Macedonia UMC Connect Groups

Connect As you talk together and gather, consider this question: What have you encountered about yourself and your view of money most during this series?   Is there anything that is changing in you? Pray Last week we looked at the question of “Trusting” together—Where does God rank?   When we think about the question of abundance , I welcome you to continue on the question of Trusting, or invite the group to consider whatever measure they wish to share about this week.   Make sure you pray together and for one another: Passionate: Where did I see God today? Accepting: How am I building diverse relationships? Invitational: Who am I connecting with God’s family? Trusting: Where does God rank? Active: How am I engaged with God’s work? Reflect We could go in a variety of directions this week.   Perhaps these two frames of thought will help.   First, Pastor Kevin quoted David Zahl, who wrote a book called Seculosity .   In this ...

Connect As you connect with one another this week, encourage your group to break into pairs or threes and answer this question: Do you think God wants us to be rich? Pray Last week we focused on the idea of Trusting God by asking “where does God rank?”   Invite your group to share with one another how they are doing in that area of trusting in God.   Then, you can invite them to answer any of the five questions.   I have found that if the group is sizable, that it might work best to do this in pairs or threes: Passionate: Where did I see God today? Accepting: How am I building diverse relationships? Invitational: Who am I connecting with God’s family? Trusting: Where does God rank? Active: How am I engaged with God’s work? Make sure your group prays for one another at this time. Reflect This week, Pastor Kevin focused on this idea of prosperity.   Kate Bowler is someone he often quotes, and she is the foremost historian on the ...

Connect Hopefully your group has a new face or two along with the familiar faces.   If there are new folks, share the covenant that you made last week together so that everyone is on the same page.   Spend some time talking together, and then focus in on this discussion together: This week, Pastor Kevin shared an illustration of a shopping mall as a site of worship.   Think in your life—how did you grow into being a consumer?   With what aspect of consumerism do you struggle? Pray You’re encouraged to use the cards again to look at the 5 Measures and their corresponding questions: Passionate: Where did I see God today? Accepting: How am I building diverse relationships? Invitational: Who am I connecting with God’s family? Trusting: Where does God rank? Active: How am I engaged with God’s work? As you think about this week’s topic of consumerism, you might all try to answer the question about how you are doing at Trusting God by askin...

Connect Take time as a group getting to know one another.   Some of your groups have people who know one another well, but every group has new people.   Some have been in a group before, and others have not.   Explore a few things together as a group: -Structure of each Connect Group time: Connect: Opportunity at the beginning to touch base and intentionally socialize.   This time is usually wrapped up with a question or a prompt that draws everyone together. Pray: This is the heart of a solid Connect Group, and what sets it apart from other types of study groups.   Time is spent reflecting upon the Measures of Passionate, Accepting, Trusting, Invitational, and Active, and then the group prays for one another during this time. Reflect: This is the time where the group reflects upon Sunday’s sermon and worship.   Time may be spent studying one of the Scripture passages, reading a related article, or following up on an aspect that could not be...