February 25-26:

The next two weeks will be on the church and looking into its many functions.

Part 1: The church at worship. This will be focused on the more organized, formal, meeting together (the weekends)

Part 2: The church at informal worship in the community.

Big Idea (part 1): Believers Worship Together.

Key Verse: Acts 2:42 (page 1073) “All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.”

Big Group time: Focus on the “all” in the verse. The “all” are people (believers/the church to be specific). Explain that the Church is NOT a building! We don’t come to church. We are the church! Believers in Christ are the people that make up the church. Leave them hanging with something like this: since we are the church, what are we supposed to do? What do we do when we gather together? (The Greek word for church literally means the ‘gathering’ or ‘coming together.’ You don’t need to tell them that, but it is just a fun fact that ties into what I was saying above as to the church being the people not a building.) Then let them go into their small groups to discuss the verse to answer the question.

SMALL GROUP TIME: The focus will be to answer the question: What things is the church (believers) to do?