GS-Primer-Leader-Guide-1

:Leader Guide
48
Part I: Starting the Conversation
Review and
Reflect
This conversation is meant to serve as a
conclusion for the content and discussion
you’ve had as your participants have journeyed
through this Primer. This month, our hope is not
to introduce many new concepts, but rather
to link the ideas we’ve learned up to this point.
As always, it’s vital for you to read the room
and discern the emotional tone of the group:
Are they leaving encouraged and motivated
for what’s ahead? Are they overwhelmed?
Do they want to quit? The answer to each
of these questions is probably “yes”. There
are those who feel like this journey has put
words to ideas they’ve been wrestling with for
some time. Some have wondered if anyone
else was asking the same questions and they
are now emboldened to know that there are,
in fact, scores of pastors and churches who
are restless for a change to a new OS for the
Church.
Others, however, feel hopeless. Some may be
crushed by guilt and shame, thinking that they
may have squandered decades of pastoral
ministry by prioritizing the wrong things. Some
others may have fallen into the comparison
trap. They look around the room and assume
that the other leaders are sharper, wiser, and
better positioned to bring about change than
they perceive themselves to be. They believe
in the mission but doubt whether they can
actually make a difference.
It may be helpful, at this juncture, to remind
the group of the two figures who shaped the
mission of the early church, perhaps more
than any other—Paul and Peter. Point out the
reality of Paul’s past as a violent opponent
of the Church, his radical conversion, and
his unrelenting zeal for God’s mission to the
Gentiles.
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