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LIFE GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE
Wednesday Night, November 8, 2006
“The Family and the Fatherless”
5 Minutes - Welcome / Prayer
5 Minutes - OPEN
One of life’s greatest blessings is to be loved, wanted, and valued by our family. Take a minute and allow everyone in your group to reflect on the premium you have placed on your children . . . mate . . . family!
What are some of the marked differences between a stable and healthy family and one where dysfunction and disorder exists? Is there any one particular event or circumstance that could completely throw your family into chaos?
Imagine being the seven-year old daughter of a single-parent mom who is dying of cancer and you have no other capable family member to care for you. What would be some of the overwhelming fears you would possess?
15 Minutes - DIG
What is your first reaction to the word “abandonment” as it relates to a child being left “orphaned” and/or separated from one or both of his/her parents?
Two questions that follow:
* Is this a sin problem?
* How can we be a positive and spiritual influence on the behalf of the children when this emerges?
As a Christian, to what action are we individually and collectively called to take regarding the 400 adoptable children in the Arkansas’ social services system?
What should we do this week to respond the needs of these children who have been abandoned?
Why is it so clear in looking through all of scripture that our Heavenly Father has such a passionate interest in orphans (i.e., Ps. 10:14; Deut. 14:28-29; Prov. 23:10-11; Ps. 68:5-6; Isa. 1:17; Jere. 5:26-29; James 1:27)?
Why did God identify our status as Christians as “adopted sons and daughters” (Eph. 1:3-6; Jn. 14:18; Rom. 8:22-25)?
15 Minutes - REFLECT
Allow the group members to reflect on individuals and/or couples they know who have brought foster children or who have adopted children and blended them into their family. What are some of the motivations that have enabled these individuals to make such a sacrifice?
Dennis Rainey, President of Family Life, gives these five ways to care for orphans:
* Plead with the Father for the fatherless.
* Find ways to “go near” orphans.
* Give sacrificially.
* Help “empty” the state’s foster system.
* Become “pro-life” and “pro-adoption.”
Allow the group to discuss ways we can individually and as a group respond to these action steps.
Though we are saddened and sympathetic to the plight of all these orphaned children all over the world, what can we do at this time in our life that moves this from a tender emotion in our heart to an action step of faith?
5 Minutes - CLOSING PRAYER
Having been stirred by this discussion, to what should we devote ourselves in prayer this week? Make a list of these items and allow everyone in the circle to voice in prayer to God the one most singular conviction and petition they feel on this important matter.
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