Leader's checklist before a trial session

1. Get 1-3 attendees to come, whoever you would like to cheer on and have cheering you on in life

2. Read through all the red print before the meeting. The black print is what you will read to the group during the meeting.

3. Find the reference for the Bible verses for the trial session, but don’t read the verses ahead of time because nobody else will, and you don’t want to sound like a teacher. Verses are listed by week here.

4. Read through all the black print and decide on your leadership style. Will you call on people or ask for volunteers? How will you keep things on track? How will you handle a long-winded person? You don’t need a perfect plan but it helps if you think about these things a little bit ahead of time.

5. Re-read the three prayers below (Start, 3, and 11), watching for several key ideas that help people understand what the group is trying to do. You may put the prayers into your own words if you prefer, but don’t lose those key ideas. 

 

Start the trial session here

Thanks for joining me to check out the Just Do It method of changing our worlds. Let’s pray to begin. Optional wording (or use your own) -- Thank you God that you want a better world and you are including us in your campaign to connect, heal, and bless the world. Thank you that we can get together today to try out the Just Do It idea. Help us listen to you well in this session, and help us cheer each other on this week. In the name of Jesus and for the sake of his campaign for a better world we ask these things, Amen.

 

Group rules

·    Nobody is teaching anything or preparing anything for this group. If we keep meeting after the trial session, we will take turns leading the group using a guide sheet like this.

·    We stick to the Bible verses we read. We don’t bring in other verses.

·    Our goal is to hear what God wants us to do this week in our everyday worlds, not to get our own needs met, satisfy our idle curiosity, or push our own opinion.

·    We keep things positive during the session because our goal is to cheer each other on

 

Catch up with each other and cheer each other on (10-15 minutes)

During this first section your job as leader is to make sure this doesn't go on for 30 or 40 minutes, which can happen easily if the leader does nothing or if the reports of last week's Just Do Its are too interesting. If these take too long, the rest of the meeting gets rushed or goes way over an hour.

1. What is one thing you are thankful for this week? (Gently interrupt anyone who gets long-winded.)

2. What is one challenge you are facing?

 

Listen to the Bible and to God (20-30 minutes)

During this section your job as leader is to encourage all the others to talk but no one to talk too much. You also decide when to move on to the next question.

3. "Just Do It" groups are about listening to God, expecting him to give us his idea about what we should "just do" today or this week. Let’s invite God to plant his ideas in us now. (Optional wording, or pray in your own words) -- Lord, we want to be good members of your campaign team, and right now that means we want to be good listeners. We want to hear your next assignments for us. Please speak to us in ways we can understand. Make your thoughts our thoughts. Amen. 

4. This week’s reading is _____________. (Use the reading listed here for this week).  This is what it says. (Read it to the group. Use your own Bible, the free YouVersion app, or the free site, biblegateway.com).

5. What stands out to you in what we just read? It could be a main point or just something that jumped out at you.

6. Now I’ll ask _________ to read the same verses in a different translation than I read. (If you need another translation, go to YouVersion or biblegateway.com and use the pick list. The two easiest translations are “The Message” or the “Good News Translation”.) After we read this time, we will see how well we can summarize it together without looking back at it. OK, go ahead and read it please.

7. OK, I’ll ask ___________ to start us out with a basic summary, like you were helping someone who just came in now. Then the rest of us will add any other bits we remember. No peeking!

8. What do these verses have to do with God's campaign for a better world? (You can look back at the verses now. Remember the campaign’s goals are to connect, heal, and bless.)

 

Just Do It (10-15 minutes)

During this section your job as leader is to pray silently that people will hear from God about their Just Do It. You want each person to leave the meeting with a Just Do It, but you can't force that to happen. God has to speak and each person has to listen. So pray for that and cheer when you see it happen.

9. Those Bible verses are supposed to help us see ourselves as freedom activists. Jesus gave us that role. As the director of God's freedom campaign, he is putting some of his freedom into us to deliver to others. If we listen, his Spirit gives us our personal freedom-spreading assignment each week, often by highlighting something for us in the Scripture we focus on. What is the Spirit directing you to do this week? Is there someone you should talk to or listen to? Is there something that needs to change? 

10. Let’s make a list of our “Just-Do-Its” so we can pray for each other and cheer each other on this week. (Make sure everyone has the list in a form that works for them.)

11. Let’s pray now about doing our “Just-Do-Its”. (Optional wording, or pray in your own words) -- Thank you, Lord, for giving us our assignments in your campaign. Please give us whatever courage, skill, and spiritual power it will take to get them done. Please prepare things so that people get connected, healed, or blessed as we do them. Let these “Just-Do-Its” be our small contributions to a better world because we listened to you together in this group. In the name of Jesus, the Campaign Director, we ask these things. Please let them happen.

12. If we meet next week, the first question will be how our “Just-Do-Its” went. The rest of the questions are basically the same as this week. So what do we think God wants us to do? Is he steering us toward meeting as a Just Do It Group for the next few weeks or toward some other way of participating in his campaign to bless the world? (No single method is for everybody. The Spirit may be telling some people that this is not the method for them, so don’t judge those who say no.)

13. (If the group decides to continue) Is this the best time for weekly meetings? What’s our schedule? I’m appointing __________ to lead next week and ___________ the week after, OK? I’ll send you the link for the leader’s guide and the Bible text to use.

14. Thank the group for participating in the trial session. Whether the group plans to meet again or not, say whatever else the Spirit leads you to say to cheer people on as they listen for God’s guidance and do what he leads them to do.