Huddle / Week of 01.05.2020

Onelifechurch   -   January 5, 2020

Huddle Notes – January 5, 2019 – Travel Log

 

[Leader Note: The Huddle is designed to be a tool to help you guide your Group/Team through meaningful and impactful discussion. While there may be much more content below then you will be able to cover in one session, utilize the concepts included to help facilitate discussion that will allow your Group/Team Members to connect with the teaching and the Scripture on a deeper level. 

 

During this week’s Huddle, the key concepts are captured under the heading “Our Mission and Purpose.” These should allow you to navigate how your Group/Team may apply the principles directly to your lives.]

 

Intro

  • It’s the first full week of 2020, and every new year brings exciting new opportunities. This is the time of year we set new goals and new routines in pursuit of being the best version of who we are designed to be. Our new series, Travel Log, is all about mission, movement, and purpose, and is the perfect way to kick off the 2020 chapter! 

 

Warming Up

  • If someone offered you an all-expense paid trip to anywhere you wanted to go, where would you travel? 
  • Where do you want to “go” this year? (This could be related to travel, professional or spiritual development, relationships, or any number of things.)
  • What goals have you set for 2020 to help you “get” where you want to “go?”

 

Series Intro

  • During his teaching, Bret said the number one question being asked by the next generation is, “What’s my purpose?” It is a lack of an answer to this question that has driven up depression, anxiety, and suicide rates among this demographic over the past several years. 
  • Is this a question you ask yourself? Can you identify your purpose today? 
  • What benefits are derived from having a sense of purpose in your life? 
  • During the Travel Log series, we will be studying Acts 13 and 14 and the first intentional “mission” in the history of the Church. Throughout, we will be exploring the concepts of purpose, meaning, and mission, and how they can be applied to our own lives. 

 

First Mission

  • Read Acts 13:1-4
    • This is the first recorded “mission” of the early Church.
    • What stands out about this passage? 

 

Back Story

  • After Jesus’ death and resurrection, he spent 40 final days with his disciples before ascending back to Heaven. 
  • Read Matthew 28:18-20
  • The last recorded words of Jesus before His ascension to Heaven expound upon this Great Commission in Matthew.
  • Read Acts 1:8
    • What does it look like for us to be Jesus’ witness “to the ends of the earth?”
    • Jesus is calling His disciples to an outwardly expanding movement. In our context today, this looks like reaching people far from God in our neighborhood, then our city, then our county, then our tristate, and on and on. 
  • One of the early disciples, Stephen, was actually killed for this mission. Stephen’s death created a fear that scattered the early Church in all directions. 
  • Read Acts 11:19-26
    • What stands out from this passage? 
    • What was noteworthy about the church at Antioch?
    • What happened after the disciples started sharing their message with the Greeks? 
    • How can we “cross the line” in our own lives to help people far from God trust and follow Jesus?

 

Our Mission and Purpose

  • We mentioned earlier how a lack of purpose can affect us negatively. The first step towards establishing a sense of purpose and meaning is this: If you are a follower of Jesus, you must recognize that you already possess this purpose. We have explored the idea in the past that you have not and cannot earn your seat at Jesus’ table…yet He has invited you anyway. In much the same way, we do not deserve the purpose or mission Jesus has given us, but He has given it to us anyway. As followers of Him, our first step in gaining a true sense of purpose and stepping into His mission…is simply recognizing it is there.
  • After determining we have, in fact, been designed with a purpose, we can look deeper into the DNA of the church at Antioch to help us hone in our unique purpose and mission. Bret mentioned some primary elements exhibited by this early missional church:
    • They started right where they were in the marketplace. 
    • They had strong, diverse leadership and they developed new leaders to send out. 
    • They followed the leading of the Holy Spirit and operated out of prayer, fasting, and worship. 
  • Marketplace
    • How can you “start in the marketplace?” How can you take the message with you wherever you go, and share it where you already are? 
    • In your own life, to whom do you have unique access? How can this access be used missionally?
    • In what ways can you “be on mission” in your everyday life and through your intrinsic strengths, talents, and gifts?
  • Leadership
    • In what areas are you leading? Are you effectively leveraging this influence in missional ways?
    • Are there any areas where you are not leading, but should be? What steps can you take to increase your influence in these areas to more effectively live on mission? 
    • Who are you supporting and developing in their own leadership? What are you doing to develop them and send them out to further the mission beyond your individual sphere of influence? 
    • Who can you be developing that will be able to lead more diverse audiences of people with whom you may have little or no influence? How can you develop and empower these leaders to live on mission with whom they have unique access? 
  • Holy Spirit
    • In what areas of your life can you create more space to “minister to the LORD?” In what areas can you create more space to intentionally listen for and hear Him speak to you?
    • Do you know your spiritual gifts? How can you exercise these gifts to more effectively fulfill your unique purpose and mission? 

 

2020 and Our Mission and Vision at One Life Church

  • Our mission at One Life Church is to help people far from God trust and follow Jesus. Our vision for how to accomplish this mission is to plant churches devoted to changing the secular worldview of the next generation. 2018-2020 is a period of time we have designated to hone in on being the most effective we can possibly be at fulfilling our own purpose and mission. 
    • In 2018, we focused on the “next generation” element.
      • We launched Students ministries and hired new NextGen personnel at all three campuses. This allows us to have staff at all sites who wake up every morning thinking about how to invest in our next generation, and help them and their families trust and follow Jesus. 
    • In 2019, we focused on the “worldview” component.
      • We designed a “toolbox” of resources, collectively called Centered, to help people build a Christ-centered worldview. These resources are available from preschool through adult curriculums, and are still being refined to this day to allow us to continue to pursue this goal.
    • In 2020, we have set our sights on the final key element of this vision: church planting.
      • Statistically, the most effective way to help people far from God trust and follow Jesus is to plant churches. In other words…helping people far from God and planting churches are synonymous. 
      • The DNA of the early church at Antioch was to plant churches.
      • We want OUR DNA to reflect OUR mission and OUR purpose. Therefore, we want to be marketplace-driven, innovative leaders who follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in planting churches…..devoted to changing the secular worldview of the next generation.
  • As a Group, how can our characteristics reflect our own unique mission and purpose throughout 2020 and beyond? 
  • How can we help people far from God trust and follow Jesus by echoing the characteristics of the early church at Antioch? 

 

Prayer

  • Bret guided us through a series of prayers to close out the first installment of Travel Log. Throughout the rest of the series, continue praying around these ideas, both as individuals and as a Group. 
    • Jesus, what is my role at my campus and in my city? What is our Group’s role? Help me to hear the Holy Spirit’s guiding as I seek clarity in these roles.
    • Jesus, how can I be more effective in reaching those in my life who are far from You? How can our Group be more effective? 
    • Jesus, how can I expand, grow, and multiply myself and my own influence around the mission to which you have called me? How can our Group accomplish this?
    • Jesus, how can I align my unique strengths, talents, and gifts with the purpose and mission to which you have called me? How can our Group accomplish this?