God Stories

As you almost certainly have heard, the founding pastor of the GraceFamily of Churches, Buddy Hoffman, died last Sunday evening. His memorial and celebration will be at Grace Snellville at 3pm on Sunday, but the stories we will continue to tell about his life will endure far beyond this weekend.

In our gatherings this Sunday morning, DJ Coleman, who serves on staff with our student team and lived in Buddy’s basement for several years, will be sharing from Acts 17, where the Apostle Paul lays down a pattern that resulted in amazing God stories–the same kind of stories that marked Buddy’s life and that, hopefully, will more and more mark our own. Don’t you want to see a new God story through your life?

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SEE IT // BE IT

(WEEKLY COMMUNITY GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE)

DATE: February 19, 2017 // Title: God Stories //

Scripture: Acts 17:16-34

ARRIVAL / SOCIAL TIME 15-20 minutes
Spend the first 15 minutes or so of your time together catching up and socializing with one another. Also find time to catch up together on how the assignments from last week turned out.

SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes
This week DJ led us into Paul’s God story in Athens and invited us to let God write His story in our lives as well. These God stories often start with provocation, where we see and sense something is wrong and something needs to be done. Paul sees the idolatry of Athens and it provokes his heart. After provocation the story turns to perception. Paul listens to the stories alive in the culture around him. Instead of creating distance, getting into a dispute or just wrongly delighting in the stories that he perceives, Paul instead begins to dialogue—entering into conversation with those whose stories are different than his. Finally, Paul proclaims the good news to the community that he is speaking to with grace, mercy and love. So, how might God want to write His story in your life? What provokes you? What do you perceive? How are you moving into dialogue with the stories around you? What might it look like to proclaim the good news in the midst of that?

THE MAIN THOUGHT  Keep this in mind as you facilitate discussion
Your story can become a God story.

SEE IT – Questions 10-15 minutes
Picture (What is the story saying?): This week DJ talked from Acts 17 about Paul’s God story—What is a God story? What do God stories start with? (provocation) What are some ways people respond to provocation in their lives? (Creating distance, Dispute, Delight or Dialogue) What comes after provocation? (perception) How was Paul engaged in the competing stories of Athens? What comes after perception? (proclamation) How does Paul proclaim good news to the community at Athens? What strikes you most about his content and tone?
Mirror (Where am I in the story?): What provokes your heart? What is it that you look at and think is not right in our world, in our community, in your neighborhood? What do you perceive is happening in these situations? How are you testing or evaluating those perceptions? What stories are you entering into and engaging in dialogue?
Window (How does the story change how I see those around me?): What is the difference between “biblical literacy” and “gospel fluency”? (gospel fluency uses provocation, perception and proclamation to share the gospel in a contextual way) What does a “gospel fluent” person look like? What do you need to do to become more “gospel fluent” in your life?

BE IT – Practice
Change UP // Tell the Story 10 minutes
(Legend tells us that Ernest Hemingway was challenged to write a compelling story in 6 words. Hemingway returned from the challenge with this 6 word story: “For Sale: Babies Shoes. Never worn.” With these 6 words, Hemingway stirred our emotions and stoked our imagination. Take the Hemingway Challenge as a group this week to see if you can write a few stories in exactly 6 words.
God Story:
_____________ _____________ ______________ _______________ ______________ ________________
World Story:
_____________ _____________ ______________ _______________ ______________ ________________
Community Story:
_____________ _____________ ______________ _______________ ______________ ________________
Neighborhood Story:
_____________ _____________ ______________ _______________ ______________ ________________
Change IN //Tombstone Tweet 10 minutes
Take a few moments to start thinking about your own story. How would you want the story of your life to be told? Give your group a Tombstone Tweet challenge by asking them to think about their own memorial service (like our church founder’s, Buddy Hoffman’s, today). Take 30 seconds to have each person think about who would be at their memorial. Then challenge each person in the group to write out what they hope the impact of their life will be in 140 characters or less.
Change OUT //Missing Stories 5 minutes
Take a moment to think about the stories that may be missing from your group. Begin to answer together how your group might be open to more diverse stories in your midst. List at least 3 barriers that are keeping you from inviting those with different stories into your group. Make note of at least 3 opportunities your group might have to include stories of those who are different than you.

CLOSING PRAYER 5 minutes
Take a few minutes to gather any prayer requests and pray for each other to SEE IT and BE IT this week.