobbies by chance, but instead God ordained and set them in those places for specific reasons. Most people can feel like they are walking aimlessly through life with no goals or objectives except live long, make money, and be happy. While reading through this curriculum, use personal everyday examples about how God has opened up opportunities for you to be able to be a witness or a Christian friend to somebody that was in a need or had no influence of God in their life. The closing thought on this week should be focused on the simple fact that this isn’t a once a year or once a week thing that happens, but instead God has plans for us everyday to help advance the kingdom of heaven here on earth.)

Understanding our Purpose
It is amazing sometimes to think about how many people today still do not understand their purpose. Books, both Christian and non-Christian, have been published over the years on the topic of the purpose of life. It is extremely common for people to ask themselves questions like, what was I made for? What is my destiny? Or is there something bigger I should be doing with my life? People of all ages, from young to old, find themselves pondering these questions. What is it that makes people think these things? Sometimes people are unsatisfied with their current situations in life, and other times an extreme event can bring on these questions such as a death in the family or being fired from a job. Regardless, they are completely natural thoughts that people have been thinking since humans first cast their eyes upon the stars and realized the size of the galaxy and just how small they actually are in comparison with the rest of creation.

Group question 1
Have you ever had an experience at any point in your life where you found yourself pondering the purpose of your existence?

God’s purpose for creation is complex yet simple. It is outside of our minds to be able to understand how He took dirt and breathed life into it as it says in Genesis.  On the other hand, it is not too hard for us to understand that God simply wanted somebody to love, and somebody to love Him back.  We can understand this because the desires to want somebody to love you and to love somebody are very real feelings that we encounter on a daily basis. You see, the original reason God created us was to have a relationship with us. 1 John 4:19 states that “we love God because God first loved us.” God gave us the ability to choose and have free will with the intentions that we would choose to love Him as our Creator and Lord. Through our relationship with God, we have the opportunity to live an amazing life here on earth, as stated in John 10:10, “the best life possible.” It was only when the fall of man happened that God’s purpose for us began to change. Ever since mankind turned their back on God, God’s main objective has been to get his people to return to him. We can see stories all throughout the bible from the flood, the exodus out of Egypt, and the great battles of David where God’s intentions were to break humankind from sin and follow after their first love, Him. God desires for all to know him and ask that we be the ones to carry the message of his Love. Not only are there countless stories of prophets that were called to spread the message of God, but Jesus himself spoke of reaching others with a message of the Good News, as stated in Matthew 28:16-20:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

What is the message of Good News? The message was, you are not an accident, but you were created because a loving God designed you to live a full, beautiful life, and for you to love Him as God first loved us.

Group question 2
What are the two reasons God originally created us?
Does this mean we have to be like robots and run around only doing those two things or does God want us to enjoy life?

Place
Jobs are given to us for multiple different reasons. One, they are a reliable source of income for our household. Two, they provide a creative place for you to flow in the gifting that God gave to you. Lastly, they provide opportunity. This opportunity is the same opportunity as sitting next to somebody on a bus or checking out at the grocery store. It is the chance to share life with other people around you. People surround us all the time no matter where we go. Some of these environments are more personal than others, but in all occasions there is always an opportunity. Sometimes it is as simple as a smile or being polite to somebody.  Other times, we can notice that people around us may be hurting or  just going through a situation in their life where they need to be comforted. All of these are occasions where we can easily and openly share our faith and life with others. This is the gospel message of hope and truth that all people are meant to know.

Group Question 3
Should we only share our faith during times of opportunity?

Closing thoughts

God created each one of us individually with a unique set of skills and talents. God desires for us to love Him and to live the best life possible in a relationship with Him. He wants all people to know about His love for them, and the life He has for them. He wants us to deliver that message of love to every corner of the earth. It is important for us to understand that the end has already been written.  One day this world that is filled with corruption and sin will be destroyed.  Only those who have a relationship with God will live in a land of paradise. God will then restore us to our original place with not one sin among us. In 1 Corinthians 2:9 it says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”  So tomorrow and every day after that, seek out the opportunities that lay before you. Speak to those who do not know God and have yet experienced His love. Do not be afraid, but share with others what it is that God has shared with you…