Groups Spring '19 - Week 3

Groups Spring '19 - Week 3

Greetings City Group Leaders,

We're hearing great reports of starting discussions in Mark. This week we are continuing our Mark series looking at Mark 12:38-40. We will focus on how faith in Jesus allows us to surpass the religion of the scribes. 

We've included a few reminders on this week's discussion guide. Most notably among them, our Faith and Work lunch is coming up this Wednesday, February 6th from 12:00-1:00 and Equip Classes start Sunday, February 10th. Please encourage your group members to sign up.

Thank you for you commitment to lead your groups and your service to our church.

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: 

Groups Spring '19 - Week 2

City Group Leaders,

Thank you for a great start to City Groups this semester! It has been SO encouraging to hear about so many “new to groups” people getting plugged in this past week. Don’t forget to take a selfie of your group and post to social media with #citygroupstally if you are able!

We probably will still be having new people reach out over the course of the next couple of weeks. Thank you for responding quickly to their inquiries. If you have any questions or need assistance with anything, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We have lots of fantastic events on the horizon and you can check out those details in the discussion guide. And now that we’re back in the book of Mark, we also have an accompanying video which is a great tool to use with your group if you are able.

We appreciate you all so very much!

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: 

Groups Spring 2019 - Week 1

Greetings City Group Leaders!

We hope you and your families had a wonderful holiday season and that the transition back into “normal” schedules has been a smooth one! This is the last week of our New series as we continue to learn how we have been made new in Christ. We have some important announcements in the Group Discussion Guide so we appreciate your attention to those. Thank you for your service to the church in leading your groups!

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: 

Groups Fall '18 - Week 11

Groups Fall '18 - Week 11

Seasons Greetings City Group Leaders!

We're in our last week of Fall City Groups. It's a great week as we start the Advent season as a faith family. Through the Advent season we will be focusing on a collection of prophecies from the book of Isaiah. This week we turn our attention to how the coming of Jesus brought light into the darkness and began to establish a kingdom with no end. We hope its a great week of discussion. Merry Christmas! The King has Come!

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: 

 

Groups Fall '18 - Week 10

Groups Fall '18 - Week 10

Greetings City Group Leaders!

We hope you and your families had a wonderful Thanksgiving! This is the last week of our This is Us series, and we're back this week discussing what God had done for us. We will be focusing on how God has delivered us and transformed us to live lives that honor him. Thank you for your service to the church in leading your groups!

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: 

 

Groups Fall '18 - Week 9

Groups Fall '18 - Week 9

Greetings City Group Leaders!

This week we start a new series, This Is Us, where we will look at what defines us as a church. This week we focus on the unity we have in Christ. We will discuss how Jesus reconciles us to God and each other. We will also examine ways the enemy threatens that unity and pray that we would be a unified church.

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: 

 

Groups Fall '18 - Week 8

Groups Fall '18 - Week 8

City Group Leaders,

Thank you for your labors in leading your group. It's hard to believe this semester of groups is almost over. 

This week we will be finishing up our perceptions series by discussing Christians and Politics. This week Dean addressed the perception that Christians are "Too Political." In our groups this week we will see how a foundational confession of our faith, "Jesus is Lord," shapes how we engage in politics.

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: 

 

Groups Fall '18 - Week 7

Groups Fall '18 - Week 7

Hello City Group Leaders!

We're in our second week of the Perceptions series. In this series, we're looking at three common "perceptions" of Christians in our cultural context and how Jesus calls us to obedience in spite of those. This week we are focusing on "Hypocrisy." Christians are often accused of being hypocrites by others, especially when our lives don't seem to line up with what's taught in the Bible. This week we will discuss why this is the case and how we can respond to this in light of the Gospel.

Thank you for your continued labors in leading your groups!

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: 

 

Groups Fall '18 - Week 6

Groups Fall '18 - Week 6

Greetings City Group Leaders! This week were starting a new sermon series, Perceptions. This series will address how Christians are perceived in the world and how the scriptures call us to live in light of these "perceptions." Phillip Bethancourt gets this new series kicked off with a sermon on being "Judgemental." 

We hope this series helps us to address where these perceptions come from, and how we can live obediently by making disciples in light of these. Thank you for your labors!

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: 

 

City Groups Fall '18 - Week 5

City Groups Fall '18 - Week 5

 

We're in week 5 of Fall City Groups. Thank you leaders for your continued ministry to your groups! This week we heard from two church planters, Ryan Rice and/or Matthew Delaughter about "living life on mission." In line with this theme, and continuing our Stamped series, this week's discussion turns our attention to how the Apostle Paul viewed his ministry and mission as arising from the person and work of Christ. We've been given a ministry of "reconciliation" and have been "stamped" to share it with others. 

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: 

 

City Groups Fall '18 - Week 4

City Groups Fall '18 - Week 4

 

We are in Week 4, and the second week of our new sermon series, Stamped. When you send a letter in the mail (yes snail mail), you must first put a stamp on it. That stamp is the authorization and the payment for that letter to be sent. As christians, we are stamped by Jesus, paid for with His blood, empowered by God’s Holy Spirit, and purposefully sent into the world to make disciples of all nations.

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: 

 

City Groups Fall '18 - Week 3

City Groups Fall '18 - Week 3

 

We are in Week 3, and starting a new sermon series, Stamped. When you send a letter in the mail (yes snail mail), you must first put a stamp on it. That stamp is the authorization and the payment for that letter to be sent. As christians, we are stamped by Jesus, paid for with His blood, empowered by God’s Holy Spirit, and purposefully sent into the world to make disciples of all nations.

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: 

 

City Groups Fall '18 - Week 2

City Groups Fall '18 - Week 2

 

In Week 2, we come to the end of the Grown Folks series, we encounter a topic that in many ways every other discipline ready’s us for: the task of being sent into the world to find others. These others are like we once also were, lost. They are separated from Our Creator, and just like we once were, condemned. Probably the greatest news of all, is that not only did Jesus die to save us from being condemned for our sin, but he also showed us what it means to reach others in his name. The task is simple.

For our hearts to truly be like Jesus, we also must to our eyes to there people around us, and with a willingness to sacrifice everything, just ask our savior Jesus Christ did for us.

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: 

 

City Groups Fall '18 - Week 1

City Groups Fall '18 - Week 1

 

Welcome back City Group Leaders! We hope you had a great August break. We're excited to get groups kicked off for the Fall.

This week's discussion focuses on the importance of sound doctrine for the believer. Our lives, and those of the members in your groups, are filled with many different doctrines vying for attention. With this in mind, Paul calls Timothy to "pay close attention to your life and your teaching." In his sermon, Pastor Dean showed us that maturing christians are anchored in sound doctrine. As we get things kicked off this Fall, let's call our group members to live lives that are devoted to, delight in, and defend right teaching.

 

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: 

 

City Groups Summer '18 - Week 9

City Groups Summer '18 - Week 9

 

Hello City Group Leaders! We are on Week 9, our last week of summer City Groups. We will take a break in August, learn together at our next Leader Training (8/26) and begin meeting again the week of Sept. 9. 

Psalm 123 begins and ends with our focus on God. He is our source of approval, satisfaction, joy; He is our contentment. Whenever those around us chide us, or mock us, we know that it is God in whom we are satisfied. So be bold with the Gospel, and lead your group members towards a greater reliance on God and His mercy. Fully depending on God, glorifies Him!

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: 

 

City Groups Summer '18 - Week 8

City Groups Summer '18 - Week 8

 

"His praise endures forever"- Welcome to week 8! Psalm 111 is a song of praise inspired by our awesome God. His works are great, powerful, wondrous, remembered, just, faithful, and enduring. These are more than just words, they are a reality that our hearts and minds sometimes struggle to understand. This is the purpose of praise.  We praise to remember, we remember to praise. We worship because of Who God is and we praise the LORD so that our “whole heart” might by full of God's joy forever. 

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: 

 

City Groups Summer '18 - Week 7

City Groups Summer '18 - Week 7

 

Welcome City Group Leaders to Week 7 and Psalm 100. We all know what to do if your team wins… you shout and sing! Psalm 100 is a focused and encouraging a joyful song to the one most worthy of our highest praise. It is an uplifting praise to God, for the fact that he has made us His people, and that God’s love (unlike the love of this world) endures forever.

Encourage your group in the face of a troubled world to the delight of the praises of the Lord, and if you feel up to it this week, perhaps even sing them! ;)

 

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: 

 

City Groups Summer '18 - Week 6

City Groups Summer '18 - Week 6

 

Welcome City Group Leaders to Week 6. Psalm 73 reflects upon the struggle of temptation. It peers within at the easy and slippery path of jealousy and doubt during troubled times; a path that tries to lead us away from what God has laid before us. Let us encourage and remind one another to cling to God as our refuge and salvation no matter what the circumstances.  

PS. Don't forget to show your city group Dean's baptism video during the announcements section of your meeting time. :)

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: 

 

City Groups Summer '18 - Week 5

City Groups Summer '18 - Week 5

 

It is July! Welcome back Group leaders to Week 5. Psalm 51 is one of the most gut wrenching, raw, passages in the Bible. Having come face to face with his transgressions and hypocrisy, David makes a public plea and apology directly to God for His mercy. We talk about repentance of sin in our lives, but it's easy to gloss over the remorse and seriousness of sin. What an amazing reminder and example of how we should react to sin in our lives.

 

 

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: 

City Groups Summer '18 - Week 4

City Groups Summer '18 - Week 4

Welcome back to Psalm 49 City Group Leaders! This Psalm presents a very clear distinction between two kinds of people. One is wise and ransomed by God. The other is foolish and stands condemned. One trusts in God to redeem them, while the other trusts in their wealth. No amount of wealth (or human effort) can ransom a human soul from God and we will not be taking any of our wealth with us when we die. Most of us know that. However, the temptation to find meaning and security from our wealth still confronts us daily. Lets reject this foolishness and place our trust fully in Jesus for our ransom, purpose and security in life.

Resources: Below you will find resources for this week: