Why is Finding God's Will So Hard?

This sermon discussion is a great opportunity to share with each other hard decisions you are wrestling with and to pray for each other.

If there are decisions you’d like further input into for yourself, or your group members, make sure to reach out to your Group Coach or a staff member at Northridge. We’d love to talk and pray with you as you wrestle with them!

We have 4 weeks left of the Spring Community Group Trimester.

This is our last week of the series, Questions, Answer, and the Things We Will Never Know.

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Why Does God Choose to Save Some and Not Others?

This is week 2 of our 6 week Spring Trimester.

If you didn’t take some time last week, make sure to set some growth goals with your group in prayer time, or followup on your previous growth goals to encourage progress as you seek to grow in your faith.

As we tackle hard questions in this sermon series, make sure to encourage your group to check out the “A Little Better” podcast where we dive more deeply into these questions.

Does Science Contradict The Bible?

This is week 1 of our 6 week Spring Trimester.

Take some time to set some growth goals with your group in prayer time, or followup on your previous growth goals to encourage progress as you seek to grow in your faith.

As we tackle hard questions in this sermon series, make sure to encourage your group to check out the “A Little Better” podcast where we dive more deeply into these questions.

Why Can’t I Stop Doing the Wrong Thing?

This is the last week of our Spring Groups break.

Take some time this week to plan out your final 6 weeks of the spring trimester, reach out to a group member for a one on one connection, or plan some upcoming group socials.

Or just enjoy the Community Group break and get some rest.

Why Does A Loving God Allow Suffering?

This is Week 1 of our 2-week Spring Break from Community Groups.

While your group may not meet, this could be an opportunity to meet up with 1 or 2 people from your group for dinner on the night your group would normally meet.

One-on-one connections provide an opportunity to deepen your friendship and build memories.

Or, you may want to just enjoy the chance to rest and prepare yourself for a strong finish to the Community Group year.

Our Spring Trimester meets for 6 weeks, beginning April 14th.

Dangerous Prayers

This is our last week in our prayer series, and the last week of our Winter Community Group trimester before a 2-week break. Groups begin again the week of April 14th.

Here are 4 ideas for your prayer time this week:

1.     Confession: Share something you’ve been struggling with that you have not told others about. Ask for prayer for this.

2.     Read Psalm 139:23-24. Read this passage in your prayer time and pray those 3 prayers: Search me, Test me, Lead me.

3.     Private and Communal Prayers: Have each person spend 5 minutes in personal prayer, then spend 5-15 minutes praying all together.

4.     Prayer Partners for Community Group Break: Write your prayers on a 3x5 card or sticky note, then exchange cards with a prayer partner for the 2-week group break ahead. Connect with your partner at least 1x a week during the break.

Developing a Habit of Prayer

In Nate’s message on Sunday he challenged us to have a habit of praying with others in Community.

Community Group meetings are the primary place that happens each week, but let’s not end there.

Make a plan this week for everyone in your group to pray with at least one other group member during the week, between meetings.

It could be on the phone, over a meal, coffee, or a walk in the park.

In your prayer time as a group this week:

• Pair up

• Plan a day and time

Don’t leave your meeting without a plan.

Praying Scripture

In Sunday’s message Bailey talked about using the very words of Scripture as our words in prayer, and then praying our own words in line with what we’ve read.

Bailey provided a list of psalms we can use to guide our prayers.

In your prayer time this week, pick out one psalm or several to pray through with your group.

There are psalms for when we:

·       have messed up: Psalm 32

·       are in trouble: Psalm 27

·       are broken: Psalm 42

·       are oppressed and need justice: Psalm 9

·       are in the middle of a trial: Psalm 28

·       are experiencing relational conflict: Psalm 133

·       want God’s blessing: Psalm 1

·       want to praise God: Psalm 145

·       don’t want to praise God: Psalm 104

·       want to live for God: Psalm 15

·       need comfort: Psalm 23

·       need to be reminded of what Jesus did for us: Psalm 22

·       need forgiveness: Psalm 51

·       need to cry out in desperation: Psalm 88

·       need to refocus: Psalm 37

·       need God’s help: Psalm 57

·       feel God is distant or indifferent: Psalm 139

·       feel God has forgotten us: Psalm 13

·       doubt our worth: Psalm 8

·       doubt God’s goodness: Psalm 19

·       doubt God’s love: Psalm 103

·       doubt God’s forgiveness: Psalm 130

·       doubt God’s ability to help: Psalm 146

·       doubt God’s faithfulness: Psalm 13

Teach Us to Pray

As you prepare for group, here are some ideas for how you may want to pray together this week:

• Consider reading Jesus’ prayer from Matthew 6:9-13 in your prayer time. Pause after each verse, and pray about what Jesus talks about in that verse.

• If you don’t usually pray with men and women together, consider praying all together this week.

• Consider breaking into smaller prayer groups of 2 or 3.

• Pair up group members to call each other during the week to pray together.

• Consider meeting up an additional time during the week to pray (breakfast, coffee, before church, after church, dinner together, at a park, at the beach).

We’d also love to share ideas from other groups of what has worked well to pray with and for each other. Can you share your thoughts in the survey below?

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The Necessity of Prayer

This is week 2 of our 6-week series on prayer.

While we want our groups to talk about prayer and learn from the Scriptures how to pray, we want to do more than just talk about praying. We’d love to spend more time praying together.

Consider abbreviating discussion time so you can spend more time praying with your group. Or consider spending a whole meeting praying and skipping sermon discussion.

Here are some ideas for prayer together:

• Pick prayer partners.

• Do extemporaneous prayers (no one assigned, not in a circle). As someone to start and someone to close.

• Pray one sentence long prayers, thanking God for something:

  • “Thank you for friendships.”

  • “Thank you for listening to us.”

  • “Thank you for dying for us and rising again.”

• Pray one sentence long prayers asking God for something:

  • “Please forgive our sins.”

  • “Please heal my wife’s body.”

  • “Please save my neighbor.”

• Pray the Bible by reading one passage at a time and then praying about what you read.

• Share your requests as you pray instead of talking first and then praying.

• Call each other during the week and pray with each other.

What else would you add?

My Problems With Prayer

This is week 1 of our 6 week series on prayer. This is a great opportunity to spend more focused time in prayer with your group.

You may want to break into smaller prayer groups of 2 or 3 so people can spend more time sharing and praying.

You may also consider having everyone write down their prayer requests on a 3x5 card and then trade cards with your group members. This makes it easy for people who are newer to or uncomfortable with prayer; all they need to do is read the prayer off of the card.

One other idea for your prayer time would be to share your prayer requests as you pray. This will save time as everyone will hear what you would like prayer for by listening to your prayers.

Baptism - What Are You Waiting For?

This Sunday was our open baptism service.

Did any of your group members get baptized?

If so, take some time to celebrate with them in your Community Group meeting.

Sign a card, make a cake or dessert, buy some balloons, and celebrate what God is doing in their lives.

You could have group members share something they love or are encouraged by from this person’s life. You could also spend time praying for each person who got baptized.

Overflow

This weeks discussion focuses on the story of the woman at the well from John 4.

As Christians, our lives are centered around the story of Jesus as told in the scriptures. This is a great opportunity to read a long portion of scripture and reflect on it together.

To accompany your reading of scripture, one idea to change up group this week, would be to also watch this story imagined through the TV Mini-Series The Chosen.

Your group could read the passage together, and watch this clip of that scene or the whole episode, and then discuss the passage together.

How to Share Your Faith

Do you have group members who are considering baptism?

Our Open Baptism Service is in 2 weeks, on February 11th.

Encourage them to take that step and register for our Open Baptism service.

Sunday’s message was all about sharing our faith and a big part of that is prayer.

Not only should we share the names of people in group that we are praying would come to know Christ, but make sure to take time in group to specifically pray for each of those people.

What Makes Christianity Compelling?

If You didn’t get a chance last week to cast vision for your group by talking about the purpose of groups (Apply the Bible, Build Relationships, Care for Each other), vision (to invite others and multiply in the future), volunteer schedules, and the group agreement, you’ll find those included in this weeks discussion questions.

If you didn’t get a chance to set growth goals last week, be sure to take some time in your group to do that this week.

Does Your Heart Break?

Included below are Week 1 details to cover with your group, like the group agreement, volunteer schedules, growth goal ideas, and an overview of how groups work to help new people get acquainted with group. The notes also include the sermon discussion questions for this week.

This is a great time to remind your group of why we do groups (Apply the Bible, Build Relationships, Care for Each Other) and that we are not just meeting for ourselves, but we want to invite others into our Community Groups.

You may also want to just spend this week catching up and discussing your groups plans for this trimester, especially if your group plans will look different than a typical trimester.

When Your Faith Is Stale

This is the last week of the Winter Community Group Break.

Groups begin meeting agains January 14th.

As you prepare for the new Community Group Trimester, make sure to do these 6 things to prepare for a healthy start to a new groups year.

Rest for the Weary

Prince of Peace

Wonderful Counselor