MISSION GROUP QUESTIONS FROM JOHN: 7 Words + 7 Signs - 21/2/10

For our Baptism Sunday we looked at the "8th sign" - the resurrection - and Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene.

John set’s up his gospel as a trial…Jesus is on trial before us (the whole world) - is he the Christ, the Son of God and is there life in his name (Ch20.30-31)? This is the final piece of evidence which makes sense of the rest. If Jesus didn’t rise again “our faith is futile…we are to be pitied more than all men” (1 Corinthians 15.17-19). So what did we learn?

(1) Our faith is based on the TRUTH of the resurrection - objective, historical truth! Mary thinks the body has been stolen (vs2), not even the appearance of angels makes her think that God might have been at work. It did not cross her mind that he had been raised on the 3rd day (despite Jesus on numerous occasions saying he would). It was inconceivable to her - he ‘world-view’ wouldn’t allow for it. Neither the Greek thought (body = evil, soul = good) nor the Jewish thought (final resurrection at the end of time of all God’s people - cf. John 11.24) allowed for a resurrection. It was inconceivable to them just as it is inconceivable to them. BUT their world-view was broken by the evidence - Jesus appears and eats and touches and talks with many people after his resurrection, including 500 at one time (1 Corinthians 15) and people therefore had the testimony of the eye-witnesses….just as we do…MARY! Why would you have a women as the first eye-witness since in those days they had no standing in a court of law. The only reason is because that was how it happened! This is so important for us because our faith does not rest on whether Christianity is ‘relevant’ or ‘works for me’ or “feels good’ but it rests on the resurrection of Jesus…and that will never change - so no matter how I feel, my faith need not waver!

(2) Our faith is an intimate relationship with the living God by his Spirit. Jesus says to Mary “do not hold on to me” (vs17). In her joy she must have grabbed Jesus (maybe fell at his feet like many other grateful women do in the gospels) thinking “I have lost you once, I’ll never lose you again” - however she must let go so that Jesus can ascend back to the father (vs17-18) and therefore send the Spirit so that it is not just Mary that enjoys the presence of Jesus and all the blessings that he brings but that all people’s at all times can know the presence of Jesus alongside them through the Holy Spirit (cf. John 16.7). A new era of intimacy with God is about to dawn (Jesus refers to his father as our father) for all those that trust in Mary and therefore Mary must let go and her relationship with Christ must now change. So our faith is (1) based on truth - it is objective and (2) real in experience - it is subjective.

We also saw how the Mary calling Jesus’ the gardener alluded back to (a) Genesis 1-3 where God was the original gardener who brought light out of darkness, order out of chaos and life from the dust - Jesus is remaking the world to be beautiful again and (b) The spice-filled garden in the Song of songs - here Mary is the one who is found by her lover and knows intimacy, security and joy.

Reflection and Application

(1) Read the whole story again, including vs4-9 about Peter and John. How do the different characters respond to the empty tomb? Which character do you most associate yourself with and why?

(2) How does the resurrection of Jesus affect you day to day?

(3) The objective and subjective sides of faith should never be separated - truth and experience belong together. However in reality we often separate them, where do you find yourself naturally tending towards? Why?

(4) If you lose the objective/truth side to your faith, what might happen? What are the dangers?

(5) If you lose the subjective/experiential side to your faith, what might happen? What are the dangers?

(6) Pray for friends or family that are not believers because (a) they do not think Christianity is true or (b) because they feel that God is far away.

MISSION GROUP QUESTIONS FROM VISION SUNDAY - 14/2/10

This week we looked again at our vision as a church from 1 Peter 2.4-12 under the title "Church as God sees it."

We saw that Peter described the church as a spiritual house

(1) Built on Christ our cornerstone. He is our unshakeable foundation (against all other foundations). He sets the agenda for everything. Without him, there would be no church! The church is made up of those who have made him their cornerstone in their lives.

(2) Built together into a tight-knit community which share their lives with each other and depend on each other. You cannot become a Christian and not become part of the church. As you build your life on Christ, God builds you into his spiritual house. It is a community that reflects our cornerstone - humility, boldness, joy, forgiveness etc. To the extent you build your life into the lives of others will be the extent to which the glory and presence and power of God will come into your life. The church is not a meeting to attend but a community/family to belong to!

(3) Living as resident aliens in the world. We must hold the tension of being of deeply committed and involved in the world whilst remaining distinct and, at times, rubbing up against the world. If we do not hold the tension we will not be able to affect the world - because we’ll either be sol isolated that our community life will not affect anyone or we’ll be so similar that our community life has nothing distinct. What is our main distinctive? The good/attractive deeds of the community and particularly our love for each other (Matthew 5.13-16 + John 13.34-35). We long to see communities of light reaching out to all areas of the city and all people-groups in the city. That is our vision. It is not new or clever or flashy. But it has the power to transform Leeds just as the early church transformed the Roman Empire. Just as Matt highlighted last week, the vision is not so much about what we do, but who we are!

How does this affect our special offering? Firstly, Hannah O’Shea is coming on board to help us as a church build more children and youth into the ‘spiritual house’ - they are individual bricks with a part to play. Secondly, we are looking for someone to come on board as Operations Manager - who will be able to organise and facilitate the community to life….so we can spend our time with people and less time on administration/systems.

Thank you to all those who gave over the last two weeks, we will announce the amount at the service next Sunday.

Reflection + Application

(1) What does it mean for us as individuals to build our lives on Christ? What other things are we tempted to build our lives on (to find identity, security etc)?

(2) What does it mean for your Mission Group to share your lives together (or open your lives up more)? How can you practically do this without feeling like you have “lots more to do?” Becoming a tight-knit community will not necessarily be easy - talk through what Paul says to the Colossians 3.12-17. What are the key ingredients to this community?

(3) Where as a Mission Group have you become too ‘resident’ or too ‘alien’? How can you help each other keep the tension.

(4) Read Exodus 19.4-6 + look what Peter says in vs9-10. How does the church fulfil all that Israel was supposed to be? What does each image mean? How does that help us understand who we are as the church? How can you apply this to your mission group?

(5) Pray for us as a church, that we might live more and more as these communities of light scattered throughout Leeds and beyond, bringing people to Christ and into his community, the church. Pray also for Claire Sorely and Hannah O’shea as Claire hands over and Hannah takes over. Pray also for the right person to be appointed as Operations Manager.

VISION SUNDAY AND SPECIAL OFFERING 2010

This Sunday is our annual special offering looking to trust God for £40,000. We sent out a letter to explain the details of this offering. If you didn't receive it, here is the letter for your perusal.

Firstly I want to say a huge thank you for your generous support over the last 5 years.  It has been tough at times, but we have seen God do so much in our own lives and also in the city. 

Currently, Mission Groups are flourishing (we now have 25 groups with 240 people attending).  ‘Intro’ has never been so popular and already 25 non Christians are signed up for the ‘More’ course this term.

We also continue to punch above our weight financially given the number of low earners in our congregation and that is down to you guys trusting God with your finances and giving so generously.

Once again in 2010 we face a financial challenge! Not only are we praying for our normal giving to rise by £2500 a month this year but we will holding two vision Sundays in February where we will be looking at the opportunities that face us in 2010 and holding our annual special offering.  The feedback from last year was that people wanted to know more specific details of where the money would be invested in order for them to sense faith growing for giving sacrificially. So here is what we are planning:

Special Offering:

On 7th and 14th February we will be holding two ‘vision Sundays’ where we will be looking to raise £40,000 for two salaried positions on staff.  We currently looking for people for both these positions.

i) Childrens and Youth Worker
We have grown from 15 children a year ago to over 50 in five different age groups.  We’ve also started working among 11-18’s for the very first time.  This means we need to find someone to bring some focussed oversight and input across these ages. 

Under Claire Sorely’s leadership Mo-kids has thrived but have now grown to the extent where we need to employ someone to be able to provide an excellent children’s program at Mosaic and support our brilliant kids workers. In the future we would like this role to develop an outreach focus as we look to serve children and youth in the community.

ii) Operations Manager
A crucial staff appointment when a church reaches around 300-400 is an operation manager. This is more than just a graduate administrative role but rather we are looking to hire an experienced project manager who can help oversee our finances, building management, offices, administration, staff employment and legal work. 

To give a biblical example, in Acts 6.1-7 the Apostles were overrun with the important work of serving food to widows so they appointed trusted men like Stephen to fulfil this task in order that the apostles could devote themselves to prayer and ministry of the word. Similarly this important yet often unseen role would release church members and staff to focus on the task of outreach, discipleship, study and pastoral care. Our hope is that if we employ someone who could take on this role we would see something similar to what the Jerusalem church saw (v.7) “So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly…”

The next five years!

We are amazed at what God has done in the last five years but imagine what God could do if we are faithful to our task to love God, each other and the World.  Imagine individual lives being turned round, think of your friends knowing Jesus as you love and serve them.  Imagine the poor and needy experiencing the tangible love of Christ and becoming missionaries to our broken world. 

Perhaps you dream of your school, your street, your office being influenced by the Gospel? Perhaps you are desperate for your kids to pick up the baton and make Christ famous wherever they go?  Or maybe you are simply ruined for anything but a life of no compromise, radical discipleship, and passion for Christ?

We dream of those things too and ask for your continued support and commitment to pray and give generously this year.

With love,
Matt, Chris and Steve.

MISSION GROUP QUESTIONS FROM JOHN: 7 Words + 7 Signs - 31/1/10

To end our series in the gospel of John we looked at the 7th sign - the raising of Lazarus from the dead

In this sign Jesus is dealing with the greatest problem mankind faces - death! And not just any death, but an early and unexpected death of a friend/beloved brother. The story is full of emotion and focusses primarily on Jesus’ interaction with Mary and Martha.

Jesus had deliberately delayed his coming (vs1-4) and therefore arrived 4 days late (vs17) so it is not surprising that the question on the lips of both Martha and Mary is “Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died” (vs21 + 32). However what is interesting about the story is that Martha went to meet Jesus but Mary stayed by the tomb. Why did Mary not immediately go to meet Jesus? It is surely because she is not ready to face Jesus and to ask him “why are you delayed…you if you had been here my brother would not have died.” For her, the suffering and pain she was experiencing was hard enough, talking to Jesus would only make it harder because her grief would turn into anger. Dealing with the suffering is hard enough but dealing with the fact that Jesus could have done something about it but didn’t only makes things worse. If she avoids Jesus, she avoids further pain! However Martha goes back to the tomb to take Mary to meet Jesus (vs28).

Whereas Jesus had given Martha the truth that would bring her hope (vs28), Jesus deals with Mary by giving her anger and tears. Anger at death and the devastation that it has caused and tears of comfort for Mary. Jesus weeps with those who weep and mourns with those who mourn.

But then the story continues and Jesus spectacularly raises Lazarus from the dead in front of the watching crowd. What is surprising is that we do not know how the sisters respond (the crowds are divided). However the next thing we read in John’s gospel (chapter 12) is that a few days later Jesus is back in Bethany and a dinner is held in his honour. Lazarus is reclining at the table with him while Mary and Martha serve. Half-way through the meal Mary pours an expensive pint of perfume on the feet of Jesus and wipes his feet with her hair - it is the greatest expression of love and devotion found in the gospels (cf Luke 7.36ff). What is intriguing is that John gave us the details of Mary before the whole episode began (vs3). He wanted us to have the benefit of hindsight. Why? So that as we read the story, as we feel the pain, as we appreciate the and and questions, we realise that it all eventually led to greater intimacy with and adoration for Jesus. Through the pain and the suffering Mary had seen the glory of God more than she had before - she knew the warm, the comfort, the righteousness, the power and the closeness of Jesus like never before…..and it was only through the suffering that she draws closer to Jesus.

Application and Reflection

(1) Retell the story to each other - from chapter 11.1-12.11 (using bibles if you need to). What does the story teach you about Jesus? How do you relate to the story? How does the story encourage or challenge you? What is one thing you can take away from the story and apply this week?

(2) How does this story prepare you for suffering and death?

(3) When and why do you find yourself wanting to avoid talking to Jesus about your pain because it only makes it harder for you? What happens if your suppress those emotions and questions? How does this story help you? Where do you need to listen to ‘the Martha’ in your life?

(4) Share stories and experiences of when suffering has brought you closer to God. Thank God that in all situations he is able to work for the good of those who love him (Romans 8.28).

(5) Where do you want to see Jesus’ resurrection power in your life? Pray for him to work powerfully!

(6) Pray for each other and those you know who are suffering or who have lost loved ones. Pray that they know the truth and tears of Jesus.