EXTRA! Ideas for Adults – Dealing With Messy Relationships – Session 1

NEW: Online Group Plan for Session 1

NEW: Best Practices for Leading an Online Bible Study

Date: April 26, 2020

Love

The Point: Let love permeate every relationship.

Get Into the Study

Use the following information to introduce Question #1:

Fresh from the oven treats give us a full belly and a feeling of closeness to people around us. The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting not only the people we interact with regularly but brothers and sisters on the other side of the globe. So what actions can we take to bring that full feeling of closeness when we can’t physically join each other in the same church building or home? Amazon is using its vast resources to help in ways like this:

• Help Boston Children’s Hospital track the spread of COVID-19
• Use Electronic Caregiver to assess COVID-19 symptoms remotely
• Donate to relief organizations in the United Kingdom
• Provide devices to hospital patients
• Support teachers and parents with at-home resources
• Help customers get involved with relief efforts

Ask the group: What are potential motivations for businesses taking actions like these? Motivated by sacrificial love, what are some ways we can apply these ideas to minister to others?

Information for this post was gleaned from:

https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/amazons-actions-to-help-employees-communities-and-customers-affected-by-covid-19?token=GW&utm_source=gateway&utm_medium=card&utm_campaign=gw03162020&utm_content=COVID-19_roundup&pf_rd_r=PZQX4KYP8QSB3EKS6KBP&pf_rd_p=acbe2483-4091-4b73-aea5-e9b79db04a1f

Study the Bible

Use the following information to supplement Question #5.

Whether they admit it or not, many elementary through college students are missing school. They’re asking, “When can we go back to school?” or “Why can’t we go to school?” or “I’m young and the virus won’t hurt me; can’t I go ahead and visit the beach?”

Several groups of schoolteachers are sacrificing their time to address this:

WATCH: Mankato Teachers Create Car Parade For Students

“I think we’ve got 35 teachers that showed up on their spring break to show up for the kids,” PTO member Ashley Erickson said. And show up they did. It was teachers on parade. For miles, they weaved through neighborhoods where kids, signs and sidewalk chalk greeted them. They drove by families practicing social distancing as they prepared for distance learning.

Call for a volunteer to read question #5 (What are some practical ways our group can demonstrate sacrificial love to others?) and list as a group several ways to show clever or sacrificial love. Stress that times of pressure and frustration are when Jesus-centered love expressions are all the more needed.

Information for this post was gleaned from:

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/video/4491012-teachers-create-car-parade-for-students/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/03/25/dallas-teachers-throw-neighborhood-car-parade-cooped-up-students/

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NOTE: The circumstances for COVID-19 change hourly. What was true last Sunday, or even yesterday, may be drastically different this Sunday. For the latest insights into how to love sacrificially see:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

— Karen Dockrey wrote these Leader Extras. Karen is a managing editor, teacher, and author of 30 books. Karen is an active member of a local church near Huntsville, Alabama.

Additional Questions

Icebreaker Questions

• Who was your first good friend in elementary school and what made you become friends?
• What could use a little “freshening up” in your life?
• When it comes to cultivating strong relationships, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve heard?

John 15:9-10

• What steps can we take to “remain” in God’s love?
• How would you describe the connection between remaining in God’s love and obeying His commandments?
• What do these verses teach us about obedience in our relationship with Christ?

John 15:11-12

• What does it look like to love others in the same way Jesus has loved us?
• Who in your life displays the joy of Christ?
• What opportunities do you have this week to love others the way Christ loves us?
• John 15:13-14
• What are some practical ways our group can demonstrate sacrificial love to others?
• What do Jesus’ words in verse 13 teach us about love?
• Since it’s unlikely that we will be called upon to give our physical lives for others, how can we practically live out the instruction of verse 13?

Podcast

Click here for a 20-minute podcast for both the group member and the leader.

Member Extra

Send the following link to your group members as either a teaser before the group meets or as a follow-up thought:

Tips and Tricks for Dealing with Annoying People

Magazine Article

This article complements the study. Share this link with your group members.

• HomeLife – Delightful Rescue

Tips for Leading Bible Study Groups

• Four Ways to Get Bible Studies into People’s Hands

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