- Who is the most "others-centered person" you know? What impresses you about him or her?
- How have you been served by a person or group in the past six months? Have you experienced a significant act of kindness and service?
- Share an experience you have had with serving someone.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Becoming Others-Centered
Use the following questions to start a faith conversation:
Thursday, October 9, 2014
The Church
Read the following story aloud, and then use the questions to start a faith conversation:
On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude little lifesaving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea and , with no thought for themselves, went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Some of those were saved, and various others in the surrounding area, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews trained. The little lifesaving station grew.
Some of the members of the lifesaving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. They replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they decorated it as a sort of club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work. The lifesaving motif still prevailed in this club's decoration, and there was a symbolic lifeboat in the room where the club initiations were held.
About this time, a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet, and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick and some of them had black skin and some had yellow skin. The beautiful new club was in chaos. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwrecks could be cleaned up before coming inside.
At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club's lifesaving activities because they were becoming a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted that lifesaving was their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a lifesaving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save lives of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own lifesaving station down the coast. They did.
As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another lifesaving station was founded. It evolved into a club, and yet another lifesaving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that seacoast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown.
On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude little lifesaving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea and , with no thought for themselves, went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Some of those were saved, and various others in the surrounding area, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews trained. The little lifesaving station grew.
Some of the members of the lifesaving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. They replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they decorated it as a sort of club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work. The lifesaving motif still prevailed in this club's decoration, and there was a symbolic lifeboat in the room where the club initiations were held.
About this time, a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet, and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick and some of them had black skin and some had yellow skin. The beautiful new club was in chaos. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwrecks could be cleaned up before coming inside.
At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club's lifesaving activities because they were becoming a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted that lifesaving was their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a lifesaving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save lives of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own lifesaving station down the coast. They did.
As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another lifesaving station was founded. It evolved into a club, and yet another lifesaving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that seacoast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown.
- When was the lifesaving station most effective?
- Where did the lifesaving station go wrong?
- How is the Church like a lifesaving station?
- What is the purpose of the Church?
- If you don't like the Church as it is now, what alternatives do you have?
- How can problems that the people of the lifesaving station experiences be avoided in the Church? What should the members of the lifesaving station have done?
- Is being a part of the Church necessary to being a Christian?
- What can you do to help make your church a better place?
Thursday, October 2, 2014
The Holy Spirit
Read the following story, and then use the questions to start a faith conversation.
A farmer and his wife had eked out a meager living in the dusty panhandle of Texas for 30 years when an impeccably dressed man in a three-piece suit and driving a fancy car came to their door. he told the farmer that he had good reason to believe there was a reservoir of oil underneath his property. If the farmer would allow the gentleman the right to drill, perhaps the farmer could become a wealthy man. The farmer stated emphatically that he didn't want anyone messing up his property and asked the gentleman to leave.
The next year, about the same time, the gentleman again returned with his nice clothes and another fancy car. The oilman pleaded with the farmer, and again the farmer said no. This same experience went on for the next eight years. During those eight years, the farmer and his wife struggled to make ends meet. Nine years after the oilman first visited, the farmer came down with a disease that put him in the hospital. When the gentleman arrived to plead his case for oil, he spoke to the farmer's wife. Reluctantly, she gave permission to drill.
Within a week huge oil rigs were beginning the process of drilling. The first day nothing happened. The second day was filled with only disappointment and dust. But on the third day, right about noon, black bubbly liquid began to squirt up in the air. The oilman had found black gold, and the farmer and his wife were instantly millionaires.
You have a reservoir of power in your life. If you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit works in your life. The Holy Spirit will empower you to live life on a greater level, but you've got to tap into His power source, just like the farmer needed to drill for oil.
1. How does the Holy Spirit of God empower believers to live the Christian life?
2. How does this story relate to your own need to tap into God's power?
A farmer and his wife had eked out a meager living in the dusty panhandle of Texas for 30 years when an impeccably dressed man in a three-piece suit and driving a fancy car came to their door. he told the farmer that he had good reason to believe there was a reservoir of oil underneath his property. If the farmer would allow the gentleman the right to drill, perhaps the farmer could become a wealthy man. The farmer stated emphatically that he didn't want anyone messing up his property and asked the gentleman to leave.
The next year, about the same time, the gentleman again returned with his nice clothes and another fancy car. The oilman pleaded with the farmer, and again the farmer said no. This same experience went on for the next eight years. During those eight years, the farmer and his wife struggled to make ends meet. Nine years after the oilman first visited, the farmer came down with a disease that put him in the hospital. When the gentleman arrived to plead his case for oil, he spoke to the farmer's wife. Reluctantly, she gave permission to drill.
Within a week huge oil rigs were beginning the process of drilling. The first day nothing happened. The second day was filled with only disappointment and dust. But on the third day, right about noon, black bubbly liquid began to squirt up in the air. The oilman had found black gold, and the farmer and his wife were instantly millionaires.
You have a reservoir of power in your life. If you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit works in your life. The Holy Spirit will empower you to live life on a greater level, but you've got to tap into His power source, just like the farmer needed to drill for oil.
1. How does the Holy Spirit of God empower believers to live the Christian life?
2. How does this story relate to your own need to tap into God's power?
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