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Introduction
One of the signs of a healthy community or Adult Bible Fellowship is its desire to reach out beyond itself. People who are growing in their faith understand that faith without works is dead. They look for ways to put their faith into action by reaching out in Jesus name to help those in need. Using the following ideas can help your group come together as coworkers in the cause of Christ. Social events and entertaining outings have their place in binding a group together, but nothing takes the place of serving together. It is in service that a persons heart is best revealed. A group can implement these ideas at almost any time. However, they are arranged to be consistent with the units of study found in the Standard Lesson Commentary, or any other study of the International Sunday School Lessons (Uniform Series), for September 2010 through August 2011. Thus your group members will put what they learn in Bible study into practice in their lives. Dont try to do all of these projects at once! We have deliberately included far more than can be accomplished in order to offer variety. Information is given about what kind of time and money need to be invested in each activity. Choose those that best meet your resources. If you are able to do one project per quarter, your group will be having a significant impact on the place where you live.
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Jesus served in order to show Gods love. God so loved the world that he gave. . . . Jesus showed Gods love by healing the sick. The blind, the lame, and the dying saw Gods love and mercy through the service of Christ. Your church can show Gods love through serving. Although your church may not be able to heal people physically, you can serve them in their times of need. When you do, you show God love. Sitting with neighbors in the hospital, providing a meal for a co-worker who has lost a loved one, or even sending a card to someone who is going through some hard times shows the mercy and love of God. We know that the most important way Jesus showed us Gods love was in dying on the cross. We cannot do that for others, but what we can do is to die to ourselves. By putting others first in our attitude of service, will show a selfish world that people matter to God and to us. Jesus served in order to meet needs. One powerful example of Jesus serving to meet needs is seen in Luke 9:12-17. These 5,000 men, plus women and children, had a physical need. Jesus served them by providing a simple meal. Your midsize group can serve your community by meeting needs of food, needs of shelter, and needs of love. At the end of Acts 2 we read, All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:44-47). Will your church be known as the church that meets peoples needs? There are many stories of Christians that have seen the importance of leaving the church building and going out into their community to serve. In Cincinnati a church I know of saw that a school in their community needed help, so they cleaned and painted lockers. They are known as a church that cared enough to serve in their local community. Another church took a bold step from just serving their children at church during a holiday season to moving the event to a local recreation center to serve the children in the poor neighborhood where they are located. Still another group learned that the same God that created them created the homeless and poor; so now they drive into the city every week to tutor and feed these brothers and sisters. When we put hands and feet to our faith, then it becomes something real. The following pages contain ideas on what your Adult Bible Fellowship can do with what they learn in each unit of the Uniform Lessons, such as those found in the Standard Lesson Commentary. Please do not be limited by the words on the pages. Take the ideas and shape them into something that will work with your midsize group, your church, and in your community. You and your midsize group may have better ideas after you have had time in each lesson. You know your midsize group, your church, and your community. The hope is that your midsize group puts flesh to the ideas shared in the Bible and in the lessons. Remember that actions speak loader than words. Ask yourself these questions: what are we saying with our words, and what do we want our community to say about our church or about the members of our Adult Bible Fellowship? Go and be the hands and feet of Christ!
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about your relationship with God. Invite people to visit your church in the future, and remind them that you are neighbors. After the event allow your midsize groups to share any stories, needs, or prayer requests they may have received that night from your neighbors. NOTE: If you are out in the country, this event can happen as a community-wide event instead of a local neighborhood event. You may want to choose a park or other public location.
Buy a Goat
INVOLVEMENT: Individuals to the entire ABF INVESTMENT: Small to moderate (special offering or weekly designated giving) This idea is another way to take care of your neighboryour neighbor in another country. There are many organizations through which you can sponsor a child and help provide for their needs. One organization that helps people is Heifer International. On their Web site (www.heifer. org) you will see the various animals that you can purchase for those who need help. You can even buy a goat for $120. One of the good things about this organization is that even a small group can get involved. If your ABF cannot come up with $120 for a goat, you can buy shares of animals. You can even encourage group members to do this individually. A flock of chicks is only $30. If you sponsor missions through direct supportor otherwise have firsthand information about missionariesthen you can accomplish the intent of this activity on a more personal level. Communicate with the missionaries to find out how you can work with people with whom they
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Section Three
Introduction
In many midsize groups or Adult Bible Fellowships, the teacher is not the same person who leads the group-building activities that have been described in the previous parts of this book. In fact, we think its better if the leadership is ahred, with one person responsible for the teaching and one or more others responsible for the other parts of the meeting. If you are the leader of the groupbuilding part of your time together, give this next section to the teacher. These ideas tie directly to the lesson plans for the Standard Lesson Commentary (or other Uniform Series-based curriculum) for 2010-11. They will help the lesson part of your meeting continue building the same group-affirming spirit as the previous activities. Next to each activity suggestion you will find an icon: , , or . The launching rocket icon indicates the activity is a good lead-in activity, a good way to introduce the lesson. Its the part in the lesson commentary called Into the Lesson. Often it sounds at first like something not related to the lesson at all. This is a good way to get people talking even if they are not comfortable talking about Bible things. The open Bible icon indicates a Bible study activity. In the lesson commentary, this kind of activity appears under the heading Into the Word. It will get the group into the Word, but not on an individual study basis. These activities are group-affirming, so there will always be a group component to them. Finally the suitcase icon indicates an application activity. These activities help the group members carry the truth of the lesson home with them. This is the section called Into Life in the lesson commentary. There are not suggestions here for all three parts of any one lesson. These are offered only as supplemental to whats in the Standard Lesson Commentary or other ISSL curriculum. But everyone likes to have options, and this section will give the teacher at least two alternative ideas for each lesson.
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by Jesus in his death and resurrection. Group members should choose additional Scriptures and determine how those Scriptures will be presented (read from a pulpit or lectern, responsive reading, Readers theater, etc.). They should also choose appropriate music, perhaps for both congregational singing and special music (choir, soloists, etc.). Choose as many people as possible from your group to participate, but if some parts need to be led by persons not in the group (such as a message by the preacher), plan for that as well.
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