The Gospel-Centered Community: Study Guide with Leader's Notes

by Robert H. Thune, Will Walker

Grow Authentic, Gospel-Shaped Community We don't want to be alone. We want to love and be loved; and we know that genuine relationships make our lives rich. But somehow living in community always ends up being harder than we thought. This nine-lesson small group study helps participants learn how the Holy Spirit shapes diverse people into a Christ-centered community that reflects Jesus to a watching world. Each lesson is self-contained, featuring clear teaching from biblical Scripture, and requires no extra work outside the group setting. The self-explanatory Leader's Guide helps small group leaders with discussion questions and background material that clearly explain and apply the gospel truths from each lesson. The Gospel-Centered Community has been specifically designed to help bring Christian ethics based on biblical scripture to your community to help everybody live a more fulfilled, gospel-centered, happier life through stronger relationships with our neighbours and with Jesus Christ.

Genres: Faith, Devotional

144 pages, Paperback

Published April 14, 2016

About the author

Robert H. Thune, MA (Reformed Theological Seminary), is the lead pastor of Coram Deo, a gospel-centered church he planted in 2005 in Omaha, Nebraska. He is the coauthor of The Gospel-Centered Community, another Christ-centered small group study. Bob and his wife Leigh have four children.

Reviews

[Grace Rose]

Loved the convos this book sparked. Love my gospel-centered community (y’all know who you are)!

[Madison Pritt]

A very helpful book in contemplating what community should look like and how the gospel changes how we view relationships.

[Nikki Rice]

5 ⭐️ Such good content for conversation about gospel centered community!!! Full of conviction, insight, and truth!!

[Isaac Rennison]

So much community, solid nine-week study

[Brother Brandon]

Read for work. Another excellent book from the Gospel-Centered series that will be good for any small group.

[Caroline Wheeler]

This book has met me in every area of my life the past couple of months. It is encouraging and convicting, and I would recommend it for any group discussion or discipleship/accountability partners!

[Chris Delany]

Read with my Growth Group at church.

We were created for community by a communal (trinitarian) God. The fall has broken community, as we are sinful and self-focused. Jesus has redeemed us for community, and we are transformed in community.

The book also discusses aspects of a gospel-centered community -- a gospel community is joyful, humble, honest, grace-filled, and missional.

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A few other ideas / quotes:

- Our lack of love reveals a lack of faith. --- Faith (in the gospel) is the energy that empowers love. The absence of faith when we see an absence of love. If we are struggling to love others in community, there probably is a faith issue underneath - a lack of belief of the gospel in some area.
- 'You can't see your own face' - you need others to help you see yourself rightly.
- Honesty -- to be known as we really are. The gospel frees us to do this since our identity is rooted in Christ, not in what others think of us. Our righteousness comes from Christ, not in behavior. Honesty means speaking the truth about ourselves and speaking the truth to others (encouragement or admonishment out of love)
- Mission means moving toward others as God has moved toward us. A simple but helpful definition. Are we moving toward others in our communities?

[Jeff]

Helpful explanation of what “gospel-centered” really ought to mean. Good use of biblical and theological explanation followed by practical discussion and application in each lesson. A great resource to help Christians understand what “gospel-centered community” should look like and why. This book is designed to be read and worked through together as a group. Each lesson opens with a Big Idea/Bible conversation, an article, and an exercise.

[Aaron]

Short and helpful book on the basis and characteristics of a church community that is committed to being shaped by the gospel. Best used as a small group study book. Some applications and examples seem a little stretched, but there are also many thought provoking questions aimed at personal applications and application to church communities.

[Joshua Molden]

My church has something called Community Groups and our group was able to go through this resource together. I thought it was great for our group to go through this resource which taught us how the gospel is supposed to infuse every aspect of our gathering. It also helped produce some good discussions as well.

[Alexandra Bautista]

Great workbook for my small group to go over for the semester and learn about developing community. The articles, lessons, and exercises were a helpful resource in grasping the examples and characteristics of a Christian community. They were the right length, too!

[Kaelyn]

A great resource for small groups. Easy to read and digest with practical exercises to do as a group.

[Madison]

This book revealed some hard truths about myself and my relationship with Christ to me, but also fostered some incredible conversations in my community.

[Cindy Davis- Cindy's Book Corner]

This was a great book for our small group. It is perfect for group discussion/participation.

[Allen]

Helpful companion to the book. Leader only needs this one as it includes all the chapters from the participant book.

[Kylie]

humbling and written well. I would recommend this book to any christian book club, church, or leadership team.