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In Good Time - Connect Groups

We invite you to follow along with us as we explore our new theme In Good Time You can use this material for group discussion or personal Bible study. Check out each week's section, watch the introductory video to each week's sub theme and read and reflect your way through this month's passages.

Our God is the God of all time and all times.

 

In the present we talk about having a good time. In the past we look back to the good times, sometimes ‘the good old days’. In the short term we talk about it being ‘a good time’ to act, the timing is right to do something, and in the longer term we talk about things happening ‘all in good time’. But what makes these times good? What makes this current moment good? What makes our memories good? How do we know when the time is good to act? And when exactly will we reach ‘all in good time’?

To explore this we are going to be doing something special and a little bit different…

For each of the five weeks of this theme we are going to be diving into the archive and selecting a past week of Daily Worship to revisit. Our writers for July will take us back in time as we meditate on time itself! As we consider what it means to live in ‘good time’  we have an opportunity to slow down and to discover or rediscover some fantastic writing. We might catch things we missed first time around or read things that totally passed us by. Time flows, but not always in a straight line…

So, this resource pack is a compilation that will reprise and refresh the daily prompts and readings from those original weeks.

As time flows and we flow with it we have picked up on a common thread to do with movement. We begin by thinking about how we are not stuck, we are on a trajectory, we are called, we are going somewhere! Then we think about the Holy Spirit who hovers over the water of time moving in our world spurring us on to good things. We’ll think what it means to strive and persevere in the current moment, the focus that sport and activity give us to surf on the wave of this current moment. Then we’ll think about the invitation we receive to celebrate, to dance, to be, and finally what it means to emotionally, spiritually and physically turn to God.

In time, out of time, on time and all in good time.

Download the Discussion Questions as a PDF

These discussion questions adapt our monthly themes for small Connect Groups or personal Bible study (look up the In Good Time Resource Pack PDF for more information on this month's theme). The questions are divided into 5 parts to correspond with the 5 weeks of the Daily Worship theme. They are offered as a guideline and there is no need to go through all the given questions in a single session, or in the following sequence. Feel free to pick and choose, or adapt to what interests you or your group.

Find out more on this month's theme: In Good Time

What are Connect Groups? 

‘Connect Groups’ is the name we give to small informal gatherings who decide to meet together to explore the Bible alongside our monthly themes. These groups are independent and folk can simply set up their own Connect Group themselves, meeting together with friends and family on their own basis. In this time of Lockdowns when people can’t get together physically this material can still be used to meet together online.

Each month we produce a range of questions to adapt our themes for group discussion. The material is offered as a starting point and there is no need to go through all the questions.You can pick and choose, tailoring it to suit the needs and interests of your group. Each ‘Part’ could form the basis of a weekly roughly 90 minute meeting but you could break it up differently. Let us know if you would like to find out more about Connect Groups and different ways of linking into the Sanctuary First community.

We all come to the Bible with our own questions, insights and barriers. The guiding principle we have in writing these is to ask questions we don’t already know the answer to! Our hope is to facilitate open-ended discussions. Often the most valuable parts of group chats are the bits that go off on bizarre tangents. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Jesus knows a thing or two about bizarre tangents…

Need some advice on starting your own Connect Group? Get in touch.