The Necessity of the Community

Countdown

Something fun (eg. Game, video, etc.). It is not necessary for this to have a tie in to the lesson, but it can.

Introductions

This is culture

Basic Opening Statement: We are glad that you are here with us at bcsm. bcsm stands for bridgetown church student movement and our movement that seeks to turn the world upside down, by turning our lives upside down for other people. In order to do that you need to know that...

You have community. You have purpose. You have a mission. You have truth here.

Announce:

bcsm at night (Practice for the Movement) TONIGHT

Next Week: Back to Church Sunday/ Donuts!

Sept 26: Childcare- Earn $50 towards CIY

I am _______________ and before we start, let me pray.”

*Pray for God to use what you have to say to move someone further along in their journey towards Jesus.*

Story Time

Tell a quick story that introduces the message

I don’t know where she got it, from Little House on the Prairie or one of the Sherlock Holmes stories she read but it kind of blew my mind. My family and I enjoy camping. But when we first started going camping we struggled with the most basic camping skill, building the campfire. It seemed every time we tried to light one, in those first few trips, the wood was always wet or something because we just could not get it to light properly. We would use like 50 matches and still not have a lit fire.

But eventually we would get it going and we would dance and sing and leap for joy. like this- Castaway clip. But on our very first trip when it came time to go to bed the terrible prospect of relighting the fire in the morning slowly dawned on me. It took us an hour to get this fire started and tomorrow, when I wake up, I am going to have to do this again?

That is when Tiffany, my wife, suggested we bank the coals. What is baking coals. You gather up all of the hot coals together in the middle of your fire pit and let them smolder all night long. Then when you wake up in the morning you throw a little kindling in there and your fire just starts up again.

Probably not the best thing to do when things are dry, but it blew my mind. If you make a pile of hot coals they will last all night. George Whitfield, a preacher from the 1700s said this, “kindled coals, if placed asunder, soon go out, but if heaped together, quicken and enliven each other, and afford a lasting heat.”

If you had to guess, why do you think that a pile of hot coals lasts longer than individual coals?

Catch Up

Where we have been in the series. Where we are going.

So we are spending the rest of the year talking about what it means for us to be a movement and I am really excited as we embark on this adventure for what will come out of it. Just a couple of weeks from now, Sept 26th, will be a big week that you wont want to miss. We have already launched the name, but coming soon we will launch the actual movement. I seriously have been thinking about this for a long, long time and I can not wait to put it into your hands and see what you guys do with it. And you might be saying, “What else is there to launch?” We will talk about that soon but, as we have been saying, the movement has to sit on top of a community of apprentices to Jesus. So before we can talk about the movement we have to explore the community and before we got there we had to talk about what an apprentice is. Some of you will remember that we over the last couple of weeks we have said that an apprentice spends time with the teacher (Jesus), becomes like the teacher and does what the teacher does. So this movement that we are launching depends on you guys doing that. Spending time with Jesus, becoming like Jesus and doing the things Jesus did.

But it is not enough for you to do that in isolation or on your own.

Scripture

Read or summarize main Scripture with a little surrounding context. Ask a couple of questions to about the text.

Hebrews 10:24–25 ESV

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Tension/ Main Point

What is the rub? Create some questions and feeling in the minds of your students around the main point of the lesson.

Your apprenticeship to Jesus is like those coals we were just talking about. In isolation your coal will burn hot for a minute, but will lose it’s heat when exposed to the cool evening air. In community, your coal will be fed energy from the other coals around you, you will stir one another up to love and good works, will be shielded from the cool evening air or the discouragement that the world will heap on us and you will continue to burn.

But at the risk of stretching this analogy too far, it is hot there in the middle of the fire. It can be uncomfortable. It requires us to become vulnerable to one another. To become vulnerable to being hurt by the other people in this room. To not neglect meeting together, sometimes we have to die to ourselves, humble ourselves, apologize, forgive, seek to reconcile or fix broken relationships. It is so much easier sometimes to neglect meeting together.

Because, I don’t know about you, but the greatest hurts of my life have come from people that I trusted. And the more you get hurt by people you trusted, the less you want to trust. The less you want to become vulnerable to anyone. Let alone someone you maybe just met today.

Vulnerability in the church means sometimes you admit that things are not ok. We sometimes think you need to put on a happy face to come here. You need to be ok. That is not what church is. That is not what it means to be a community. The Bible calls this a family and a body. When one part suffers we should all suffer with them. When one part rejoices, we need to rejoice with them, even when we are hurting. How is any of this possible?

1 John 1:7

1 John 1:7 ESV

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

The source of our Unity is Jesus.

So our apprenticeship is built through a community united in its purpose and mission. And the movement is built through a community of apprentices. All three of these things, community, apprenticeship and the movement are interdependent. None of them works alone.

Individual apprentices can not produce world changing movements. A movement devoid of Jesus apprentices has no power to cause actual change in the world. But both sides of the equation need this crucial middle piece: the community. This oneness.

Response

We respond every week with an invitation to baptism and communion.

Our apprenticeship to Jesus is dependent upon the community. Our movement is dependent upon the community. The community piece is vital to us making this thing happen. We will be exploring this more the practical applications of this stuff, through bcsm@night tonight so I hope to see you there. bcsm @ night is all about practicing the things we learn here in the morning.

But the Bible is clear that the community we have with one another is based solely on Jesus. Jesus gives us the ability to be united to one another. The gospel story is one of reconciliation, not just of our relationship to God, but also with each other.

So to remind ourselves of the centrality of the cross, we take communion. Think about that word communion. It is a union with the community through a union with Chrsit. We do this every week. The juice represents his blood, the bread his body.

We will play a song and as it plays You can grab communion.

But while that is happening, I also want you to be thinking about how you can commit yourself to sink deeper into the community here in bcsm or at BCC.

Now If you need prayer this week, or if you want to declare your intention to be a true disciple of Jesus by being baptized, to place your allegience with Christ and the community of Jesus’ apprentices, come see one of the adults. We would love to talk with you. But, if you don’t want to move and just want to listen to the lyrics of the song, or pray, or read the Bible you can do that as well. This is a time to just spend with Jesus.

Song

Pick a song that centers around the main theme of the lesson.

...

Discussion

Anybody have any stories we can celebrate today? Who got a better grade on their midterms than they expected to?

Blindfold Reverse Pictionary

Blindfold one person in the group. Hold up an everyday item and give the group 3 minutes to describe the item for the person drawing. They can not say what the item is but only give indirect clues. When the three minutes is up, have the blindfolded person take off their blindfold, look at their creation and then reveal the item to them.

Debrief: Was the artist confused? What methods of communication worked the best? What did you learn from this challenge?

This is your community. Part of being a community is caring for one another and one way we can do that is by praying for each other. Does anyone have something we can celebrate with you this week? What is heavy for you this week?

Pray together

QOTD: Eric said that the Bible teaches that in order for our apprenticeship to stay warm, we need to invest in the community here. In order for the movement to happen, it needs to be built on community. Why do you think that the relationship we have with one another is so important for making both sides of the equation work?

What is one thing you could do to help build unity in this group?

How difficult do you think this kind of community would be?

Family Worship

Hey, welcome to Family Worship.

This week in bcsm we said that in order for our Movement to turn the world upside down to work AND in order for our apprenticeship to Jesus or our discipleship to be effective, we need to invest in the community here at church. Talk about that for a second.

How have you invested in the community at church lately?

Building the type of radical community that the Bible describes as the church is not easy. It takes work. And so many of us, when faced with that work want to run away because we feel vulnerable. But even when it is hard, it is possible through Jesus.

Read

Galatians 3:28 ESV

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Understand

Paul is cutting through many of the things that divided people in his day. What do you think this would this list look like if he was writing it to your school or workplace or neighborhood or church today? There is neither...

Apply

IN what ways have you noticed even Christians discriminate or value some types of people over others?

How can you bravely step beyond your current boundaries to help build more unity in the church?

We are working towards an upside down world, but that can not happen if we don’t build an upside down community first. Our apprenticeship to Jesus depends on it. Our movement depends on it.

Now here are your challenges for the week. Commit, as a family to doing at least one of these challenges this week.

Challenges

Fun: Play hot seat. Set a chair in the middle of the room. That is the hot seat. One person sits in the hot seat and everyone else goes around and says one thing that they appreciate about that person. Once everyone has shared something, have someone else sit down. Repeat until everyone has been encouraged by everyone else in their family.

Practice: Have everyone in your family share something embarrassing that they think the rest of the family doesn’t know. It could be something that happened to you while you were at school. It could be something that happened a long time ago. A special note to siblings, these embarrassing memories are not ammo for ridicule. Listen curiously, not critically.

Do: Pick a few people in the church to encourage. You could get them a gift, send them a card, or invite them over for dinner. Whatever you think would be an effective encouragement to those people. Then do it.

Daily Devotions

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Read

Philippians 2:1–2 ESV

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Understand

Participation in this verse is the same greek word that often gets translated fellowship. Fellowship is a broad word. The way Paul uses this word most of the time is to describe the relationship between people who have been shaped by the spiritual reality of the gospel, the truth about Jesus.

Can you think of three ways that you have been shaped by the spiritual reality of the gospel, the truth about Jesus.?

Apply

How can you “participate” in the truth about Jesus today?

Pray

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Read

1 cor 10:16

1 Corinthians 10:16 ESV

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?

Understand

Remember yesterday we said that this word participation is the same word for fellowship.

How does communion help us participate in this reality?

Apply

How can you “participate” in the truth about Jesus today?

Pray

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Watch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RUf0AsC308

Understand

Do you look at your relationship with God like a partnership?

When you go to church do you look at the other Christians as partners?

Apply

How can you “participate” in the truth about Jesus today?

Pray

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Read

1 John 1:7 ESV

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Understand

How important is fellowship with other believers important to you?

Apply

How can you “participate” in the truth about Jesus today?

Pray

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Read

Ephesians 2:19 ESV

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

Understand

What does it mean to be a member of the household of God?

Apply

How can you “participate” in the truth about Jesus today? Pray

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Practice

Every week on Saturday we practice a spiritual discipline. Todays’ spiritual discipline is Slowing.

Here is the way this works. Even when you can do something fast, today, do it slower.

“Intentionally drive in the slow lane. Intentionally choose the longest line at the store. Intentionally sit longer over your meal. Intentionally chew your food. Intentionally take a longer shower. Relish the time. Be in the presence of God.

What rises to the surface of your mind?

What does this tell you about yourself?”

Calhoun, A. A. (2015). Spiritual disciplines handbook: practices that transform us (Revised and expanded, p. 90). Downer’s Grove, IL: IVP Books.

Don’t use this as an excuse to be late to things. If you have to be somewhere, give yourself more time to get there. If you get on social media, don’t scroll. Call the first person that shows up on your feed about whatever they posted.

Don’t be afraid to wander a bit. The point is to intentionally slow your life down a little bit and ask God ot make you present in the moment.