Breaking Ground
What’s your favorite topic or subject to study or learn about during this stage of life? Why?
The Dig
This Sunday, we began our series Why, where we’re diving into questions submitted by the E3 community. This week’s question was: “How can we participate in the Church in a healthy way after undergoing experiences of scandal & hurt within it?”
Begin by reflecting on your own experiences with Church hurt.
Have you ever personally been hurt by a church community or experienced a church scandal? If so, share about what happened, how it made you feel, & how you responded to that (if you feel comfortable doing so).
What ultimately brought you back to Church after this experience? What’s helped you find healing in this part of your life & spirituality?
Next, read 1 Corinthians 13. This famous passage from the Apostle Paul appears in what’s potentially the harshest & most confrontational letter that he wrote to the early church communities he shepherded. This is largely because the Church in Corinth was festering with social inequalities & fractured by power-hungry leaders claiming spiritual superiority to justify their actions. These issues lead Paul to write a scathing series of corrections before redirecting their focus to other-focused love as being the sole criteria for measuring everything the Church is called to be & do.
What stands out to you the most about this passage? Why does Paul make such a dramatic appeal to this church community?
How might a failure to love lie at the root of the scandals & hurts you’ve experienced within the Church? How does Paul’s teaching challenge those who participated in or allowed the hurt to occur?
As is often the case in the Christian life; the best way to redeem the injustices, sufferings, & hurts we’ve experienced is to practice a better way in our own lives.
How can your past hurts guide how you participate in & shape a more Christlike church community today? How could doing so produce hope & redemption within your experience of Church hurt?
How might you be able to offer others a better way of doing Church here at E3? What can you do to help E3 become such a community in this next season?
Getting Out of the Hole
Take time each week to reflect upon the Sunday sermon.
- Read 1 Corinthians 13. Make note of any ideas, words, or challenges that stick with you more than others.
- Why does Paul call other-focused love the only thing that truly matters within the Church?
- Why does Paul contrast love with all these other seemingly good activities & ministries that take place within it? What happens to a church community when it starts placing even good things above its call to be an exemplar of Christ’s love in the world?
- What are you tempted to place above the call to love when it comes to the Church? How might Paul be challenging you to reconsider the way you think about & act within the Church in this next season?
Journal, reflect, & pray on how God might be speaking to you through each week’s teaching. Share your experience with your growth group next week!
Additional Resources*
Centered Set Church by Mark D. Baker
Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer
TheBibleProject.com
Coming Up This Week:*
Sunday, August 23rd: Join us next week as we continue answering YOUR questions in our Why series!
* Please see mye3.org for details.