Breaking Ground
What’s the biggest commitment you’ve ever made? What led you to make that commitment & how did it shape your life?
The Dig
This Sunday, we continued our series Boundless Church, where we’re exploring what it means for Element3 to become a centered-set community. As a reminder:
- Bounded-set churches define who’s included by whether or not they share a set, clearly defined, & strict list of similarities (the same doctrinal beliefs, race, cultural background, socioeconomic status, political views, etc); while excluding those who deviate from these shared characteristics.
- Centered-set churches define who’s included solely by their relationship to Jesus Christ as our shared center. Moreover, they direct members to focus less on assimilating to shared characteristics & more on whether they’re moving towards their shared center.
This week, we explored how this centered-set vision should impact our engagement with marriage & gender.
What is your personal experience with issues of gender & marriage? How have you seen these topics engaged & modeled in healthy & unhealthy ways in your life?
How were you taught to think of these topics in your own life & within the Church? How did that shape your own engagement with this part of your humanity?
How have thoughts & perspectives on this topic changed over the course of your lifetime? How has this change impacted your thoughts on these areas & your interactions with others?
In your opinion, what does a healthy vision of gender & marriage look like? What resides at the foundation of these topics when it comes to Christianity & spirituality (i.e., covenant, identity, procreation, bonding, etc)? How can these topics, when engaged in a healthy way, better inform our understanding of discipleship & what it means to mirror our Creator?
What boundaries do you currently have when it comes to gender & marriage? How is that impacting you holistically (physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, & relationally)?
How might a Centered Set vision on gender & marriage be both helpful & challenging for our church?
Coming Out of the Hole
During each week of this series, set aside time to reflect on your own struggles with creating boundaries & excluding people from Jesus & his community.
- What’s your history with this week’s topic? In your experience, has this been used as a boundary of exclusion in the Church?
- Where do you struggle to fully embrace those who differ from you when it comes to this topic? Do your attitudes & treatment of them reflect Christ or our world more?
- How can you humbly adjust your posture towards this topic over the course of this coming season in order to embrace a more Christlike one towards it? How can this help E3 further live into its vision of being a centered-set church?
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*
TheBibleProject.com
Centered-Set Church: Discipleship & Community Without Judgmentalism by Mark D. Baker
The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning
Coming Up This Week:*
Sunday, August 4th: Join us next Sunday as we continue our series Boundless Church!
* Please see mye3.org for details.