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LIFE GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE
Wednesday Night, January 24, 2007
“Of Such Is the Kingdom”
5 Minutes - Welcome / Prayer
5 Minutes - OPEN
What are the terms you would use to describe how you feel God views children?
This past Sunday Night in our worship hour, we made the babies born within the past year the center of our attention and emphases as we specifically sought God’s blessing on their lives. Why is it appropriate that at least once a year we as a church give this “blessing on our children” our undivided attention in worship?
What in your mind is the theological significance of our asking a “blessing” of God upon our children? What is it that we are asking for?
How can we as a church “pass on” a blessing to our children?
We live in an age where many children are pressed to be adults. Whatever happened to children being children – jumping, romping, playing, screaming, laughing, crying, etc.?
We put a lot of pressure on kids to be heroes. We fill the grand-stands full; we have scorekeepers, buzzers, people hollering and screaming at referees; some of our expectations for our children are unrealistic.
Beyond all of this, (if you are a parent), what are the spiritual expectations you have set for your children?
15 Minutes - DIG
Though referring to Jesus, as a parent, Luke 2:52 perfectly reflects our prayer for our children’s growth –
“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”
As a parent, have you placed equal weight on all four of these emphases? Where do you think your children feel you have placed the greater emphases?
Jesus made it clear in his teaching that he viewed children in a “safe” relationship with the Father and when wanting to make an obvious point as to who is in the kingdom, he would circle little children around him. Luke recorded these specific words of Jesus to make this point:
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Luke 18:16).
Most of us would agree and affirm as central to our theology that children are safe in the Lord! Having this conviction, how do you deal with the passage in Psalm 51:5 which says:
“Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me”
What are the appropriate ways that a child responds in faith to God? How does a child express his/her commitment and love to God . . . desire to be obedient . . . sorrow for wrong-doing prior to baptism?
When a child feels guilt, what is an appropriate faith response to God?
When does a feeling of guilt cross the line and become sin for which a child is accountable to God?
Though it is true that in the book of Acts we read about someone being converted and their household (Acts 16:15; 18:8), we read mostly about “adult conversions.” Generally speaking, a commitment to the concept of “age of accountability” brings about the notion that baptism is a “rite of passage” into adulthood.
Is there a period of “lost-ness” when a child moves from innocence to moral blameworthiness? What are the crucial ingredients that determine, for any child, the age of accountability?
How do we nurture faith at every stage of development and where does baptism fit into the developmental process given baptism’s meaning?
15 Minutes - REFLECT
What are the repercussions of our failure to bless our children?
How does a child experience a true conversion experience who has been raised in the church all his/her life? What does conversion mean to these children?
5 Minutes - CLOSING PRAYER
Make a list of children who fall in your sphere of influence. Tonight, make these children by name the center of your prayer conversation with God.
What are the appropriate things for which you should pray tonight?
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