What Are Connect Groups?

What are Connect Groups? 

‘Connect Groups’ is the name we give to small informal gatherings who decide to meet together to explore the Bible alongside our monthly themes. These groups are independent and folk can simply set up their own Connect Group themselves, meeting together with friends and family on their own basis. In this time of Lockdowns when people can’t get together physically this material can still be used to meet together online.

Each month we produce a range of questions to adapt our themes for group discussion. The material is offered as a starting point and there is no need to go through all the questions.You can pick and choose, tailoring it to suit the needs and interests of your group. Each ‘Part’ could form the basis of a weekly roughly 90 minute meeting but you could break it up differently. Let us know if you would like to find out more about Connect Groups and different ways of linking into the Sanctuary First community.

We all come to the Bible with our own questions, insights and barriers. The guiding principle we have in writing these is to ask questions we don’t already know the answer to! Our hope is to facilitate open-ended discussions. Often the most valuable parts of group chats are the bits that go off on bizarre tangents. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Jesus knows a thing or two about bizarre tangents…

Need some advice on starting your own Connect Group? 

Get in touch.

Introduction

Introduction

The Kingdom — God’s reign, God’s project of restoration for humanity, for life in all its fullness — has come... is here... is soon... is being realised... will come... and is already in the process of becoming! All at the same time! The Kingdom is God’s vision for a renewed world of reconciled relationships — how things are meant to be, how they can be, and how they actually are here and now as the Kingdom is being built for us and with us! One of the ways the Kingdom is revealed to us is through divine compassion, glory and wonder. Indeed we get a taste of it at Communion! While we still live in a world of fractured relationships — between one another and with our planet — we also live in one that has witnessed the redemptive and restorative love of Christ who loved us to the cross and beyond!

Jesus said the Kingdom is already at hand, in fact it’s already in our midst, and yet it’s simultaneously something we deeply long for — the way we long for home, for belonging, for meaning. The Kingdom is not so much a matter of an Arrival Time, but of Arrival Times, as God’s grace finds us exactly when and where we are.

Yes, the Kingdom can be a hard thing to define and date and tie down, BUT it’s not hard to be a part of, or contribute to! In fact it’s quite a welcoming place... by design. It’s hard to get our head around in the same way concepts like love and happiness can become complicated once you put them under the microscope. But just like love and happiness that doesn’t stop them making sense in everyday life, or being instantly recognisable. You don’t need to be able to pin down the exact dimensions of love to love someone.

You just love them! The Kingdom can be like that — it is the rightness of God in action. And it’s at hand!

• Week 1 Now and Not Yet! — How the Kingdom has arrived and is still arriving!

• Week 2 Eyes Open! — What the Kingdom is like...

• Week 3 On time! — How the Kingdom arrives in our lives.

• Week 4 The time is now! — What it means to be citizens of heaven, in the here and now.

SEEDS TO SOW: We have a 'Seeds to Sow' phrase at the beginning of each section. These are open-ended and optional and are designed for people wanting to develop their own ideas/resources in response to the material. Perhaps if using this material as a group you could use these prompts to inspire a time of prayer, or drawing, or creative writing? They are intended to be short and sweet, simply a starting off place for you and your imagination, be encouraged to tailor/develop as suits your group.

Download the Discussion Questions as a PDF

These discussion questions adapt our monthly theme for small Connect Groups or personal Bible study. The questions are divided into 4 parts to correspond with the 4 weeks of the Daily Worship theme. They are offered as a guideline and there is no need to go through all the given questions in a single session, or in the following sequence. Feel free to pick and choose, or adapt to what interests you or your group.

Find how to get involved: Connect group Blog

Week One

Now and not yet

The Kingdom — God’s vision for a renewed world of reconciled relationships — is both here and on its way. The same way that loving someone isn’t a static thing frozen time — it’s a living thing that continues to grow. When we love one another it is something that we enact each day, something we realise and witness moment by moment as it comes into fruition, new every day. The Kingdom is both here and continuing to arrive!

Seeds to sow: When you look at your neighbourhood, what do you want to ‘arrive’ that hasn’t arrived yet?

Read Luke 17: 20-21

The Kingdom is already here!

One of the theological tensions of the New Testament (and our lives today) is that the Kingdom is both something we long for and something that has already come! We yearn to see it realised — and yet it’s already among us, weaving us together. In a sense it has arrived and is continuing to arrive.

What do you think that Jesus is saying here in this passage? And what does it mean for us in our day-to-day lives that the Kingdom — God’s project of restoration for humanity — is already here in our midst? How do we notice the kingdom in action?

Read 1 Peter 1: 3-9

Living hope

What does this passage say to you about how we can have kingdom hope even when life is tough?

You might want to take time to share examples of how and when this living hope in the Kingdom has helped you (or someone you know or have heard of). Spend some time in prayer together as a group praying for any situations needing more kingdom hope at this time.

Read Acts 28: 30-31

Without hindrance

What, if anything, hinders or holds you back from proclaiming and sharing the good news of the Kingdom? What can you do as a group to encourage and equip one another to share ‘without hindrance’?

Week Two

Eyes open!

So what is the Kingdom of heaven like? To see the Kingdom in action we need to keep our eyes open, to spot the small things that become the wild things, that become the beautiful things. That become the massive things. The things of the Kingdom.

SEEDS TO SOW: If you could only tell someone one story to tell them about the Kingdom, what would you tell them?

Read Matthew 13: 44-46

A discovery of great worth

The story of the treasure is contained in just one sentence (verse 44) but what do you uncover when you dig into it?

The story of the pearl is similar to the preceding one, but on this occasion, we are told that the merchant is deliberately searching for a fine pearl. Whereas in the first one the protagonist simply finds the treasure, perhaps literally tripping over it in a field.

How do you respond to the contrast between these stories? That the Kingdom is both something that can be found after an arduous search and something that can simply be stumbled across? What does it tell us about God?

Read Matthew 20: 1-16

Payday

How does this story encourage us? And how does it challenge us and make us uncomfortable? Why do you think it was important for Jesus to challenge his listeners in this way? Do we (and should we) feel uncomfortable about following his example in this respect?

Read Matthew 13: 31-35

The power of story

A story itself can work like a seed — we think we get it on one level, but as it takes root in us it grows and bears fruit in new ways!

Having reflected in ‘seeds to sow’ about your favourite story to share about the Kingdom, it’s time to be creative! Jesus used familiar objects and analogies from the world around his listeners to illustrate the kingdom.

What might prove to be helpful contemporary Kingdom images for speaking to your families, neighbours and community? Take time to share and develop ideas together, not forgetting to stop and pray for the Spirit’s wisdom and inspiration as you do so.

For instance, what could something like a cinema, or an espresso machine, or a wellington boot, or a bag of pick ’n’ mix sweets tells us about the Kingdom of God?!

You could begin ‘The Kingdom of heaven is like...’

Example: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is like a cinema, that never runs out of seats, anyone who comes finds a place, somehow there’s always space to fit someone else in, AND incredibly everyone gets a good view.

Week Three

On time!

We live through time, present moment to present moment linking past to future. But God is not limited by space and time the way we are. God is not constrained by all sorts of dimensions and preconceptions that we are! Jesus once sat on a hill and got into it with a bunch of folk. And we’re still unpacking the profound wisdom of the Sermon on the Mount to this day!

SEEDS TO SOW: How do you picture Jesus when you picture him preaching?

Read Matthew 5: 1-10

For theirs is the Kingdom...

Kingdom values are not always the same as what our societies value. Jesus tells us that those we might overlook, that we might take for granted — that the world takes for granted — are blessed, are special, that they matter, and are significant. The Kingdom is not a talent agency for go-getters — it is a family that cares for each member.

What does success look like in the Kingdom?

As a family of God’s people, what Kingdom efforts do you notice in one another’s lives that the world might not recognise? Take time to encourage one another today so you can continue to grow in Kingdom values.

Read Luke 12: 27-31

Seek first the Kingdom

Sometimes we try and squeeze the Kingdom into the gaps around the rest of life. Life is full of pressures and demands that understandably occupy our minds. But Jesus invites us to start with the Kingdom, not compartmentalised as an additional treasure, but something that is part of every aspect of life.

How do we ‘seek first the kingdom’ practically day-to-day when there are so many other things looking for priority focus? What gets in the way?

Pray now for one another as you seek to put this into action.

Read Romans 14: 13-21

In the Holy Spirit

How does this passage both support and challenge the things you have already discussed in this session?

What is the one thing about Kingdom living that you will hold onto this week?

Week Four

What now?

What time is it? Well the time is now! The present is all we can act in. The Kingdom is closer than we know. With The Holy Spirit’s help we can be citizens of this Kingdom right here and right now. And all it takes is God’s grace and our acceptance of who we truly are in him.

SEEDS TO SOW: Looking at your local community and your neighbourhood — what is it time for?!

Read Philippians 3: 17-21

Our citizenship is in heaven!

What does it actually mean to be ‘a citizen of heaven’ in the here and now? How does it impact our behaviour and the decisions we make?

Read Ephesians 2: 11-14

A Kingdom that transcends brders and divisions

God’s Kingdom, God’s reign, is not ‘might is right’ and defending my patch of soil against yours.

What borders can you see the Kingdom transcending in the world today?

How does this passage offer hope to areas in urgent need of reconciliation?

Read Matthew 19:16-30

With God all things are possible

We cannot buy our way into the Kingdom, or make it arrive on our terms, or to our schedule. What we can do is simply love one another with hearts of compassion and have a childlike openness to the ongoing arrival times of the Kingdom.

Why not finish this time together by praying for each other as you seek to live as citizens with compassionate childlike hearts? Pray for those whom you long to be open to the news of God’s Kingdom. Pray for God’s Kingdom to transcend any boundaries you have drawn up in your hearts.

After praying, take time to reflect as to whether God has been using this theme to encourage you as a group to act on some of those urgent local needs you identified in ‘Seeds to Sow’...what are you going to do together with His help?