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’?