Session 1
Session 2
Session 3
Session 1
Session 1
Discussion
What do you think about when people or the Bible talk about being “called?”
How does that idea work for you personally?
Engage with Scripture
Read 1 Corinthians 1:1-3 out loud together. To help get a good understanding of the passage, try to describe what is happening or being said in your own words. Then take a moment to reflect and note down what stands out as important or significant, or really meaningful to you. Share your thoughts together.
Read Romans 1:1-7 out loud together. To help get a good understanding of the passage, try to describe what is happening or being said in your own words. Then take a moment to reflect and note down what stands out as important or significant, or really meaningful to you. Share your thoughts together.
Further Study (Optional)
Read 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 out loud together. To help get a good understanding of the passage, try to describe what is happening or being said in your own words. Then take a moment to reflect and note down what stands out as important or significant, or really meaningful to you. Share your thoughts together.
Read Galatians 5:13-14 out loud together. To help get a good understanding of the passage, try to describe what is happening or being said in your own words. Then take a moment to reflect and note down what stands out as important or significant, or really meaningful to you. Share your thoughts together.
Session 2
Session 2
Introduction
Your calling starts with the person God had in mind when He thought you up. You cannot succeed in what you do but fail in who you are.
Our understanding of this first dimension of our calling needs to go deep. Because then our service comes out of a sense of identity.
There is a way that this part of our calling is often expressed in Scripture, and it has to do with our names. In fact, the Greek word “to call” was the word that was used when a name was given to someone. In the ancient world, a person’s name was closely tied to their character – his or her identity.
Engage with Scripture
Read John 1:35-42 out loud together. To help get a good understanding of the passage, try to describe what is happening or being said in your own words. Then take a moment to reflect and note down what stands out as important or significant, or really meaningful to you. Share your thoughts together.
Engage with Scripture
Read Mark 3:13-19 out loud together. To help get a good understanding of the passage, try to describe what is happening or being said in your own words. Then take a moment to reflect and note down what stands out as important or significant, or really meaningful to you. Share your thoughts together.
Session 3
Session 3
Introduction
We are called to become what we are not yet. Only God can do that in us. We’re called to belong to the One to Whom we could never deserve to be called. He sees the good stuff in us that we don’t yet see. He sees the bad stuff in us that’s already there and to which we’re sometimes blind. And He calls us to become and He calls us to belong.
Then, out of that, we are called to serve. We are called to do God’s work. We are called to enter God’s service. We are called to use whatever little gifts, talents, brains, resources, time, energies – gifts that we received from Him in the first place – to partner with Him in a grand and glorious mission far bigger than our own little lives and our own little lifestyles.
Take some time to talk about what stood out as important or significant, or really meaningful to you, in what Dale said. What were Dale’s main points? What experiences of your own came to mind as he spoke? Were some of his insights helpful for you?
Discussion
Describe a time when you volunteered for something. What type of service did you do and for how long?
Has serving been a natural part of your experience or a strategic choice you’ve made?
Engage with Scripture
Read Acts 6:1-7 out loud together. To help get a good understanding of the passage, try to describe what is happening or being said in your own words. Then take a moment to reflect and note down what stands out as important or significant, or really meaningful to you. Share your thoughts together.
Read Ephesians 4:1-6 out loud together. To help get a good understanding of the passage, try to describe what is happening or being said in your own words. Then take a moment to reflect and note down what stands out as important or significant, or really meaningful to you. Share your thoughts together.
Project
Learning, growth and change happen through action. We learn as we act and serve. So here is a project to help you engage with service.
Based on what you’ve been talking about here, we’re going to take time to take our understanding of God’s character and attitude to our calling even further. There are a few different ways you can take your next step. Spend some time talking it through together and work out a meaningful way to take what you’re learning further.
- One key way we can move towards fulfilling our calling is to get more training. Discover some opportunities to train for ministry or leadership. That might include taking a greater role in your group, attending a leadership event or connecting with some leadership training in your church.
- Look for a key community need that could become a missional focus for you and some friends. Connect with a missional community leader to find a way forward in meeting these needs.
- Connect with LifeCare and take the opportunity to join the Love is a Verb course. It will help build your commitment to vulnerable people in our community.
- Create your own creative project to put into practice what you’re learning about your calling.