The Gospel-Centered Community Leaders's Guide

by Robert H. Thune, Will Walker

Grow Authentic, Gospel-Shaped Community We don't want to be alone. We want to love and be loved; and we know that genuine relationships make our lives rich. But somehow living in community always ends up being harder than we thought. This nine-lesson small group study helps participants learn how the Spirit shapes diverse people into a Christ-centered community that reflects Jesus to a watching world. Each lesson is self-contained, featuring clear teaching from Scripture, and requires no extra work outside of the group setting. The self-explanatory Leader's Guide equips small group leaders with discussion questions and other helps in explaining and applying the material. Designed for: * Pastors and leaders who want to grow gospel-shaped community in their churches and ministries. * Church-planters who want to build gospel-shaped community in the churches they start. * Students and campus ministers who are looking to live out the gospel in their student communities. * Christians who want to grow relationships formed around the gospel. Small group leaders who are looking for content that teaches diverse groups of people about gospel-shaped community. * Missionaries who are looking for simple material to disciple new Christians in how to have to live in a gospel-centered community. A World Harvest Mission Small Group

Genres: Christian Living, Christian

136 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2013

About the author

Robert H. Thune, MA (Reformed Theological Seminary), is the lead pastor of Coram Deo, a gospel-centered church he planted in 2005 in Omaha, Nebraska. He is the coauthor of The Gospel-Centered Community, another Christ-centered small group study. Bob and his wife Leigh have four children.

Reviews

[Kelly Lindstrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book that we used with our small group at church to talk more about what a community centered around the gospel looks like. It’s a great read, but I would recommend using the book as intended and go through it with a group—it would not be nearly as beneficial just reading it on your own! It is great to facilitate deep conversations about what community looks like.

[Lindstromsteph Lindstrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

“ A Gospel Centered Community is a community of people who are increasingly orienting their lives around God’s mission.” The book Explains community through theology, faith, live, joy, humility, honesty & grace . Making sure very day missionaries.

[Sawyer Whitted · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is incredibly helpful to take a Community Group to a deeper level of vulnerability with and care for each other. However, my group, thankfully, already does this, so we felt like there we a few concepts in this book that we wished went deeper.

[Andy Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

What does Gospel centered community look like and how does it play out? Grab this book. Use it with your community group or just grab a good friend to go through the ideas together.

[Matthew Manchester · Rating 5 out of 5]

We went through this book in our community group and it was great. HIGHLY recommended.

[Colton Dempsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good discipleship material. Read Gospel Centered Life by same authors first.

[Grant Steiner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some real gems

[Sara Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

O tema é muito legal mas o livro foi ok. É bem repetitivo em certos aspectos, mas a dinâmica para trabalhá-lo em grupo foi boa.

[Andersonn Lopes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente!

[Wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series of books is intentionally very entry-level (as far as explaining the Gospel goes), but that does not mean that it is fluff or unbiblical. The theology is very solid. The books are intended for group-discussion. I would recommend group leaders not be too tied to the “lesson plan” (get your nose out of the book and don’t read the plan out loud to people while you are leading them… prepare beforehand and just use the lesson plan as a basic guide for the discussion… feel freedom to skip questions or pick the 3-5 questions that you think would be most beneficial for your group). If you lead a group through Gospel-centered Life followed by Gospel-centered Community and it goes well, then consider following that up with the Gospel Trilogy by World Harvest Mission (Book 1: Gospel Identity, Book 2: Gospel Growth, and Book 3: Gospel Love).

[Johnnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was again one of the life-changing books of my adulthood. Going through with a group of young women I adore helped me to face many challenges to my Gospel-Centered Life. Last night when "rating" our community on how well we loved a very shy woman confronted the extravert (that is ME!) in the group that we did not love well because we did not really know her. It was a beautiful terrifying moment of redemption--one of many during this study.

[Kyle Dupic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book, great stuff for building a strong gospel DNA in a group. 3 stars mostly for their simple treatment of how to get to heart idols. I'm sure the writers would rather go into more detail about that, but are limited with space. As I read, it seemed to me to encourage throwing out possibilities instead of asking questions and allowing the Holy Spirit to convict someone, allowing them to see it themselves, rather than me just telling what I think I see.

[Sara Burt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love the simplicity of this study. Your are never too old "discipleship" years for the Gospel to rock your world. Have used it numerous times in personal mentoring/discipleship.