Welcome to this week's Group Study! This spring we're doing an 8-week block which began April 11 running through the week of May 30. The study series will spend three weeks in Luke & five weeks in Acts.
Start your time with a Check-in (about 15 minutes)
Opening question:
What does evangelism mean to you? How have you experienced it in your life?
inductive bible study (30-40 minutes)
Open your Bibles and begin with a prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to help you read God's word. Read the passage out loud once together and then silently once more on your own, noting your observations and questions. Then take a few minutes to share your observations and questions together.
Key Scripture: ACTS 6:8-15 (also reference Acts 1:1-8)
8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. 10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Take some time to answer a key question you've raised as a group and think through how the issues you've explored apply to your lives.
Take a moment after your Bible study to watch this video:
DISCUSSION (about 20 minutes):
1) Respond to this statement from the Bible Project video, “and to this day when someone hears the story of Jesus and experiences the love of God for all humanity, the most natural thing to do is to simply bear witness.” Do you agree or disagree? What do you find challenging about this statement?
2) Take a look at the 4 Styles of Evangelism from Love Thy Neighbourhood below and discuss it together. What styles appeal to you and why? Why do you think it's important that all 4 styles find expression in the church?
3) What are ways that as a Small Group we can encourage each other to bear witness to Jesus and support one another as we do so?
Close with a time of prayer.
