Questions from Sunday Night (5-11)

If you didn't get a chance to join us on Sunday night we have posted the talk here on our podcast page.  Here are some questions that will hopefully keep the conversation going.

1) we started by talking about the way we "speed limit" certain things, which is to say that we try and dance around the pretty obvious or direct meaning of something.  Can you think of anything in your life where if you were honest, you would say that you have definitely done this?

2) Read through these three stories again in Luke 9.  What is your initial impression of these stories?  What do you like about them, and which are ones that you don't get, or make you uncomfortable?

3) Jesus seems to want to the man in vs. 57-58 to understand the difficulties surrounding being a disciple.  Do you find the misconception that Jesus is here to make all of our dreams come true tempting?  Do you feel like it is prevalent?

4) Jesus' encounter with the next two men indicates that sometimes Jesus asks us to give up more than just "bad" things.  Have you ever felt that being a disciple has meant you needed to give up something religious in nature, or something that is considered expected and/or good?

5) Is there someone that you know or admire from afar that exhibits the qualities of costly discipleship.  (Their faith has cost them wealth, career advancement, reputation etc.)

6) How does this question sit with you, "Does following Christ cost you anything?"  (We do not want you making lists of the cost to prove anything to anyone) The basic point here is talk about the ramifications that question has for us as followers of Christ.

Questions from this past Sunday Night

Questions from Sunday Night's talk.  If you weren't able to join us on Sunday night then you can download it on our podcast page here. 

Here are some questions that will hopefully keep the conversations from Sunday going.

1.) Do you have any stories that relate to someone (maybe you) overreacting to being slighted by those perceived as being against them?

2.) In what ways do you see yourself as being like the disicples in the way they reacted in this story? 

3.) How do you think scripture relates to the way the disicples reacted?  Since they could have looked to their scripture to back up their conviction, what does this mean for us as we look to interpret scripture in the practice of our faith?

4.) Can you think of any examples that you have from your life, or that you have seen in Christianity in general that would constitute trying to "build God's kingdom using the world's tools"?

NEIGHBORS@Hawkins April Newsletter

I wanted to post a digital version of the new April newsletter of our Neighbors at Hawkins program.  You can download it by clicking the link below

Download Neighbors Newsletter 1a

Questions from Sunday 4/19/09

This past week we tried to take a few minutes to talk through the core values of Ekklesia Hattiesburg and how those values play out in our community practices.

Instead of putting up questions for you I wanted to encourage you just to take some time to go through 4 core values ( you can find them here).  Talk through the ones that you connect with.  Or maybe talk through the aspects of the values that you have experienced personally.  If you have any questions about them talk through it with the group to see if you can come up with a fuller understanding of what we are doing at Ekklesia, or a fuller understanding of how you can more fully participate in those values.

Hello My Name is Ekklesia

This Sunday night we will be meeting at our normal time and place, but
instead of a sermon we will be talking through what this Ekklesia
Hattiesburg thing is really all about. So whether you come every week,
have only come a couple of times, or have never made it out, this is
your chance to come out and get some questions answered...Meet us again
for the first time.

If you are a facebooker, and who isn't nowadays, you can view the event here...

Questions from Sunday Night

It was good to celebrate Easter with you all last night.  If you were not able to join us this week, we hope to see you next Sunday Night.  You can catch this last week's talk here on our podcast page.  The career's small group will be hanging out at the Willis house this week, but for those of you that are in other small groups here are some questions to keep the conversations going.

1.) First take some time to share anything in particular you feel has stood out to you this season of Lent andEaster?

2.) We talked about how we as followers of Christ are not called to pretend that the bad news doesn't exist.  Do you feel like this is a temptation for you, or have you seen this tendency in the Christian community at large?  Share any stories you might have about this.

3.) Have you seen times and places where "resurrections" still occurs in our world?

4.) What role do you see us as "Resurrection People" playing in our world?

5.) How do you think you can personally reflect the good new of resurrection in your daily life? (at work, at home, at school etc.)

Questions from Sunday 4-5-09

If you were not with us on Sunday Night you can catch the podcast here.  Here are some questions that might get the conversation going a little bit.

1.) Can you relate to the disciples in this passage?  Can you think of times/places in your life where the mission at hand is less important to you than your role  or the credit you get?

2.) Do you feel like your church experiences in the past have tended to value the various parts of the Body of Christ, or devalue expressions different than there own?

3.) How can we be a people who embrace others (other churches,
denominations, political party, etc) with the attitude "whoever is not
against us is for us"?  What does that look like?

4.) For some people the Priesthood of all Believers is this empowering gift, or others it's intimidating. What were your initial thoughts about the priesthood of all believers? Empowering or intimidating?

5) "Do you consider yourself a minister?"  Do we tend to place more
importance on the work of those working professionally for the Church? 
how?

6)  The Priesthood of believers is yet another representative of the upside down Kingdom as it "levels the playing field". What are the advantages and disadvantages of this for the churched or for the unchurched?

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