Transition Announcement (Discussion Guide)

This Guide is available as a .pdf here.

Life Group Discussion Guide :: Sunday, April 21, 2013 (JXG) 

Sandy Lake Wesleyan :: Pastor Shawn & Scott Powell

Remember, this Guide is not intended as an exhaustive list of what can be discussed, but is best used as a guide to help your Group process what God is teaching them. Read through the discussion points below and 

prayerfully consider what the Holy Spirit would have you work through.

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 Be sure to pray for, encourage each other, 

and share the victories God is giving your Group.

This week:

As you know, this week, we ‘paused’ our Great Grace series in order to have a conversation as a church family. Use this Guide as a way to direct your conversation as a Group:

It was clearly communicated that Pastor Shawn’s resignation was not a decision on his part, but discerning the will of God: An act of obedience.

What is the difference between decision and discernment? How is one done in our own strength while the other the act of a disciple?

Read Proverbs 16:9

It’s easy to see how this might apply to Pastor Shawn and his family, but how does this apply to your life? How do you think this applies to Sandy Lake Wesleyan as we lean into the future?

How can your Group members position each other to discern and obey rather than to make decisions which may not reflect God’s design?

“We can’t grow without change. We can’t change without letting go. We can’t let go without some loss, and that brings grief… Grief is the tunnel of growth.” ~ Rick Warren

What are your thoughts on this? How are you processing this? How can you help each other ‘walk through the tunnel of grief’ during this time?

Pastor Shawn shared the following stages of grief in the life of a believer:

:: Denial

:: Anger

:: Bargaining

:: Depression

:: Acceptance

:: Hope 

What is our call to each other during these stages of grief in sending the Cossins to their next assignment?  How is their beauty and meaning in this process? 

During this season of transition, there will be opportunity for spiritual battle in which the enemy uses the ‘D’s’--doubt, discouragement, despair, deception--to push us into fear, isolation, victim mentality. 

How do we avoid being stuck in this cycle? How do we speak truth and hope into others? How can you position yourself as one who leans forward into what God is doing and calls other people into more? What does it look like to resist the enemy; how can we help others resist him?

What is the hope in this time? What are the truths of Scripture you will choose to meditate on in the current season? How will you ensure you are positioned to embark on what is next for you and SLW?