Additional DIscussion Ideas!

This Sunday's sermon was on Soul Care, not necessarily EBC's small group ministry, but rather the church's responsibility to care for one another's souls.

The note sheet has some initial discussion questions.

So here are some additional things you can talk with your group about...

The Ministry of the Pew!  Read the following article together and talk about the questions at the end. http://matthiasmedia.com/briefing/1994/03/factotum-1-the-ministry-of-the-pew/

Seven Ways to Become a Better Sermon Listener.  Read the following article together and talk about how you can help one another become better sermon listeners.  http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/7-ways-to-become-a-better-sermon-listener

How to be a small group member.  Read the following article and discuss how you as individuals and a group can do each of these 5 things better.  http://matthiasmedia.com/briefing/2006/02/how-to-be-a-small-group-member/  

No notes but obvious discussion topics

As noted in last week's Soul Care notes, there are no Soul Care notes for December.

If your group is meeting this week here are some suggestions for this week.

Remember, God is the greatest gift you could ever receive.

• How has or can your life show this?
• How can you make much of God this Christmas season?
• List ways that you can honor God each day, from small to big ways.
• Watch the following 28 minute video by John Piper  http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-blazing-center-part-1

Check blog.emmanuelbaptist.com  for prayer and Bible study resources.
Today's post is specifically about praying for Senior Saints and Shut-ins.

A great devotional to read and discuss is the first advent reading from John Piper,
http://solidjoys.desiringgod.org/en/devotionals/prepare-the-way

Who's on First? resources

I have used this graphic on the church blog and social media pages.
You can share this on your own social media pages.



Also, I have posted resources on the church blog at
blog.emmanuelbaptist.com/category/soul-care/

Great Human Tragedy!!

Here are two blog posts that could be a help to you and your group members related to your group.

"Glorify God?  What do that mean?"
http://blog.emmanuelbaptist.com/glorify-god-what-does-that-mean/
To help you and your group consider how you pray individually and in groups.

Gospel Growth
http://blog.emmanuelbaptist.com/gospel-growth/
To help you and your group understand what Soul Care and other ministries are.

Great Human Tragedy
http://blog.emmanuelbaptist.com/great-human-tragedy/
To review the 4 W's Dr. Lee shared on Sunday.

Here are some suggestions for your group time.

• Pray for the Lost:  Dedicate some time to pray passionately for those who don't know Jesus Christ as their Savior.  If you understand the seriousness of sin and Hell, it will really challenge you to think how you pray. 
• Time for Thanksgiving:  Take time to worship God by sharing people you are thankful for.
• Think ahead:  Discuss some ideas you and your group can begin to increase our gospel influence in our church and in our world.  Two specific things you can think about this week and future weeks.    How can your group multiply its impact on others outside of your current group and at EBC?  How can your group serve our community?  

 Hope these are helpful ideas.

Adam & Jesus (11.08)

Check back throughout the week for more helps.

"According to the passage" questions are reading observation questions.  (Head questions)

Adam

brought condemnation.

bad

Action Resulted in death

Failed to honor the Word of God

Jesus

brought justification.

so much better:

Action Resulted in life

Christ is greater.

Christ is stronger.

Christ conquers 

Christ overcomes.

After reading the passage and answer these questions, you could ask group members to list out other differences between Adam and Jesus.

These questions provide more than an opportunity to list out factual statements

These questions provide a great opportunity to consider our sinfulness and celebrate Christ's righteousness 

How should Christ's great obedience encourage you in your struggle against sin this week? (Heart question)

I should want more of Jesus, not deliverance from circumstances.

You can discuss how this should impact how you pray.

Consider what the the Gospel IS DOING today in this world.  

In what ways do you see life reigning over death in your life? (Hand question)

Check out this article on a proper perspective throughout life.

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/worship-on-a-bad-day

"When you know how the story ends, everything changes."

Several of this past week's 9:00 am Bible Teaching classes went along with the sermon.
In the Young Adults Ephesians class we were studying chapter 6 and were reminded that...
Employees: Work THROUGH , LIKE and FOR Christ.
Employer: Lead THROUGH , LIKE and FOR Christ.

In the Ten Questions classes, people were reminded that a growing person is quicker to forgive.  These are two specific questions to consider:  Are you ready to forgive? and Do you need to initiate the process of forgiveness with anyone?

The Benefit of Sharing the Benefits of Being God's People

Prayer Helps:
Military:  You should have received your military assignment this past week in your mailbox.  If you didn't I am emailing them to the group leaders.
Fighter Verses:  Trying Psalm 118:5 - 8 to start out your prayer time.  

This week's sermon and discussion time provide a great opportunity for you and your group to talk about God and the amazing gifts we have in Christ.  The mere reading of Romans 5:1 - 11 should stir up some excitement and passion in you and your group members.  And if it doesn't you have some serious heart issues to discuss.


My tips are in red!

A great way to do the first two questions are to have everyone write down their answer and then have individuals read what they wrote to the group.

Read Romans 5:1—11 out loud.  This will really help those who were not in the service because of absence or service.

According to the passage and Romans 5 sermons what benefit’s are there to being God’s people?

This is a HEAD (knowledge) question.  You should have people look at the Bible and find a verse for their answer.

Everyone should have similar answers.

Because of these benefits, what are some practical ways God’s people should live?  Think  attitude change and action steps.

This is a HAND (action) question.  Have people think about really practical, actionable, measurable things.  

How should you live differently in light of these benefits?

This could be used as a HEART (passion) question.  What do I need to desire more in this life, not just this week.  It could connection with the previous question but this would be a more general lifestyle.

On the back of the notes, I put part of our sermon discussion training notes for every to understand the purpose of Soul Care.  You should remind people of the purpose of Soul Care each week.  

Sermon—Based, Life Changing Discussion

Here are some tips the Soul Care leaders learned this summer on how to kill their groups discussion time.

1. Don’t READ THE BIBLE PASSAGE.  While we say our groups are sermon-based, we really want them to be Bible-directed.

2. Don’t MAKE IT PERSONAL.   We don’t want groups to merely share information.  We want them to share life.

3. Always STICK TO THE SCRIPT.  The questions provide a guide for the leaders but the goal is not to get through every question.

Soul Care meetings should challenge each group member to live differently because of what God has done.

You can share on social media how you have been challenged by using
#EBCdiscipleship

Here is the "Banning Bible Studies" link.  

This article is a great reminder of what we are doing in Soul Care.

https://davidwhiting.today/2012/02/banning-bible-studies-northridge-church.html

Ayuadame! Hilf mir! aide moi! Help me!

There are many different ways to say "help me."
There are many different kinds of help you may need in leading your group!
This is why I am trying to use different methods to help you grow as a leader and stay connected.
The first part of this post (the blue section) is about the blog.
The second part of this post (the red section) is about emails.



The right sidebar of this blog has many different links to help you out.

Arena Info:  By clicking on this link you will see all the posts related to how to use Arena for attendance 

EBC blog:  This link will take you to the church blog which has posts for everyone related to the Fighter Verses, the sermon and spiritual growth. The memory verse posts might be very help in connecting that week's fighter verse with someone you can do in your Soul Care group. 

Spiritual Disciplines:  This is a post related to the study several of the 9:00 am classes are doing.  These 10 questions are good evaluation questions for you group 

Labels:  By clicking on a specific label you go to posts connected with that topic.  Most of them are self explanatory.

The additional tags on the top (Multiplying Your Group & New Groups) have information to help our Soul Care ministry grow.  

Multiplying Your Group:  This tab will take you to some ideas on how to grow and multiply your groups. 

New Groups:  Clicking on this tab, you will read about the value of starting new groups not just repopulating existing ones.

You should be receiving at least 3 different types of emails from EBC each week.

Prayer Email:  Each week,  you should be receiving at least one email from Norma with updated prayer requests.  It is usually sent out on Wednesdays.  We are no longer printing paper copies.  The paper prayer sheets at the church our monthly prayer guides.  If you are not getting this email, you can be put on the list by emailing Jane Lee (jlee@emmanuelbaptist.com

Soul Care Leader Email:  I try to send out at least one email a week specifically to Soul Care leaders. 

Church family email:  On Thursday or Friday, Lauri sends out an email designed to help you prepare for Sunday and stay informed with what is going on at EBC.

Letter that is in your letter loft box- with an addition.

Thanks for your ongoing ministry in this and other areas.

Here is the note you should have had in your letter loft box today:

SERMON DISCUSSION:  This week’s Soul Care notes have 2 questions that have your group looking at an additional passage from the sermon, James 1:2-5.

Additionally, I was talking with one leader about how to help his quiet group talk more.  This week's Soul Care notes have two built in questions to help with that.
For the two James 1:2-5 questions, you might want to give EVERYONE about 2 minutes to write down their answers (if they already did that tell them to pray the passage for 2 minutes).  Then have EVERYONE read the answer they wrote down.  Don't add to the answer.  You could even let them know you are doing this to encourage everyone to actively participate in the discussion time. 

PRAYER: This week’s Fighter verse is a great way to start off your prayer time.  You can go to blog.emmanuelbaptist.com and read the post entitled “God has made known His might among the peoples” for some help in making this connection.

SERMON NOTES: On the prayer side of the notes, I am going to put some reminders about Soul Care’s purpose.  This will be over the next four weeks and will reflect the main points of the four summer training times.

This week I am going to be posting some observations at soulcare-disciplemaking.blogspot.com about our first two months of Soul Care.
Be sure to check that site on Tuesday.

Grace comes from God, so... Soul Care Leader Note (10.07)

Hopefully you received the prayer update email 

If you don't know who this week's missionaries are 
email (drodgers@emmanuelbaptist.com) or text (419.617.9555)


ICEBREAKER:
I put this in the Soul Care notes for fun.

If you so choose, begin your Soul Care time by singing that great, deeply theological song “Father, Abraham.”  

If you don’t know the song go to  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o_J30x6E6s

or listen to it here.
Should have told Sunday night groups if they did this to send pictures!

DISCUSSION HELP:  
If salvation were by human effort, we could boast.  Since salvation is all of grace, what is the proper response of the redeemed?

• WORSHIP
• SINGING:  
• Reflect on the songs we sang this week.  You can see them at http://blog.emmanuelbaptist.com/songs-for-sunday-october-4th-2015/
• Prepare for this next Sunday by realizing worship is not about my preferences.  It is about God glorifying 
• PRAYER:  
• Pray Biblical prayers that are focused on God and thankful for what He has done for us through Jesus.  
• BIBLE READING:  
• Read God's word with the purpose of knowing God and Jesus more.  
• DAILY LIVING:
• Looking for how to bring God glory and honor in everything you do.
• THANKFULNESS
• REFLECTION
• Pray, Journal and/or think about the many blessings you have in Jesus Christ.  A helpful resource for this is The Gospel Primer.
• SHARING
• Talk with others about what God has been doing in your life.  Encourage other believers with the mighty works of God.   Clearly share the Biblically-based, life-changing Gospel with those who don't know Jesus.  

Your group could probably come up with more.

What can your group do during your meeting this week to celebrate this amazing grace?

Look above and think about ideas: 
Share your testimonies.
Sing songs if you and your group cannot sing use the songs on blog.emmanuelbaptist.com for songs.
Pray.

What can your group do in future meetings to celebrate this amazing grace?

PRAYER HELP:

This month’s ministry focus is our church and other churches.

Take some time as a group to pray for Emmanuel Baptist Church. 

Remember prayers of adoration (praising God for who He is), thanksgiving (praising God for things He has done), supplication (asking God for his provisions).

If you want to share what you were praying with others you can email some of your prayer items to soulcare@emmanuelbaptist.com or post them on social media using #EBCDiscipleship

How to change an established group

For the Soul Care Questions, click HERE.

Here are a couple of excerpts from a good article about change in your small group.  It is written specifically for small group leaders.  As I was reading through the article I kept thinking about how true these things are and how much I believe them.
Gospel growth EQUALS change for God's glory.
Gospel  growth DOES NOT EQUAL maintaining status quo for comfortablity.

Yet the gospel equals change even for the most established and highly functional groups.  This is because the gospel and change go hand in hand.  Paul wrote in Colossians how the gospel has gone into the whole world and "is bearing fruit and increasing" (Col. 1:6).  For the Colossians, this meant more people believing and more believers growing in maturity.  For Paul, this gospel growth meant a life of almost constant change as he traveled from place to place an sent away dear friends such as Titus and Tychicus for gospel ministry (2 Tim. 4:10-12).  The gospel and change go hand in hand. 

For us today this means that gospel-driven change will sometimes or often be necessary for our established groups.  It could be because the regular leader has gone to Bible college or on overseas mission or because new people have joined your church and new groups are needed or because a new ministry has started and people are keen to be involved.  There's all sorts of ways the gospel compels us to change our groups.

Here are four practical tips to help make changes well and overcome obstacles.  These are just the main points the full article develops each in more detail:

1. Respect and work closely with the pastor or leader who wants to change things.
2. Preach the gospel to your group.
3. Grieve the losses and celebrate the opportunities.
4. Work with your pastor to manage the change as best you can.

Click HERE for the entire article.

Soul care questions for September 27

Take some time to answer one or two of these questions

Romans 4
Why is it important to reject self boasting?
We all struggle with self boasting. Leaders: you can ask your group what are some personal ways they have relied on themselves and boasted in themselves. How can we fight against self boasting?

Psalm 32
What are the blessings of joy found in this psalm?

Proverbs 4:23, 24
God's righteousness through faith is the ground for our heart surrendered obedience. How and why do we do the things in this week's verse

A Great Question to ask is "How did this Bible teaching make you feel?"

O.K.  I have spoken to Soul Care leaders and Bible teachers about how bad the question "What does this passage mean to  you?" is.
Why is this a bad question:  What the passage means to me is not the big question to ask in Bible study.
The questions should be "What did the writer mean?" and "How does it apply to me?"

So, if "What does the passage mean to you?" is a bad question,
why do I think "How did this Bible teaching make you feel?" is a good question.

At the Biblical Counseling Conference this weekend we were reminded that
feelings reveal desire.  
If you ask, "how did this Bible teaching make you feel?" merely to satisfy your own curiosity or to make you feel better about yourself and your teaching than it is wrong.
If you ask the question to see what is going on in someone's heart, it is a good question

If a person answers the question by focusing on themselves and their circumstances,
there is a focus problem.  The Bible was not written for our entertainment.  Sermons are not preached to win the praise of men.
If a person answers the question with an expectant joy that can be know only through Christ, 
there is a God-focused life.  The Bible was written to show God's glory.  Sermons are preached to proclaim the glory of God.

"How did this Bible teaching make you feel?"  provides a great opportunity to expose the big desires in someone's life.  

Soul Care Email sent 09.15.15 with some additional info in RED!

This blog post (email) contains information you will want to sure you check out because people in your group will have questions about changes to prayer sheets and other things.

At the end of this email I included some people who asked about being in groups.  Who can you invite to join your group?

This week is the start of our Soul Care Groups!

• Thank you for your response to the training this summer.  Almost every leader received training on at least 3 of the 4 topics.  The training pdfs are available HERE 
• Encourage Godly men in your group to take the NEXT STEP and lead a group.  If you have someone in your group who could be a leader, email me.  In thinking through and reading about small groups ministries, I am more convinced that these settings provide a great environment to develop leaders.
• Several groups met last week to get together for fellowship and reconnection.  That is a great way to reconnect and build some community.
• If you didn’t pick up Soul Care notes for this week, you can find them at www.emmanuelbaptist.com/adults.   This week I have put a Soul Care Question Sheet with some discussion helps for your HERE.
• We want to help each person grow in their spiritual discipline of Bible memory.  You can find out more at http://blog.emmanuelbaptist.com/biblememory/   The Fighters Verses have weekly devotionals and resources to help people learn these verses.
• We want to help each person grow in the spiritual discipline of prayer.  We have modified our prayer sheet from a weekly sheet to a monthly sheet in order to help people grow in this.  You can find out more at  http://blog.emmanuelbaptist.com/category/prayer/.  TYou will get or you may have questions about why we changed from a weekly sheet to a monthly sheet.  I am providing this brief explanation to help you understand for yourself and explain to others some of the reasons.  If you or someone in your group has questions, please have them contact me by calling the church or emailing drodgers@emmanuelbaptist.com.   

The challenge with doing a monthly prayer sheet instead of a weekly sheet is keeping the "information" up to date.  One of the attitudes I pray would develop is that these sheets would be seen more as helpful guides to help people focus on God as they prayer for people rather than a list of hospital updates and details.   

• With the change from weekly to monthly, every Soul Care leader is going to be added to a prayer update list.  Recent and updated prayer items will go out twice a week to people on this list.  You can encourage your group members to sign up by emailing or contacting Jane Lee (jlee@emmanuelbaptist.com)

I sent out SOME GROUP INFORMATION for Members and Welcome Class attenders who asked specifically about Soul Care.  If you didn't receive this email, please let me.

“Asked” doesn’t mean “do not ask.”  It only means they have been asked.

Being asked by more than one group is not a problem.  

Ron and Mary Farley really want to host one at their house.  They need a leader.  

Flaws of Biblical Proportion: New Soul Care Leaders

I want to continue to encourage you to pray for more and more leaders and assistant leaders.

Here are a couple of requirements for Soul Care leaders:
1.  a member of Emmanuel Baptist Church
2.  a member of a Soul Care group for at least 3 months
3.  a growing relationship with Jesus Christ
4.  a maturity and flexibility needed to lead a group
5.  a desire to see our Soul Care group ministry grow and multiply groups

Training Email from 08.19.15

Here is the email I sent out with additional thoughts in red

First of all, this week:
The last summer training times are Tonight, August 19, (7:00 in Room 201) and Sunday morning, August 23, (9:00 am in Room 201).

Tonight's training is #4:  Praying for and with Your Group.  Information about this topic will be posted later. 

Sunday morning we will be talking about
#3 Leading your Group (Another way to think of this is Discipling Disciplemakers.)

#4 Praying for and with Your Group

This Sunday's Bulletin Insert:
Here is some of the Information that will be on this Sunday's Bulletin Insert.   (I wanted to give you a heads up about what is going to be in the bulletin this Sunday)

NEXT STEP through SOUL CARE GROUPS
Meeting at different places and different times

What is Soul Care?
A Biblical Command:  See 1st Thess. 5:11; Heb. 10:24, 25, 1 Pt 4:8-10

Soul Care groups?   
What EBC uses to promote Soul Care.
Not the only place this happens but is a great NEXT STEP

What are Family Friendly Groups?  
Groups that connect families with children.  (Here is a resource from another church to help you understand what a Family Friendly Group is http://tinyurl.com/soulcarechildren1  It is my hope that every group LOVES families and would be friendly TOWARDS families but a Family Friendly Soul Care Group is determined to help families with kids connect with others in our church.   They will help families develop a plan to meet together.)

Sunday, August 30th @ 9:00:  NEXT STEP info meeting in room 201.

For more go to blog.emmanuelbaptist.com/nextstep 

This Summer's Bible Teaching Hour Study

Our Summer study "A Christ Centered Church" is a great Bible training time for everyone at EBC.  

The lessons have focused on not only what we believe about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Bible and the Church but also these truths should impact our lives.  

You can get the notes from the lessons at  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6weakwuh0uckg5y/AAAzAAJHfufp4o5AwNVWQarKa?dl=0

(One of the chapters in Christ Centered Biblical Counseling is about Transformational Small Group.  You can read a summary of this chapter at http://biblicalcounselingcoalition.org/blogs/2013/08/05/transformational-small-group-ministry-and-biblical-counseling/)

Soul Care Summer Calendar, for what is left of summer.

As summer comes to an end, we are gearing up for our fall ministries.  

I want to let you know that it is important that we get the year started with everyone on the same page,
  which is why we have had these FOUR summer training times,
  which is why it is important that EVERY Soul Care leader be at the training times,
  which is why I have set up some additional times for the training before the fall kick-off.

In July, I sent out an email stating that leaders needed to attend THREE of the FOUR training times.  Please make note of these training times.

This Sunday morning @ 9:00 am in Room 201.  Training Sessions #1 & #2 summary.
If you were not able to be at Session #1 – Overview or Session #2 – Sermon Discussion, PLAN to come to this summary session during the Bible teaching time. 

This Sunday night @ 6:00 pm and This Wednesday night @ 7:00 pm.  Final Training Session #4 on Prayer for and in your groups will be in Room 401.

Next Sunday morning, August 23, @ 9:00 am in Room 201.  Training Sessions #3 & #4 summary. If you were not able to be at Session #3 – Making Disciplemakers or Session #4 – Prayer for and in your group, PLAN to come to this summary session during the Bible teaching time.

On August 30 @ 9:00 am in Room 201, there will be a connection time for people to find out more about getting connected with a Soul Care group and/or a Bible Teaching Hour class.  There will be more information about this time next week. 

Notes from Cancelled Soul Care Leader Meeting

Sorry I wasn't able to have the Soul Care Leader meeting tonight!
Wasn't feeling well today!

Here are the notes from the meeting.

Soul Care Group Leader Training

EBC’s mission is Glorify God by making disciples who are

Submitted to His Lordship

Grounded in His Teaching

Sincere in His Love

EBC’s Soul Care ministry has been designed to cultivate, help grow disciples who are “sincere in His love.”

Here is another way to think of what Soul Care is about

In our Soul Care Groups we want people

  to share how they are growing in relationship to truths they have heard and

  to encourage one another to grow.

Pray we would be known as more than a church with a strong pulpit ministry but rather a church that is a congregation of believers living out strong teaching & preaching.

Remember the congregation’s responsibilities for preaching:

1. Responsibility for what preaching they support (Galatians 1, 2 Timothy 4:3; Revelation 2:17)

2. Responsibility to change (James 1:22)

3. Responsibility to help each other change (Ephesians 4)

Preaching that equips is not simply truth that we hear on Sunday, but truth that reverberates back and forth throughout the congregation all week long.

In Soul Care this happens through

sermon discussion that  is application focused.  See “Banning Bible Studies” article.

prayer that is personal, God-glorifying

Training #2:  Leading Sermon Discussions (07.19 @ 6:00 OR 07.22 @ 7:00)

Training #3:  Leading your group to become disciplemakers (08.02 

                             @ 6:00 OR 08.05 @ 7:00)

Training #4:  Praying with and for your group (08.16 @ 6:00 OR

                             08.19 @ 7:00)

  

Summer Leadership Training

The summer seems to be going quickly!  We are already starting to plan for fall ministries such as Soul Care.  

After reading this email, please respond to the questions andRSVP to Jane jlee@emmanuelbaptist.com about which training PIZZA or ICE CREAM you are planning to attend.

Looking back and looking ahead…

There have been some great relationships built and people growing through relationships and conversations in Soul Care Groups.  We want to thank God for what He is doing in and through those who attend EBC.

There have also been some challenges and difficulties as we continue with this ministry.  We want to prayerfully evaluate how we can improve our Soul Care Group ministry.

Your answers to the following questions will be helpful in improving our Soul Care Group ministry.  I would appreciate your answers to these questions, whether you have been a leader or are thinking about/planning to be a leader this fall.

• Are you planning to lead a Soul Care group next year?  Why or why not? ?

• What have been some blessings this past year you have witnessed in your Soul Care group?

• What have been some challenges this past year you have faced in your Soul Care group?

• What are some things you could do to improve your ministry fruitfulness this year?  (not just in Soul Care)

• What are some things I can do to help you improve as a Soul Care leader? 

Preparing for a new year of ministry…

We are going to have 4 different training times throughout the summer and 

there are going to be 2 different time options for each training, Sunday and Wednesday.

Training Topic #1:

Refocusing on Biblical Soul Care and a time of fellowship/encouragement with leaders and potential leaders.

Sunday, July 12, pizza lunch meeting after church Sunday morning in room 400.
Wednesday, July 15, ice cream meeting at 7:00 in room 400.

Please RSVP to Jane Lee by Thursday, July 9.

Training Topic #2:

Receiving and sharing helps for leading discussions. (Sunday, July 19 @ 6:00 OR Wednesday, July 22 @ 7:00)

Training Topic #3:

Leading your group to become disciplemakers (Sunday, August 2 @ 6:00 OR Wednesday, August 5 @ 7:00)

Training Topic #4:

Praying with and for your group (Sunday, August 16 @ 6:00 OR Wednesday, August 19 @ 7:00)

Please plan to come out to at least 3 of these topics. 

Thank you very much!

Bible Reading, Prayer and spiritual conversations (05.17)

Because of the question/answer nature of this week's sermon, there are no Soul Care notes.

Here are three suggestions for you as you lead your group...

1. BIBLE READING:  What are the marks of a true believer?  Read 1 John together out loud.  This can be done in  about 15 minutes and answer this question.  When Pastor Duke was talking about true believers he referred to this book several times.    You can use the questions on page 6 of http://matthiasmedia.com/Samples/otobr/OTOBR-Sheets-for-copying-US-letter.pdf to help with the Bible reading.  You don't necessarily need to do preparation before hand.  This is a read and think through exercise.
2. PRAYER:  Pray with the glory of God as the focus.  Here are some prayer focus questions to use.
1. How can you, individually, glorify God?
2. How can we, EBC, glorify God?  Think how you can work with others to help fulfill our mission.
3. How can God work in the lives of others specifically to bring Him glory?
3. DEEPER QUESTION:  Depending on where your group in openness, you could ask "Which one of these best describes you right now?  Why?"

• changing and growing
• not perfect but progressing
• failing but fighting
• desire to please God
• persevering in faith
• living outside the will of God and headed toward discipline

Are we that kind of church? (05.10.15)

You can always check to see what helps are posted for the whole church at http://blog.emmanuelbaptist.com/category/soul-care/

HERE IS THE MOST RECENT POST FOR THE WHOLE CHURCH REGARDING SOUL CARE DISCUSION.  

As we gather in our Soul Care Groups this week, let us encourage one another to fight sin.
As we meet together and grow in Christ this week and beyond, let us encourage one another to fight sin.

When you gather in your Soul Care groups, meet together with others from EBC and do family devotions, think about these 2 questions and 2 prayer challenges.

Think about these two questions,

1. What are the marks of a church that helps one another fight sin?  (Notice is not “What are the marks of a church that identifies sin in others and yells about?”)
2. Are we the kind of church that helps one another fight sin?

Here are two prayer challenges Pastor Duke shared in the sermon:

1. Pray that those who don’t believe will REPENT and BELIEVE.
2. Pray these truths will produce HOLY HUMILITY
   1. Thank God that He saved you
   2. Be reminded how easily we will fall away without Him
   3. Pray that this will help us deal with Christian complexity

Don’t forget the free ebook God is the Gospel by John Piper.  Click HERE to find out how to get a copy.

Prayer guide helps!!

Extended prayer focus times can be difficult but this post is full of ideas to help you with your prayer time.

Romans 1:21—24

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

While this past Sunday's message was great, sometimes there is a human tendency to respond to these truth like Eeyore from Winnie-the-Pooh.  “It’s all for naught.”  Poor me!
This is the song I referred to in the email "The dark is just a canvas for your grace and brightness."  Think about the trust from this passage and this sermon with God's glory in mind.

This Thursday is National Day of Prayer.
We want our Soul Care groups this week and every week
to focus on praying to the God who demonstrated His love by sending His Son to be our Savior

We don't gather together to focus on the problems of this world.
This does not mean foolishly closing our eyes and acting like there is nothing wrong.
It does mean choosing to focus on the King of Glory.

These questions and prayer items are meant to help focus your minds on God.  The links are resources you can use in group or private prayer times.

Based on Romans 1:21—24 and this week’s message, how would you answer this question:  What in the world is wrong with the world?
The problem in this world is that God is not worshipped by humans the way he should.
We are sinners.
The problem is not the circumstances I face, my biggest problem is me!  Your biggest problem is you!

As we remember what is wrong in this world, let's remember the truth in the month's memory verses for our children's ministry.

Philippians 4:12 & 13.
No matter what the circumstance, we find our strength and peace in Jesus Christ.

I must be content, satisfied in Jesus Christ, no matter the circumstances or situation in this life.

This week in Soul Care we want to focus on PRAYER FOR
OUR WORLD,
OUR COUNTRY,
OUR CHURCH and
OUR LIVES.

Take time do to the following:

10 minutes:  Answer these 3 questions:  Your group could probably talk about these all night.  Limit the time and encourage people to talk about these questions outside of your group time. 
- How have you honored God this last week?  Questions like this one and the next one should be difficult to answer because we don't want to seem arrogant and self-righteousness.  At the same time we should want to talk about how God's has glorified himself in us.

- How can you honor God this week?

- What can you thank God for this week?

10 minutes:  Prayer for our world

- Nepal.  http://blog.emmanuelbaptist.com/pray-for-nepal/

Read through parts or all of this article with your ear listening for prayer requests.  Here are some:
pray for the Hindus.  "Most of the people of the people hit by this tragedy in Nepal are Hindu." 
"Please join me in praying that this dark tragedy will open up new doors of ministry and make new ways for the hope of Jesus Christ to shine even more brightly in the nation of Nepal, bringing with it the message of hope, consolation and restoration."

- Unreached people group of the day http://joshuaproject.net/pray/unreachedoftheday
This is the website Pastor Duke referred to during the Missions conference.  You can use their other prayer resources.

10 minutes:  Prayer for our country

-  National Day of Prayer Guide.  http://nationaldayofprayer.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/30-Ways-to-Pray-Authority.pdf

Here is the National Prayer http://nationaldayofprayer.org/national-prayer/

-  This week's missionaries are Jack & Cindy Stumme,  He is a U.S. Army chaplain.  Pray for the Stumme and the military person that was assigned to your Soul Care Group.  Go to http://www.emmanuelbaptist.com/missions.php for more about the Stumme's and our other missionaries.

10 minutes:  Prayer for our church

-  Prayer Guide for Emmanuel Baptist Church. http://tinyurl.com/soulcareprayer

This contains 11 things you can be praying for EBC.
- Here are some specific prayer requests for pastors.  http://blog.emmanuelbaptist.com/tag/pastors/

Each week one of the pastors shares prayer requests on the prayer update page.  These requests can be found here.

Here are some prayer requests for pastors in general.  http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/how-to-pray-for-the-pastoral-staff

Close your time praying that each of you would be a testimony of God and His power.

How to use Soul Care blog resources

Click on the picture for a pdf version of this.

Group Resource: Sticky Church

In Sticky Church, Larry Osborne, pastor of North Coast Church, write about sermon based small groups.

He makes the point that most discipleship programs are very linear but most spiritual growth comes as a result of life putting us in "need-to-know or need-to-grow situation."

Osborne has a chapter entitled "How Small Groups Change Everything."  Some of the key points in this chapter are key thoughts for us to consider.  I am going to list some of his key points in italics with my thoughts following.

1. One of the measurements that tells how important small groups are to a church is the participation level of senior staff and key lay leaders.  Every pastor and almost every deacon is involved in Soul Care as a member and/or leader.
2. The second measurement is the percentage of adults who attend a small group the critical mass of a small group ministry is 40% to 60% of the average weekend adult attendance.  Our average Sunday service adult attendance has been around 550 and we have approximately 200 people in groups, which is 36%.
3. One thing that begins to happen when critical mass is reached is the demise of the Holy Man Myth - the idea that pastors somehow have a more direct line to God.  This myth cripples a church because it overburdens  pastors and under-utilizes the gifts of everyone else.
4. Another falsehood that loses its grips is the Holy Place Myth - the idea that God's presence is somehow great in some places than in others.  We can and should speak Biblical truth anywhere.  It doesn't need to happen only in church building.   
5. Another advantage is the number of opportunities for high-impact, life-on-life ministry.  More people are able to speak into more people's lives.
6. Small groups offer the best children's program.  Click HERE for more about this.

Prayer Helps

Check out this post on the church blog about prayer.
http://blog.emmanuelbaptist.com/praying-prayers-like-paul-a-call-to-spiritual-reformation/

Here is another suggestion for your groups prayer time...

PRAY WITH YOUR PENCIL IN HAND.

1. Don't take prayer requests
2. Go right to the prayer time and have people pray their own prayer requests.
3. Before prayer, remind people that they should write down other people's prayer requests as they are praying.  

Gospel Primer and Bible Study Helps

Four tools God uses to grow us spiritually happens through Bible reading, Biblical community, Biblical books and prayer.  This week’s Soul Care questions use these four resources.

BIBLE READING: 

Read Romans 1:1—15 together in your group. 

What was the main point of 1:1—7?  What are the connections between 1:1—7 and 1:8—15?

You can have more discussion than this but here is a good start. It helps develop the context of the passage we are studying (1:8-15).  This question is taken from the one to one reading plan.  http://matthiasmedia.com/Samples/otobr/OTOBR-Sheets-for-copying-US-letter.pdf on page 6.

Here is a simple way to think about this answer.God loved Paul.God called PaulPaul was eager to tell others about God's love demonstrated in Christ.

BIBLICAL COMMUNITY AND CONVERSATION:

From the sermon, four reasons why Christians need the Gospel:

1. Means to greater worship

2. Motivation to grow

3. Model to follow

4. Message that gives purpose

What is ONE way the Gospel has helped/could help you in ONE of these areas.

 This provides a great opportunity for people to talk about ways they have grown.  This could be encouragement to others.

This could also be an opportunity for confession.  You might want to have people write down their answers before sharing concisely. 

BIBLICAL BOOKS:

As a group read and discuss one of the following Gospel Primer topics.  These are available at http://blog.emmanuelbaptist.com/category/gospel-primer/

· Freedom from Sin’s Power from the Gospel Primer

· Perspective in Trials from the Gospel Primer

· My Inheritance in the Saints from The Gospel Primer

Leaders received study helps for each of these topics.

If you have never used The Gospel Primer here is a suggestion.Read the Bible passagesRead the Gospel Primer statementShare how the connection between the passage, statement and lifeHave a couple of people pray the truths in the passage and the statement