STOP GOING TO CHURCH: Week 1 – Church Clichés & What This is All About

  -   February 14, 2022

Stop Going To Church
Beyond the Teaching

There are 168 hours in each week, and we get to spend ONE of those learning and worshipping together as a community, but we want to give you the tools to carry this into your daily life.
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Use the following guide to dive deeper into the text Ryan taught from and have discussion with those you do life with. You can do that all week in a Growth Group or Mission Team, with your Few, or over in our Digital Community (https://www.facebook.com/groups/OLHendo). 
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Miss the teaching? Check it out HERE: https://youtu.be/0GQNexUtvEI
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Dive in!

Open:

  • What’s the biggest church cliché you have experienced?

Read the Key Passage:

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

  • Observe: What does it say? 
  • Interpret: What does it mean?
  • Apply: What am I supposed to do with it?

Read the Support Passage:

Do some background work on Paul’s missionary journey to Corinth: https://my.bible.com/bible/111/ACT.18.NIV 

  • Observe: What does it say? 
  • Interpret: What does it mean?
  • Apply: What am I supposed to do with it?

What context does this passage give you for the key passage Ryan taught from?

Unpacking the Passage:

  • What can you learn about the ancient city of Corinth? What does this teach you about this section of Paul’s letter to them?
  • What do you think the original Corinthian church would have heard from this passage?

Unpacking the Teaching:

New Creation

  • Have you ever struggled with “behavior modification” in your life? What was the outcome?
  • How can you be intentional about rooting your identity as a “new creation” in the death and resurrection of Jesus, rather than your own efforts?

Ministry of Reconciliation

  • What does it mean to you that Jesus “squared your debts” with God? How can this affect the way you daily interact with people and the world around you?
  • How can you be an active participant in helping others be reconciled to God through Jesus?

Christ’s Ambassadors

  • How can you be an advocate for others experiencing the becoming of a new creation?
  • How can you be the “aroma of Jesus” in your everyday life?
  • How can you teach others to interact with the world in the identity of their “new creation?”

Close:

  • What does it mean to be a people of the Gospel of Jesus to you?
  • Breaking through the “cliché” of the Gospel, what does it mean to you to “stop going to church?”

Additional Resources: