Culture in Community
About this theme
As COVID-19 restrictions start to be relaxed we want to encourage the church to make friends, have fun and build community. We will be looking at our culture words - Authentic, Honouring, Generous and Courageous - through the lens of building friendships and community, post lockdown.
Why are choosing to explore this theme?
We are designed for Community. God said in Genesis 2:18 ‘it is not good for man to be alone’ and God himself has been in common unity with Jesus and the Holy Spirit forever! The early church were hot on being together, (Acts 2:42) devoting themselves through community to God. This is what we need to recover - face to face and not just on Zoom!
We have missed a relational connection which helps our wellbeing and enables us to flourish as human beings.
Many people are not sure about reconnecting and we want to gently encourage steps of faith back into community and towards God and growth once again.
The government has now said that we are able to see people in the flesh again - with some guidelines.
This is a once in lifetime opportunity to go deeper in our communities and to demonstrate our faith.
What do we hope to help people achieve through this theme?
We hope to help you reconnect and connect with new people using the governments road map out of COVID. Here are some of the ways we hope to see connection:
Seeing family and friends face to face again.
Encouraging others back into church community and becoming true community again.
New people being added into Life and DNA groups.
Helping and blessing others outside church family who are isolated and lonely.
New unsaved friendships being made. This is key to our vision of seeing lives transformed every day across the bay.
To see gifts of hospitality flourish and community builders rise up.
How are we going to achieve these connections?
By looking at our culture and how this can be worked out in friendships and then leaving room for Life Groups to put this into practice led by the Holy Spirit.
Through Life Groups and DNA Groups - which are so important in this season. Our rhythms of story, bless, eat, recreate, celebrate and listen are exactly right for this time.
By utilising the government road map which has given us a progressive way back to socialising safely.
By nudging those we haven’t seen for a while and asking if they are ok, would like to meet up, or offer any help.
By promoting the biblical gift of hospitality.
Week 1
Introduction: Getting back into community
Questions
Watch the video above and answer the following questions in your groups:
Why does God want us to be in community?
Evaluate where you are at with your current friendships and relationships? Include categories of Church friends, family, unsaved friends, neighbours, colleagues etc.
How do you personally feel about getting back into community?
What are some of the things you could do individually and as a group over the coming months to enhance and build friendship and community? Have a brain storm and begin a process of planning for the next months to make sure some of your ideas actually happen!
Who do you know in church life that you have not heard or seen much of during this lockdown? How could you draw them into community?
What gifts/talents do you have in your group that could facilitate drawing people into community?
How can you each individually, and then as a group, cultivate friendships with those far from God?
Are there people you know outside of church that don't have friends or community and how could you include or bless them in this season?
Community building ideas
While ensuring that you are staying within government guidelines, here are some quick community building ideas:
Visiting restaurants, and coffee shops
Watching the Citygate Sunday livestream and eating breakfast together
Chill and chat in or outside as permitted
Pubs
Walks
BBQ’s
Beach
Watching or playing sports
Gamesnight
Worship - with or without a fire pit
Praying for one another
Blessing the unsaved
Week 2
Culture words: authentic and honouring
Watch the videos below and use the questions/suggestions below to aid discussion and growth in your groups. Feel free to shape the conversation according to the needs of your group.
Authentic
Discuss as a group what you think it might look like to be authentic, firstly in how you relate to God. Can you think of examples of where we see the authenticity of Jesus, and the authentic way in which he relates to Father? Are you really real when you talk to him, do you feel able to be completely honest with him about your thoughts, struggles, fears, temptations, hopes, dreams and how you feel about others etc?
Eireana said that when we are real & authentic we release permission for other people to be real and authentic too, can you think of some examples of how the authenticity of others has helped you be more real, or how your courage to be honest about something has given freedom to others in this way?
How about authenticity with others, do you find it challenging or effortless to let your guard down with others, how do you feel about allowing others to get to know the real you? Are there certain situations or particular types of people with whom you find it hard to be authentic? Do you need to take on Eireana's encouragement to 'dig deep into your identity in Christ' and do you maybe need to ask for help with this?
Talk about what it might look like to be authentic with others who don't know or believe in Jesus yet. Either as individuals or as a group are there things you could change to help others see you working out your faith in your lives? As we come out of lockdown, who are you reconnecting with, again either individually or as a group, with whom you can authentically share your life and maybe have an opportunity to share with them who Jesus is and the difference he has made to you?
Honouring
How are you doing with 'honouring God' (esteeming Him above all else and anyone else) as individuals and as a group?
How are you doing in understanding Gods honouring and valuing of you personally? Do you think you have grasped the sense of God's acceptance and value of you, or are you seeking honour & value elsewhere? Do you still need Spirit to bring revelation of how much Father honours and values you?
Lastly, how about honouring others; how are you doing with honouring and valuing the others in your group, others at Citygate, your family, your unsaved friends, neighbours, colleagues etc? Tim mentioned time, words and actions as ways of honouring others. As a group how can you show honour/value to the community around you as we come out of lockdown and seek to enhance and rebuild friendship and community?
Week 3
Blessing our community: Safe Families
Watch the video from Camilla at Safe Families then use the discussion suggestions and questions to guide your time together. Please remember to shape the conversation as relevant to the context of your group.
Take some time in individual quiet reflection to think about; when has somebody blessed you, when have they strengthened your arm? This can be both large or small. What was the impact of this on your life when you were struggling? There may well be more than one occasion this has happened. By way of encouragement, take time to share these testimonies with each other in the group as appropriate.
Last year our theme was 'Being a Blessing' but in our current year's theme of 'Restoring the Broken' we want to continue to look at what it means to be a blessing, as a way of seeing the broken restored. There are many ways your group can be a blessing and live out our Citygate culture within the community of Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole. Maybe you already have an idea you are exploring, or a people group, charity, workplace or area where your group is being intentional about planning opportunities to bless, encourage and support? If so we would love to hear about what you are trying or doing so that we can be praying for you. If this is the case, use the rest of the evening for brainstorming, planning and praying for the ideas or plans that you already have.
If you haven't yet identified a specific way your group can collectively live out our culture within the community, then take some time this evening to talk this through and aim to make a decision about who, what or where your group will target their showers of blessing in the coming months/years. Citygate is partnering with several organisations other than Safe Families, here is a reminder of the groups with which you could get involved:
Transform
Have a look at their pages as a group if you've not done so already, and decide if your group can be a blessing to one of these missional partners. Or maybe seeing the film from Camilla tonight, your group are excited about making a commitment to supporting Safe Families.Think and decide to whom and how you are going to commit your support going forward and set out a plan of action with members of your group as to who is doing what and by when etc. Group leaders please set a date to follow up, check in, etc with how plans are shaping up and with regular times to pray about the blessing opportunities you are planning or committing to as a group. Remember there are many ways you can be a blessing:
practical helps/skills - doing or teaching
one anothering and giving a listening ear
financial contributions - working together to financially support a charity or to give to a specific need
praying
using your creative gifts
fundraising
and many more ideas - please look at individual groups above to see how they need support
5. Lastly pray pray pray, and remember, don't worry about failing! This is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate the love of the Father and the goodness and grace of his kingdom.
We are so excited to hear forthcoming stories of how your group is living our culture in the community, so please let us know to whom you are targeting your blessing and how you get on. We look forward to hearing your progress.
Week 4
Culture words: generous and courageous
Watch the videos below and use the questions/suggestions following to aid discussion and growth in your groups. Feel free to shape the conversation according to the needs of your group.
Generous
Read together Matt 6:19-24. It may be a familiar passage so why not read it in some other translations, you could try The Amplified Version and The Passion Translation, to help breathe fresh life into Jesus' words here.
Sean speaks about time, treasure and talents. Discuss as a group, are you aware that being generous is not just about finance but about these other areas. Talk about when someone else has blessed you or encouraged you because of sharing a particular gift or talent with you or by giving up their time to help you with something. Maybe you have unused talents or gifts that could be used to bless someone else, or bless the community around you in some way?
Jesus' priority is your heart. If living generously is a megaphone to a world enslaved in greed and self interest what does a 'culture of generosity' look like (Sean gives some great examples). Do you think your group lives a culture of generosity? Is there room for improvement? Could you be more generous as a group (either with your time, talents or treasures), with one another, with the church community or with those around you with whom you connect individually or as a group?
Are you someone who likes to or is able to invest or save, maybe you have a pension or assets etc, discuss as a group what it might look like to invest in heaven and eternity. Sean makes the statement that we are 'the Kings asset managers on earth' discuss this statement within your group, what do you think this means or looks like in practise? Are you being a faithful asset manager for the King? Where are you storing your treasures, do you need to adjust the balance and invest more in eternity?
Take away
Set aside some time in the near future (book it into your diary to ensure you commit to it) to review the following; your banking app, your debit or credit card statement and your diary or calendar. What do these show you about what you treasure most, ask Holy Spirit to show you if you need to make some adjustments - is Christ the Lord over your time, talents and treasures or is money your master? Share with a trusted friend, maybe your DNA group, so you can ensure you don't come under condemnation but so you can be accountable in the areas where change might be needed.
Courageous
Read Hebrews 11:1-16 & Joshua 1:1-9
Courage doesn't mean you don't get afraid, courage means you don't let fear stop you. We need courage for the other 3 culture words: authenticity, honouring and generosity but Russ also talks about other areas for which we need courage. Discuss where you think God is calling you to grow in courage individually and as a group;
being authentic
being honouring
being generous
using a spiritual gift in or out of church
to pray for the sick
to say sorry
to make friends, being the first to have a conversation with someone we don't know
to tell people about Jesus and the good news we have in him
2. Share together stories of when you have been courageous either as a group or individuals, and when others have shown courage to you and the impact this has had on you, use the list in Q1 to prompt your memory.
3. What is stopping you from being courageous in any or all of these areas? Maybe you stepped out in courage before but things didn't work out as you hoped so you have become cynical, or have allowed disappointment to take root or have stopped believing that God can and wants to use YOU to impact the world around you? Maybe outcome is the problem, are you more concerned with the outcome, do you need to have a deeper understanding that it's your obedience that matters to Father, not the outcome? Or do you just need more Holy Spirit presence and power? Talk about these things in your time together.
Take away
Write down 1 thing you need to change in order to live more courageously, maybe your first step in this direction is to share what you have written with your group, then keep each other accountable; use your Whatsapp chat to share your progress and remind each other to keep praying, maybe have a progress catch up in your DNA groups? Whatever you do, be courage buddies for one another, spurring each other on to love and good deeds, Hebrews 10:24.
Prayer
These are super challenging topics so take some time to pray together.
Pray that Holy Spirit would speak to you about generosity, ask him to reveal if your hearts need realigning, to show you if you have unused talents or gifts that could bless others. Ask him to show you how as a group you could grow in generosity.
Pray about being the King's asset managers, ask Holy Spirit to show you how you can grow in this area. Ask Spirit to show you if you have the right balance in terms of where you place your investments.
Pray for one another about courage, do you need to repent of cynicism, or unbelief, or confess your disappointment with or focus on outcome? Do you need to repent of believing the lie that God can't or doesn't want to use you to impact the world around you? Receive Father’s grace and full forgiveness, and let him fill you with his love afresh.
Pray to be filled anew with the Spirit's powerful presence and that he will fill you with courage to live the life he's calling you too as a Kingdom Bringer!