Plugged in
Jesus said “The thief [the devil] comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. ”He wasn’t joking. He is the one who made the world and made us. He knows why we’re here, how we work and what we need. Jesus is the only one who can make sense out of life and make life work.
Jesus doesn’t just offer us hope when we die, he teaches us how to live lives of joy, love and significance in this world. The Christian life is meant to be lived in moment by moment friendship with the Living God and to bring a foretaste of heaven to the broken and hurting world around us. When we’re born we need to grow and learn to how to live in the world. In the same way when we’re born again spiritually we need to learn how our new life works. It’s God who causes us to grow,but he does so with our willing involvement. These studies will help you get to grips with how to build a strong and secure friendship with God himself and to make an impact for him wherever he takes you.
Life Online Studies
Rock SolidTo build strong relationships you need confidence about where you stand with the other person. When it comes to God, many Christians are unsure about their relationship with him or whether they’ll make it to heaven. What do you understand makes someone a Christian?
Clean SlateWhat do you understand by the word sin? As Christians we're forgiven but we still struggle with sin. What struggles have you experienced since you became a Christian? How have you dealt with them?
Getting ConnectedGod does not want us to be isolated as Christians. When we invited Christ into our lives we were born into God’s family. He’s our Father and other believers are our brothers and sisters. His purpose is to build a people who share their lives and his love in such way that his glory is displayed to the world. This community is at the heart of God’s eternal plan. We belong to one another and need each other in order to grow as Christians.
Staying Online Part OneGod wants to share his heart with us and for us to share our heart with him. Through the Bible we grow in our understanding of him and how life works. Through prayer we share our everyday life and ourselves with him. What’s been your experience of reading the Bible?
Staying Online Part TwoCommunication is foundational to any relationship. Prayer is simply communicating with God. What are the roles of communication in a human relationship? How are these reflected in a relationship with God? What’s been your experience of prayer? What answers to prayer have you seen?
New I.D.To be confident in a friendship with someone, you need some idea about who they are, how they see you and how they’ll respond to you. When it comes to your relationship with someone as big and powerful as God, it’s even more important. How do you think God feels about you? What do you think that God would say about his relationship with you?
Travelling LightTo be a disciple of Jesus means to follow him and to learn from him how to live our every day life as he did. This isn't easy because the Bible pictures the Earth as a war zone and we face opposition. We must learn to apply our faith to our daily circumstances and relationships.
Bigger PictureThe world’s a sinking ship but God’s heart is to save a people from it to be with him for eternity. As his children, God wants us to be involved with the things that are important to him. Jesus’ last words on the earth were to tell us to be witnesses for him throughout the world. A witness is someone who tells others what they have seen, heard and experienced. If you’ve known Jesus for 10 minutes or 50 years, then you can be a witness for him.
Using the Studies
Living Online has been designed to be used with other people, either one-to-one or in a small group. It’s probably most effective in groups of 3-5. The following tips will help you use it with others:
- Pray before you meet up with the others that God will speak to you as you study.
- Study one lesson each time you meet up. It helps if everyone has the same translation of the Bible. The Scripture verses we have used as headings are from the NIV.
- There’s a lot more to the lessons than simply “the right answers”. They give the group the opportunity to share honestly with each other about themselves and their friendships with God. Give each person the opportunity to answer the questions that ask about their experience, e.g. ‘What’s been your experience of prayer?’ Your role as leader is to help the group explore the ideas on the study, not present lots of extra information.
- The questions are designed to help everyone take steps forward. They’re not an examination or a “performance review”. Honesty happens in an environment of acceptance – the group needs to feel free to admit failure and their struggles without being rejected. Be careful to affirm anyone who shares something personal. Try to draw out quieter members of the group by asking them open questions that cannot be answered yes or no, e.g. “what do you think, Simon?” If someone may be considering sharing something more personal, you can help them by giving the opportunity to say more, e.g. “can I ask why this has been a difficult week for you?”
- Try and avoid setting up a “teacher” and “student” dynamic. You can do this by coming to the group with the attitude of wanting to learn together from the Bible passages and studies. Get different members to read out the paragraphs between questions, and to read out the scriptures. Each person brings their own set of thoughts, experiences, circumstances and assumptions to your time together, and the Bible will therefore impact them differently. Be open to receiving new insights from the Holy Spirit as you study together, even if you’ve done the studies before. If something comes up which is blatantly error or heresy, correct them gently.
- After the first study, take time together at the start of each session to review the previous study.
- Tackle any questions and share with each other how you’ve found trying to apply what you learnt. Living Online aims to do more than just teach the basic principles for Christian living; it provides a context to get to know each other, share joys and struggles and learn to walk together as God’s people. Accountability and friendship are really important. After you’ve finished each lesson take time to pray about the application of what you’ve learnt and for each other. The impact of the studies and of your time together will be much greater if you’re developing your friendship and having fun together beyond the time which you meet to study.
- During your prayer times, encourage the group to pray for their friends. This helps keep the group outward-focussed. The course isn’t completed when the nine lessons are finished — suggest to the group that if Living Online has been helpful for them, they could think of people they might be able to encourage by going through the lessons with. Each group member will learn the content in a much deeper way by taking others through the studies; being the leader encourages them to think through and apply content more thoroughly! This is also the way to train more leaders and reach more people. · The person who set up the group should lead the first two sessions to model how to do it.
- After that, each of the group members should take it in turns to lead each session. After the end of each session, the group can evaluate the leader to help them to grow in their skills. There are two categories of feedback, things they did well and areas to develop. In order to encourage the leader using the above points reflect 5 things they did well and 2 areas to develop.
“…the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” 2 Timothy 2v2
* Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. a member of the Hodder Headline Plc Group. All rights reserved. "NIV" is a registered trademark of International Bible Society. UK trademark number 1448790.
