What would you do if you shared your faith with someone and it was deemed illegal? Would you be brave enough to take a stand in the public square, knowing that you could lose everything?  As believers we face more and more people who tell us we can’t share our faith. We also live in a culture that continually says that faith is a private issue. But, if we are believers, we can’t remain silent, we must be courageous. This is the focus of this week's Explore the Bible study.

A 2012 study of Christians in our country indicate that the majority of believers remain silent about Christ. LifeWay Research, revealed that 83% of believers surveyed are hesitant to let others know that they are Christians (See complete report). I pray that our study of  how Peter and John boldly shared the gospel among a crowd that was growing more and more hostile will encourage and challenge us to no longer remain silent or passive about our faith!

The risen Christ separates Christianity from all other religions! I find it interesting that those who might scoff at, or doubt Christ's resurrection still look for some kind of hope for themselves in the afterlife. These same people will say that their loved ones or friends have "gone to a better place" or are now looking down on them from the "big house in the sky," while scoffing and doubting the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You see, in the recesses of every human soul God has placed a desire, a curiosity, or a hope for life after death. It is this longing that should point us to Jesus Christ, the risen Savior! He doesn't just offer the promise of eternal life but a life filled with hope, joy, and peace through a personal relationship with Him. That is the focus of the Explore the Bible study: Resurrected!

How would you respond if our church suddenly added 3,000 people at one time.  How would it affect our unity?  When the early church saw their numbers swell from that small gathering of around 150 to 3000 from just one sermon, it must have been amazing, yet challenging. Just as the Holy Spirit had empowered them and demonstrated His power through them as they boldly proclaimed the gospel, they now had to depend on Him to remain unified with all these new people coming to Christ from so many different backgrounds. The Explore the Bible study: "Unified," is going to focus on this very important topic this week.

As you prepare to teach these passages, think about your life as a believer as you imagine how these believers lived their faith:

• Imagine them encountering family and friends in the temple courts and sharing their faith in Christ with them.
• Imagine them inviting neighbors and friends to join them at their homes for food and Bible study and to gather together to hear one of the Disciples preach.
• Imagine the excitement they had about sharing their faith in Christ in the marketplace where people came to shop and sell.
• Imagine how passionate they were about getting to know and caring for all those who were being added to the church.
• Imagine if this were you and if this were our church today!

Acts 2:41-42

• Identify the four activities that expressed their devotion.
• Were these community or individual pursuits?
• What does this communicate about being a member of a local church?
• How does being devoted to these actions keep a church unified?
• Could they have done this without the empowering of the Holy Spirit? Why or why not?
• In what ways does our church demonstrate these actions today? 
• Look over this list again. How devoted are you to pursuing these actions as a part of this church? If these aren’t a priority what does this communicate about you?

Ken Braddy, a friend and great thinker in the field of Christian education, recently posted an article that builds a case for smaller groups. Bible study groups struggle with this challenge continually. It is a "Catch 22" for most groups. A healthy group will grow and growth isn't bad. But with growth comes the challenge of knowing when a group grows too large. It is counter intuitive for us to think that we should create a new group instead of continuing to capitalize on the growth of a current group. But, eventually growth will become detrimental to a group.

Here are Ken's 6 reasons smaller groups are a good idea. I hope it helps you consider if (1) You should lead your group to start a new group or (2) You should help your groups understand the value of smaller groups.

6 Reasons Smaller Groups are a Good Idea by Ken Braddy

1. Smaller groups can meet anywhere - A group of 12 people (which I would consider to be "about the right size," give or take a few) can meet in any on-campus room at the church, and they will fit comfortably in someone's living room.
2. Smaller groups increase conversational community - People in a large class tend to remain quiet. Speaking up in front of a group of 40 or 50 peers can be very intimidating, so some really great comments always go unsaid. In a smaller group, the intimidation factor doesn't exist like it does in a large group. As Dr. Ed Stetzer,
3. Smaller groups help people connect - People are "social Legos" and have only so many relationships they can give their time, attention, and energy to supporting. Each of us has only so many connections we can make (and keep). Smaller groups tend to help people "Lego up" with one another and connect relationally, in part because of the room arrangement (people sitting in a circle see one another's faces and this helps form connections, as opposed to people sitting in classrooms with many rows of chairs facing the front of the room). 
4. Smaller groups are easier to teach - Have you ever tried to recruit someone to teach a large "pastor's class"? It takes a special person with special biblical knowledge to teach such a large group of people. When that person steps down, moves away, retires, etc., finding a replacement can be just about impossible.
5. Small groups keep people from falling through cracks - One of the jobs of a teacher-leader is to act as a shepherd for their group. I teach a group of 16 adults weekly at my church, and between my full-time job, my role as a husband and father, and other responsibilities, it is all I can do to minister to this smaller group of adults! I cannot imagine trying to teach and shepherd a group of 30, 40, or 50 adults.
6. Small groups are places where discipleship takes place - Jesus taught and ministered to large groups, but His favorite method for making disciples was investing in 12 disciples, not 100 disciples. Even within His group of 12 there was an "inner group" of 3 men with whom He spent even more relational time. Jesus' model was to use a small group as the basis for discipleship. Somewhere along the way, we've gotten away from this biblical example. A teacher who disciples his people knows each of them, their needs, their shortcomings, and what each one needs to progress in their journey toward Christ-likeness. 

Read the complete article and check out more from Ken Braddy at kenbraddy.com.

Recently I built an addition onto my storage facility, and I needed it wired for electricity. There was only one problem--we had no main power run to the building. I decided to go ahead and wire the shed anyway, in hopes that, one day, I could run a permanent power line. Until then I would just use a very long extension cord. Through that experience I realized some principles that could be applied to connecting people to the church, particularly those who aren't already attending.

Principle One: We have to prepare for people who will visit our church. 
When wiring the building, I tried to determine what lights and outlets I would need. I then had to determine the best path for the wiring and the best placement for the outlets and lights.

When connecting to people, you have to imagine that you are a guest visiting your church for the first time. Here are some things that you will need to determine:

1. What is the welcoming atmosphere in your church? Hopefully it will be an atmosphere that expresses the love of Christ and the joy we have in Him.
2. How will people connect to the church? Evaluate the flow patterns in your facility to see if adults can find guest parking and can find their way from parking into the building and to the auditorium, classrooms, childcare, and restrooms.  Provide convenient and marked parking as well as opportunities for guests to be greeted—consider stationing greeters in the parking lot, entry way, auditorium, and classes.
3. How will you tactfully and accurately gather information so your leaders and Bible study groups can follow-up with guests?
4. How will you communicate with first time guests after they visit? Are there steps you can create to help everyone know what to do when communicating? I am very proud of the deacons in my own church. They have taken on the role of developing First Contact teams. They deliver gifts to guests' homes right after worship on Sunday afternoon. Their intent is not to visit in the home but to just introduce themselves, or, if the residents aren't home, to leave a welcome package.
5. How will your Bible study groups get connected to guests who don't visit a group? We assign every guest to a group for follow-up. This involves a phone call invitation to the group and a visit at some point.
6. How will the pastoral leaders be involved in follow-up? We assign every person to a staff member for follow-up and seek to keep accurate records on the results of visits.

Principle Two: Determine ways to keep a permanent connection with the unchurched. Remember the extension cord to my storage building? I needed a more permanent connection. What is the permanent connection that helps your church remain connected to those who visit and to those who aren't yet connected to Christ or His church? The permanent connection is a simple yet seemingly more difficult discipline that most church members struggle with; it is the simple act of developing relationships with the lost and then offering them the invitation to follow Christ or at least attend church with them.

Lead adults to passionately embrace the opportunities they have for inviting people to Christ and His Church.

• These opportunities might be parents who are discovered through Vacation Bible School, unchurched adults who attend a men’s or women’s event, or adults who are discovered through a local mission project.  Develop and teach a follow-up plan to your adult Bible study group leaders.
• Teach adults that every activity (sports, school, work, community, and so forth) is an opportunity to connect with people who need an invitation to Christ and His church.

Principle Three: You need one primary connection. My storage building only needed one main line in order for the entire building to have power. There needs to be one central place that will provide a continuing connection to the unchurched.  Your Bible study groups are that connection! They are vital to helping the unchurched and guests get connected to the church. They are the main connecting point for building ongoing relationships with the unchurched. If adults in your groups aren't passionate about reaching out to the unchurched, inviting them to their groups, and welcoming guests who attend their groups, then your connection to the unchurched will be very weak.

Principle Four: We have to experiment and try again.  I ran permanent wire to the storage building and everything worked until I turned on the air compressor. I discovered that the power line couldn't handle the load. We had to make adjustments to the wiring and add separate and stronger circuit.

As you watch your church connect with the unchurched you will discover places that aren’t working correctly. Adjust the process, add a new Bible study group, do additional training, communicate better, or do whatever is needed in order to make the connection work properly.

God has placed your church exactly where He intends it to be. There are people all around the church who so desperately need to connect to Christ and His church. We should continually be evaluating how we can better lead our churches to make, strengthen, and keep these connections strong.

We have been entrusted with the message of the gospel, so how well are we doing? We know that, as believers, we receive the Holy Spirit and He empowers us as witnesses. We know this intellectually, but are we expressing this in our daily walk as we are expected to? This is the great challenge we will focus on today as we begin our study of the Book of Acts in this week's Explore the Bible session, Entrusted.

We are coming together, not just to study the book of Acts, but to seek understanding that will help us live out our faith as the early Christians did as they overcame political, racial, cultural, and socio-economic barriers to share the gospel. It was more than a personal choice, it was the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of obedient believers that enabled them to share with confidence, courage, and compassion to everyone, especially to those who weren’t like them.

STUDY PREPARATION VIDEO


TEACHING IDEAS