Dot Com(unity) Week 3: Testing

God tests us in order to teach us.

by Sam O'Neal

The Big Idea
The central idea behind this study is pretty clear: Jesus tests those who choose to follow Him as disciples.

That means you as a group leader don't have to worry about building the discussion toward a point of climax or revelation where everyone learns something new or exciting. You can just get it out of the way right at the beginning: "Tonight we're going to be talking about how Jesus tests those who choose to follow Him as disciples."

That also means you can get into the meat of the discussion from the very beginning. The study recommends that you ask this as a Discussion Starter: "When have you felt that you were being tested? Why did you feel that way?"

I would prefer to start with a different question: "In what ways are you being tested now as a follower of Jesus?" This is a powerful question, and it has the potential to get your group members talking about their lives in a meaningful way. In fact, if you spent the whole gathering working through this one question, I think that would be more than profitable.

Although I would like to add at least one more question before things finished up: "If you are not being tested right now, and you are following Jesus, what does that mean?"

Teaching Points
First of all, the Teaching Points in this study are sequential, meaning they build off each other. So you won't want to pick and choose what to focus on (as I have recommended for other studies). That being said, Ortberg is a great communicator, and each of his three points comes across very clearly and can be worked through in a group discussion without a lot of complexity.

Still, you will want to pick and choose from among the individual discussion questions. If you try to get through all of them, you will run out of time and the discussion will seem very rushed. So select the questions that are the best fit for your group members based on what will be most interesting to them and what they may already know.

For example, I like the question in Teaching Point Two that says, "How can we show God's love to the following groups?" I would focus on that for a little bit.

Icebreaker and Activities
Here are some icebreakers and other activities from SmallGroups.com that would fit well with this particular lesson:

A Real "Ice" Breaker
Use this object lesson to remind group members they don't have to hold onto their pain.
By Linda McCullough-Moore

Facing Adversity
How do you respond when facing a difficult situation?
By Tami Rudkin

Time to Stretch
Use a rubber band to help group members talk about what stretches them.
By Tami Rudkin