How to be a Lantern Partner

Week beginning 17 April 2016

GROW

Key Passage - John 15:1-5

Welcome - When did Jesus become more than a word to you?

Worship - Supply some compost, seeds or bulbs & use the following verses to speak out the potential of

all God has made you for - Phil 1:6; Phil 2:13; 2 Cor 3:18; Jude verse 24

Word - Read John 15:1-5 & pray…

What would you say a mature Christian looks like? Did what Mary have to say help?

What do the words ’abide’ or ’remain’ (v 5) mean to you? How can you abide practically?

When have you experienced ’pruning’ (v 6)? How do you feel about God when that happens?

Time to be open. Where you at in your walk with God? Where are you finding closeness to God &

where is it a struggle? Read Heb 5:12-14. What areas most help you to grow?

How do you stay accountable? Is there someone who can draw alongside you & help you in this or

could you become a mentor & support to someone else?

Witness - As a church we are calling each of us to join together to pray over the week of 6-15 May. At

the end of that we have Pentecost Sunday plus a time to prepare for a month of outreach in June. Pray!

How to be a Lantern Partner

Week beginning 24 April 2016

WORSHIP

Key Passage - Exodus 33:12-33

Welcome - What is your favourite place to worship God? On your own? With others?

Worship - get together a map or atlas then read Psalm 139:1-10, thank God that every place is ‘holy’

ground & every location is a place where He can be worshipped. Spend some time in praise & prayer.

Word - ‘The worship place is the training place for the marketplace’ - do you agree with this statement?

Why is it important to come together as Christ-followers on a regular basis? Look at Heb 10:24,25.

What are you expecting to get out of church? Do you prepare for the times you are together?

Read Exodus 33:12-23 - how can we be expectant of more of God’s presence when we gather? Is

it something you conjure up or is it something we can pray into? How could we know more of

God’s ‘glory’ at the Lantern when we gather?

How important is the worship to you? What about the word? How can you apply the word better to

your life? Is church something you could bring a friend to? How can we make Sunday’s more

accessible to our friends?

Witness - In preparation for the week of prayer can you think of 5 friends that you long to see move

closer to Jesus? Please pray for our times together - for more of the presence of God….!!

How to be a Lantern Partner

Week beginning 1 May 2016

SERVE

Key Passage - John 13:34,35

Welcome - what do you get passionate about? If you could do one thing for God what would it be?

Worship - find EIGHT everyday objects (eg phone, keys, diary etc). As the group come to worship ask

the Holy Spirit to remind you of aspects of God’s character to reflect these items. Then pray!

Word - Loving each other is challenging - the bible makes it clear we are to lay down our lives for other

Christians so what is the main point of John 13:35?

What did you take from Howard’s talk on Sunday? Anything in particular strike you?

How have other people in the Church shown love to you in practical ways? How did it make you

feel? Did it ‘bless’ you & give you fresh perspective on your situation?

In what ways do you like to serve others in the Church? Are there areas you’d like to get involved

with but you feel you’re not up to it? What would you say your main giftings?

What are the best things about serving? What do we receive as we serve?

Witness - are there things the Life Group could connect with that could serve others & provide an

opportunity to bring others closer to Jesus? There are plenty of areas for you to get involved just ask!

How to be a Lantern Partner

Week beginning 8 May 2016

GIVE (with Week of Prayer)

Key Passage - 2 Cor 9:6-15

Welcome - what’s the best thing about being part of the Lantern?

Worship - read 1 John 4:7-21 & use it as a basis for worship. We love & honour Him because He first

loved us. He is an awesome & mighty God!!

Word - Please spend a short time discussing what was talked about on Sunday using 2 Cor 9 as a help

& guide. These are encouraging times for us as a church but we it needs regular financial support to

keep the mission & ministry growing in the future.

Christians are encouraged to take the ‘tithe’ (10% of income gross or net) seriously. It would be good to

discuss this as openly as you feel able. For some this seems & feels like a mammoth task but it can be

done in stages or over a period of time. It’s best though to put it FIRST in the month rather than wait to

see what’s left at the end.

Please don’t avoid talking in your Life Groups about this (we don’t go on about it as a church!) but give

say 30 minutes to it before heading to the prayer sheets attached!

HAVE FUN! We can never outgive God…..!! Let’s get hilarious!!

Thy Kingdom Come

Lantern Week of Prayer

(6-15 May 2016)

LIFE GROUP NOTES FOR USE

ALONGSIDE THE STUDY NOTES….

Please hand out in previous week…..

(adapted from notes by Gareth &

Barbara Jones)

INDIVIDUALLY—We invite you to pray for…..

5 people - friends, family, from work, leisure or street. Spend some time asking God who they could be.

How?

for the next 5 days, for 5 mins a day total to pray and bless the 5’s you have selected – see attached prayer

and blessings sheet.

At start of prayer week each person to pray for their community:

Who can I affirm and bless this week? – e.g. speak encouragements to our neighbours.

Whom can I show mercy? - practical help, pray with others maybe for healing etc

With whom can I share some good news about what Jesus has done for me or others?

IN LIFE GROUPS - use after welcome & worship & brief discussion of ‘Give’ talk…..

Share who your 5 people are why you feel constrained to pray for them….

Share good news stories of what God has been doing this week so far….

Use Lord’s Prayer as a focus…. or prayers of blessing like the ones below….

Example of a blessings prayer for marriages and families: “We bless you in the Name of Jesus that all mar-

riages may be strong and whole. We bless the relationship between each marriage partner that it may be

loving, forgiving, strong and merciful. We bless all intergenerational relationship within each household that

there may be peace and love and understanding flowing between each one”.

Repeat blessings for health over the community to be strong and well, bless schools, Churches, Gods

provision for the area that people would have ‘enough to live and enough to give. Bless anything else you are

sensing God is leading you to bless.

We are all called to bless as well as pray so please try to ensure when you bless you say ‘In Jesus Name I/

We bless you with all of God’s blessings for …….”. Please don’t fall into the trap of just saying: “God will

you bless” because we are all called to bless and invoke blessings – see Numbers 6 v 22 (NIV Priestly Bless-

ing). This is not an attempt to be prescriptive/religious as God knows our hearts but try to bless as ‘Believer

Priests’ as its our calling!

Finally……………….

Pray collectively as a group over the 5 families or individuals you have selected to pray for.

As you draw to a close ask the questions to the Life Group:

Who or what can you affirm and bless this week?

To whom can you show mercy and help (pray for) or offer practical help.

With whom can you share some good news about Jesus?

Thy Kingdom Come

Lantern Week of Prayer

(6-15 May 2016)

Individual Blessings & Prayer Sheet for use by Life

Group members...

(adapted from notes by Gareth & Barbara Jones)

Spend first 2 days (not more than 5 mins a day total) praying who God wants you to ‘pray and bless’ over this week

and also considering who is God putting in front of me i.e.:

Who can I affirm and bless this week? – e.g. speak encouragements to our neighbours.

Whom can I show mercy? - practical help, pray with others maybe for healing etc?

With whom can I share some good news about what Jesus has done for me or others?

The following 5 days take the following format to pray/bless a total of 5 mins a day:

Daily Intro: ‘Father, I bring to you (names). I agree with your plan and purpose that each one of them might come

to know you and honour Jesus as Lord and Christ. I ask that you would send dreams, visions, and divine encoun-

ters to each one.’

Day 1

Pray: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’ – Ask Gods Protection

Bless: Body- health, protection, strength

Example blessings: I/We in the Name of Jesus bless your health that you may be strong and well. To any who are

sick right now I/We bless you in Jesus’ name with a speedy recovery.

Day 2

Pray: “Give us this day our daily bread” – Ask God’s Provision e.g. enough to live and to give.

Bless: Labour – work, reward, security

Day 3

Pray: ”Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name” – Ask Gods Character to be revealed in their lives.

Bless: Emotional – joy, peace, hope

Day 4

Pray: “And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us” – Gods forgiveness

Bless: Social – love, marriage, family, friends

Day 5

Pray: “You Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” – Gods Kingdom

Bless: Spiritual – salvation, revelation, faith, grace

An Important Note: We are all called to bless as

well as pray so please try to ensure when you

bless you say ‘In Jesus Name I/We bless you

with all of God’s blessings for …….”. Please

don’t fall into the trap of just saying: “God will

you bless” because we are all called to bless

and invoke blessings – see Numbers 6 v 22

(NIV Priestly Blessing). This is not an attempt

to be prescriptive/religious as God knows our

hearts but try to bless as ‘Believer Priests’ as

its our calling!!

Holy Spirit Come!

Week beginning 15 May 2016

Holy Spirit Part One

Welcome - Using football as an analogy, where would you put yourself: outside the ground, on the pitch,

in the stands or in the showers?

Worship - light a scented candle, crank up the worship & give God time to meet with you….

Word - What was your understanding of the Holy Spirit before this week’s talk? Did the talk help?

Read John 14:16,17 & John 16:7. Why is having the Holy Spirit active in our lives so important?

How is the Holy Spirit in us better than Jesus actually being here?

Read Acts 19:1,2. Are you constantly aware of the Spirit or are fearful of being open to Him? In

what ways do you think you might be ‘quenching the Spirit’?

Read John 16:12,13; Isaiah 30:31; John 16:8,9. When you think back can you remember a time

when the Holy Spirit comforted, counselled or convicted you?

How can you make more space for the Spirit in your life? What steps are you going to take to

enable you to live a more Spirit-filled life?

Witness - building on last week’s week of prayer has it opened fresh ways to pray. How are you going to

keep the momentum going in praying into the lives of your 5 contacts? Would you consider inviting them

to an event if it was something they’d appreciate & what about the new Alpha Course in the autumn?

Take some time praying into this…..

Holy Spirit Come!

Week beginning 22 May 2016

Holy Spirit Part Two

Welcome - When was the last time you had a sense of the presence of the Spirit?

Worship - Read the responsive Psalm 136 out & respond as a group in kind…. Then ask God to come!

Word - Read Acts 1:4-8 - the Spirit comes & gives us His Presence & His Power.

Read 1 Cor 2:4,5 - these verses show us how the Holy Spirit gives us the power to share Christ

with others. Have you ever had the conversation with someone & God has given you words to

speak?

Read Romans 8:26 & 2 Cor 12:9,10 - share a time when you were weak & the Holy Spirit gave you

power to overcome your weakness?

Read Romans 15:13 & Eph 3:16 - Have you ever been filled with the Holy Spirit? What’s stopping

you? Why not ask God for more of Him to help you live your life to the full? Look at Gal 5:16,17 &

Eph 5:15-18 plus Gal 5:22-26 to see how we are called to be ‘fruity, Spirit-filled ‘ followers of Jesus. Witness - it’s SUPER SUNDAY this coming Sunday with special guest Sam Priest from the Good News

Church in Wimborne. Please come along to this joint service (10am) full of food, fun & worship! During

half-term we have a visit on Tue 31 May from the Watoto School choir from Uganda who will give us a

vibrant Spirit-filled evening of praise & testimony. Great to bring friends & neighbours to! Look out for

June when we will be aiming to get out on the streets of Wimborne expectant of God to turn up!