What is the Church? (Group Study, Video Session 8)
David Fitch defines the Church as “a community of practices which join people together in their submission to Jesus as Lord.”
Before diving into session 8 of the group study, What is the Church: Why It Still Matters, take a moment to reflect on this statement from Pete’s April 2nd sermon: Prayer leads to kingdom invitation, not personal confirmation.
(If you would like access to this video study, please contact Groups director Jessica Flake.)
Session 8: What Kind of Church Will We Be?
Getting Started
1. Discuss a time when you have personally felt stressed or burned out. How do you tend to react? What habits do you fall into? What do you prioritize? How do you think about or treat others?
2. How have you seen stress or threatening circumstances affect organizations (including, but not limited to, churches)?
Maintenance Mode, Exhaustion Mode
3. Fitch says that “maintenance mode” happens when churches turn inward and stop engaging in culture or the world outside of the church (staying primarily in the “close circle”). Have you known or been part of any churches stuck in maintenance mode? Discuss what that was like.
4. Fitch also says that people who are disillusioned by a church stuck in maintenance mode often react by moving solely into the missional space, engaging in social causes without the living presence of Jesus Christ. Discuss how you have seen, or could imagine, this leading to exhaustion.
Where Do We Go From Here?
To be the kind of church that creates space for God’s presence in all three places (worship, discipleship, and mission), Fitch recommends that we: cultivate an imagination for God’s presence, start small, and choose our space wisely.
5. What does “cultivating an imagination for God’s presence” look like to you? What does the practice of table fellowship have to do with this? What are some ways you can practice table fellowship in your daily life at church, at home, or in the community?
6. Discipleship happens in our daily lives, through and in relationship with others. Who are your “twelve”—a small group of people with whom you can commit to engage with as you create space for God’s presence in your daily life? If you aren’t in a group already, think about some specific people with whom you could create this sort of group.
7. What are some specific places in your community where you could create space for God’s presence with and for people?
Closing Discussion (optional)
In this series, David Fitch has explored practical ways that the church engages in three different areas: worship (close circle), discipleship (dotted circle), and mission (half circle). Are you better able to see the connection between these three areas, and how each are important?
Finally, alone or together with a group, you may want to reflect on this quote from Fitch:
“Fellowship is really important, but discipleship demands that we’re confronted with the issues in our lives. And if we’re not involved in the world we’re probably going to become separated from, isolated, and closed off from the world.”
