Next Steps: Part 3 - It's Not Hard to Grow

MICRO CHURCH GUIDE
March 12, 2023
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ANNOUNCEMENTS

Easter On Mission
To engage our community this Easter, our Micro Churches and other OneLifers will be hosting neighborhood Easter Egg hunts all across Knoxville. This is an awesome way to meet and serve people where we live, work & play, and invite people to experience Jesus with us as we approach Easter Sunday on April 9. If you’d like to host an egg hunt or find an egg hunt to help out with, click this link and fill out the form. 

Bring Stuffed Easter Eggs - March 19 & 26
As a part of our Easter On Mission, a way for EVERYONE to get involved is to provide Easter eggs for the egg hunts. Over the next two Sundays, bring plastic eggs stuffed with candy to your campus. There will be a sign in your lobby where you can drop them off. Whether you bring a couple dozen or a couple hundred, any amount will be a huge help! 

OneLife Students 2023 Summer Camp - June 12th - 16th
OneLife Students is going to Student Life Camp this Summer at Lee University, June 12th - 16th. This is going to be a great experience where your student will grow closer to God, their small groups, and their leaders - plus it’ll be a ton of fun! Registration is open, but there are only a few spots left. To make sure you don’t miss out visit onelifeknox.com/camp to sign up today. 

Salvation and Baptism Class - for Elementary Kids & Parents
If you’re a parent of an elementary student and your child has been talking to you about their relationship with Jesus - or if you’re wanting to learn more about HOW to talk to your child about Jesus - then we have a class you don’t want to miss. It’ll take place Sunday, March 26 at 9am in the Meeting Room of our North & East campuses. Mark the Kids Salvation & Baptism box on your Connection Card to sign up. 

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GIVE BACK
Give Jesus your best! Make a one-time tithe or offering or to set up a recurring tithe or offering: Click Here To Give Online.
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Bottom Line: Taking steps to grow is not that hard.

Hebrews 6:1 NIV
1 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God,

Hebrews 5:11 NIV
11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand.

1. Growth steps require effort.

Hebrews 5:12 NIV

12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!

Hebrews 5:13 NIV

13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.

2. Growth steps come with experience.


Hebrews 5:14 NIV
14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

3. Growth steps are my responsibility.

Hebrews 6:1 NIV

1 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God,

4. Growth is one step at a time.

Hebrews 5:12 NIV

12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!

5. Growth is displayed by multiplication.


START TALKING
What is something in your life that you experience that isn't hard to see it grow? Your kids? Your lawn? Your waistline?! What effort and what experience is required for it to grow, and as long as those two things are there the growth just naturally happens?

In whatever example you gave above, what would happen if effort and experience wasn't there? Would it still be able to grow? Would it still have the potential to grow, even if it wasn't?

START THINKING
Read Hebrews 5:7-10. What is this a summary of? How would you retell this in your own words? How can you see that this is told in a way that was especially relevant and understanding to those with a Jewish background? What model does this give us to follow when we talk to people about the Gospel?

Read Hebrews 5:11-13. What is keeping these new Christians from growing? What are the different obstacles that the writer of Hebrews points out? What does he equate growth to so that they (and we) see that growth is a natural result of being born, so long as the basic elements are there?

START SHARING
When you think about spiritual growth, what makes it seem difficult?

Hebrews 5:11-13 shows that effort and having daily, real-life experiences with Jesus are the missing pieces. When have you experienced spiritual growth because you took a step of effort or took a step to have an experience with Jesus? When have you had seasons that this wasn't happening, and what was keeping you from taking a step of effort or experience?

START DOING
Who in your life will learn from you as you take steps of effort and experience to grow in your faith? What are ways that you can be intentional to show them Jesus in every day life? How can you let the realities of life and the circumstances people face to be the way that you teach them about Jesus?

Read Hebrews 6:1. What is a step of effort you are going to take this week to move beyond the elementary things? What is a step of experience that you are going to take to follow Jesus?

What is a step that we can take as a micro church? How can we leverage our Easter event to take steps to grow and to be on mission?

START PRAYING

Pray for each other and the steps we committed to take. Ask God to give each of us boldness to take those steps and to convict us when find that we aren't following him. Ask Him to use each of us to multiply our faith to others as we grow to a place of maturity and naturally begin to produce fruit.
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CONNECTION CARDS

Be sure to fill out the online Connection Card to let us know next steps, prayer requests, or other information you'd like to share, Click Here.
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MULTIPLICATION
Share spiritual/missional conversations you've had where you live, work, and play:
  - Who did you have a conversation with that took a spiritual/missional turn this week?
  - What questions did you ask to discover where God is at work in their life, even if they are not aware?
  - How were you able to share your story of life change or how you have experienced Jesus?
  - How can you be intentional this week with people where you live, work, and play to have spiritual/missional conversations if the opportunity arises?
  - Who in your life do you think could be disciple-able or open to spiritual/missional conversations?
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WHAT'S NEXT?
  - Discuss the next step for your micro church. When will we gather again, and which purpose will it fulfill (missions, fellowship/care, growth, worship, multiplication)?/giveback/giveback
  - Discuss the next step for your micro church. When will we gather again, and which purpose will it fulfill (missions, fellowship/care, growth, worship, multiplication)?

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