Goals for CrossWalk to Accomplish in 2009

December 31, 2008

What goals do you envision for Crosswalk to accomplish during 2009?  What are some of the evidences that we are maturing as individual Christians and as a class?

Click on the word "comments" below and post your thoughts.  

Spiritual Gifts

December 31, 2008
During the lesson on December 28, we discussed a few of the spiritual gifts God gave to individual believers. Jan Hallisey passed out materials to help identify our individual gifts.  This tool may be found online at:

http://archive.elca.org/evangelizingchurch/assessments/spiritgifts.html.

Similar tools may be found at:  

http://buildingchurch.net/g2s-i.htm  

and

http://www.churchgrowth.org/cgi-cg/gifts.cgi?intro=1

If you have never inventoried your spiritual gifts, you should do so.  And then practice.  Go to work in Bethlehem in your area of strength.

God's Game Plan for the Church

December 28

God has a game plan for life; it includes the church, and we are members of the church.

The lesson based on Ephesians 4:7-16 included several points:

• Leaders are gifted to the church by God to equip members for service.  The gifts as listed by Paul  - apostles, prophets,evangelists, and pastor-teachers.
• Every church member is a minister
• The ministries of the church are developed to help every believer live as Jesus would live.

The lesson may be downloaded from the following site: http://www.sendspace.com/file/lnjnim.

Life Transformation Group

December 14, 2008
What is a Life Transformation Group?  (Idea from Josh Hunt)

A life transformation group is a simple but powerful concept. It is a group of two or three (when the group increases to four, it divides into two groups of two) that agrees to read approximately thirty chapters of scripture a week, and meet weekly for

•        Confession of sin
  
•        Accountability around scripture reading
  
•       Prayer for the lost
  

The group can meet any time, anywhere--most commonly in a restaurant. The groups are not coed because coed groups tend to be distracting and prevent tough accountbility.  There is not book or curriculum; members of the group just read and discuss the Bible. (Pretty far out, I know!)  There is a pretty healthy intake of scripture--about thirty chapters a week. If everybody does not do the agreed on reading, they agree to read it again.  There is no leader needed in the group.

What are the accountability questions?

Groups can adapt or substitute questions, but here are the suggested ten accountability questions:

1.  Have you been a testimony this week to the greatness of Jesus Christ with both your words and actions?
2.  Have you been exposed to sexually alluring material or allowed your mind to entertain inappropriate  thoughts about someone who is not your spouse this week?
3.  Have you lacked any integrity in your financial dealings this week, or coveted something that does not  belong to you?
4.  Have you been honoring, understanding and generous in your important relationships this past week?
5.  Have you damaged another person by your words, either behind their back or face-to-face?
6.  Have you given in to an addictive behavior this week? Explain.
7.  Have you continued to remain angry toward another?
8.  Have you secretly wished for another’s misfortune so that you might excel?
9.  Did you finish your Bible reading this week?
   
10. Have you been honest in your answers?

Reasons Christians fail to Change

December 14, 2008
Many Christians fail to change after they accept Jesus as savior of their lives.  We learned several reasons for this failure to change in today's lesson:

• Ignorance
• Isolation
• Myopia
• Sin

We also concluded that spiritual growth does not occur in a vacuum.  Being in a small group does not guarantee growth, but the absence of a small group experience that is focused on the "Bible almost guarantees that spiritual growth will not occur,

You can download the lesson at: http://www.sendspace.com/file/qpnhp1.

Changing From the Inside Out

December 1, 2008

God's purpose is for us to change so that the spirt of God, which resides in us, is apparent through our actions to the entire world.  A secondary point in our discussion is that God's purpose for HIs church overrides the His purpose for an individual.  You can find the lesson online.