Connect group:

• Choose ONE NIGHT a week to hold your connect group.
• Ask each member of your connect group to bring their Bible.
• If you want, you can also take communion together.

1. Ice breaker:   

Choose one of the following topics and talk about it:
a) Why do you go to church?

b) How do you determine if a certain church will work for you and your family? 

2. Prayer: Open with prayer.

3. Read: Our Core Text for Today: John 15:12…This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

 4. Talk in your Connect Group about the following:

Love for God, Love for PeopleEvangelism and DiscipleshipLeadership and MentoringHealthy Families, Healthy Church: 

This week, we are talking about a Healthy Church.  We read in the New Testament about this institution (The Church) that God established just after Jesus’ Ascension. Last week, we talked about healthy families, the physical family. The church is also a FAMILY, a Spiritual Family that comes together to serve God and to encourage and build each other up. The church exists because of its love for God and its love for God’s people. The first church was especially known for its love for others. The church grew because people desired the love the church family had for each other.  A healthy church is known by its love for God and its love for people. A healthy Connection Group also has this love. 

Four Principles of Love in the Church:

 John 15:13 – Love Gives…Greater love has no one than this: that someone lay down their life for their friends (Spiritual Family).

 John 15:16 – Love Chooses to Love…You did not choose me, but I chose you to go and bear fruit that will last.

 John 15:15 – Love Encourages…I have called you…friends, because I have made known to you all things that I have heard from my Father. 

1 Pet 4:10 – Love Serves…As God has given each of you a gift, use it to serve one another, so that the riches of God’s grace may flow through you. 

Reread today’s texts and talk about them: • Why is the church so important to Jesus? • What can we do to become more involved in our churches? 

Now enjoy Communion together as a Connect Group: ·        

Ask the Lord to show you someone in your church that you need to pray for this week. ·        

Ask the Lord to show you what you need to pray for your church this week.