and within the church will happen. Do everything in your power to not let it end in .
| 1 Corinthians 1:10 | Luke 11:17 |
Disagreements and disappointments occur in churches because of improperly dealing with:
| 1 Corinthians 1:12 |
| 1 Corinthians 1:11 |
When disagreements and disappointments in the church happen, live in Harmony by:
| Matthew 18:15-35 |
| 1 Corinthians 1:13-16 | 2 Timothy 3:16 |
| 1 Corinthians 1:17 | Philippians 1:27 |
| John 17:20-23 | Galatians 3:28 | 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 | Psalm 133:1-3 | Ephesians 4:1-4 |
Small Group Questions
What do you think?
What struck a chord with you from Sunday’s service?
The story of your life.
- This or that? Discuss.
- Vanilla or Chocolate?
- Mountains or beaches?
- iPhone or Android?
- ESV or NLT or _____?
- On Sunday we saw the danger of division in the church and also in our relationships. The opposite of division is unity. Tell about a time in your life when unity won in a situation where it could have gone the other way.
Digging deeper.
- On Sunday, Pastor Obie said that disagreements in the church are prone to happen. Apart from God, relationships between people tend to get worse rather than better after there has been a wound. Only through Christ can hurts become truly healed and have relationships grow even stronger after a negative interaction (or a series of them). That means unity must be fought for. Read Ephesians 4:1-16 together and have a few members of the group recap the passage using their own words.
- What does this tell us about God? People? You?
- Is there a specific situation in your life where you sense God asking you to fight for unity? Explain.
- True unity is only possible once a hurt has been healed (or at least where it’s on the way to healing). Ephesians 4:17-32 offers some phenomenal insight into how to walk through relationships as the healing is happening. Read it together and answer the following questions.
- How should we think about other people who have hurt us or who we might disagree with? [ Verses 17-23 ]
- What might it look like to renew one’s mind with respect to how we think about someone who hurt us? [ Verse 23 ]
- How should we think and speak while in conflict?
- Re-read verse 30. Why do you think Paul included this thought in this passage? What implications might this have for us in relationships?
- In light of all this, is there anything you need to do differently?
Personal reflection and application.
- Have everyone share one thing someone else said that hit home with you.
- Break up into smaller groups and pray for one another.