20 June 2021 - 8.30am Service
After the Fire Series: Caring for the Poor
Leading on from our Holy Spirit series, over the month of June we are going to be exploring what the Church looks like after Pentecost and how we can hold onto the power of the Spirit in our everyday lives.
We’ll be looking to the Bible to see what the early Church was like after this transformed experience of the gift of the Spirit. What should we look like today if the Spirit is at work in our midst as a Church?
This week we’re having a special offering for International Justice Mission to raise funds for another rescue mission supported by our church members. If you would like to give, please visit our IJM page:
Also - remember our 11am and 7pm services looked at the same topic and Dave Mitchell and Matt Dobson shared with us. Check it out!
DISCUSSION NOTES
INTRODUCTION
Read Acts 4:32-36 and Galatians 2:10
One of the revolutionary and attractive qualities about the early Church is the way they cared for the poor, and not just their own poor but vulnerable people in their wider communities.
Why do you think there was such generosity in the Church as described in Acts 4: 32-36.
What do you think the impact of the Church’s charitable work is on its witness into the world?
What is your definition of poverty? Where would you find that kind of poverty in Bristol?
The Galatians passage seems to indicate care for the poor as being absolutely central in Church planting. How does Woodlands ‘care for the poor’?
Care for the poor is for everyone, part of the normal Christian life, what coaching or equipping do you need to help you in this ministry?
What should the proportion be of caring for the poor inside the Church, as opposed to those outside of it, from the perspective of the New Testament?
How has the work of the Holy Spirit in your life hanged your attitude towards generosity?