We’re so grateful for this collection of Spirit-filled leaders helping us cultivate the community life of Trinity Church. As we step into this new adventure of intentional discipleship, with regular gatherings in your homes, we want to equip you to host and serve your Groups well. So each week we will be providing you with some suggested content for your time together, as well as some key dates and details about what’s going on in the wider church, to be shared with those you’re seeing.
This ‘hub’ is a dedicated web page for you, as leaders, and won’t be accessible to the rest of the congregation. Come back here each week for all the information you need. And please know our gratitude and our prayers for you as you partner with us in this kingdom work. Thank you.
Discipleship Groups will include three core practices:
Eat - share a meal together in the presence of Jesus.
Share - share about our lives and around Scripture
Pray - for each other, our communities, and the wider world
More information on these practises and liturgy for meals can be found in our leaders’ handbook, and further down the webpage.
LEADERS’ HANDBOOK
Access the leaders handbook to read about what it means to be a group leader, FAQs and more here, including the first four weeks of share content.
EAT
As you eat together in the presence of the living Jesus, we encourage you to re-centre your hearts using a piece of liturgy. This is an opportunity to remember that Jesus is in the midst of our eating and conversation, and that it is because of his death and resurrection that each member is welcome at the table.
Participatory sections are in bold. Each stanza or verse could have a different reader.
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On the night he was betrayed, at supper with his friends, Jesus broke bread and shared a cup.
As we share this meal, we do it in remembrance of him.
Come, Holy Spirit.
Come, Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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Come to this table
All who are hungry
All you who thirst for more
The broken and the healing
The mourning and the joyful
Join as family and friends
Heavenly Father, we want to meet with you
Heavenly Father, we want to meet with you
Thank you for the gifts of friendship, kinship and belonging
The warm glow of affection and the joy that we share
Let our words and actions be of love,
Woven into the fabric of this time as you abide among us
Our closest friend and advocate
King Jesus, we rejoice in your presence
King Jesus, we rejoice in your presence
As we eat and drink together, we are reminded of your sacrifice
Bread and wine, Body and Blood
Just as you shared a meal with your friends, we share this meal
In grateful remembrance of Calvary
And in celebration of an empty grave
Come Holy Spirit, we welcome you
Come Holy Spirit, we welcome you
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“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Cor 11:23b-26)
Father, we do this in remembrance of him.
Father, we do this in remembrance of him.
Jesus says “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matt 18:20)
Jesus, we gather in your name. Be with us.
Jesus, we gather in your name. Be with us.
SHARE
Each week the Community Life team will produce some content to help you lead the share portion of your group time. We suggest rotating through the themes of discipleship, family and mission to help foster well-rounded growth in the dynamic of the group, and in each member’s walk with Jesus.
This content is a guide intended to spark conversation - you are so welcome to follow the lead of the Spirit if He takes you elsewhere.
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For your discipleship weeks, you could base your discussions on the sermon, or do Bread together. Suggestions for both are below.
WC 30th June 2025 - Ephesians (Ephesians 1:1-14)
Summary: This week we had Amy Jones preaching to us on Ephesians 1:1-14 where she pointed us to 4 truths:
1) You are in Christ.
Paul here is describing a union we have with Christ whereby we have died to our old lives and been reborn. In baptism we are lowered under the water and then brought up out of the water and into new life. Being a Christian is about this union we have with Christ that comes through death and resurrection.
2) You are chosen.
Before God had made anything He had you in mind. Before anyone had given you a name He had seen your face. This is an incomprehensible reality - but our comprehension of the passage does not impact its truth. God chose You!
3) You are adopted.
The importance of adoption is that adopted children become inheritors of the same estate that birth children are. We do nothing to be adopted, we just receive our adoption and the inheritance that comes with it. God has done all the work and wants to lavish His gifts onto us because He loves us.
4) You are marked by the Holy Spirit.
We are saved by Christ and then sealed with the Holy Spirit. God puts this taste of heaven within us - the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is within us. People notice when we have the Holy Spirit and we can ask the Spirit to work through us to increase His power in our lives. The Holy Spirit is part of our great inheritance!
Questions to consider:
How can we, instead of looking to understand these truths like a textbook, have them sink into our heart and change us?
How would your life look different if you let these truths sink in?
How has your understanding of what it means to be a Christian changed after reading this passage from St. Paul?
Practice: Ask the Holy Spirit to highlight one of the points from the sermon and see what He wants to bring up. What lies does He want to expose that you have believed? Who does God say that you are?
BREAD
Questions
Be still: spend some time together in silence to centre on God
Read one or all of the passages
Encounter: what verse(s) stood out to you?
Apply: how does this inform how you live your life?
Devote: pray about what you have shared.
BREAD journals are available to buy here, and the pdf version can be accessed here.
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Conversation Prompts
WC 30th June 2025
What is one attribute in someone in this group that you admire?
WC 23rd June 2025
What is something you are trying to unlearn as of late?
WC 16th June 2025
Who is one of your “heroes” (close or at a distance), and what about them do you admire most?
WC 9th June 2025
What was one of your favourite days in the last month, and why?
WC 2nd June 2025
What is a memorable piece of advice you have received?
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The mission portion of our groups is currently under development. We would love your input and to go on this journey of growing in mission together. If this is something your group is pioneering we would love to hear about it!
Prayer Prompt — God, what are you doing in Nottingham that you would like to invite our group to join you in?
PRAY
Ways you could lead your group into prayer:
Divide into pairs and each person pray for the other in their pair
Ask each member to share a prayer request with the group and have a time of open prayer
Pray for and prophesy over a different member of the group each week
We also encourage groups to join in the daily rhythm of praying the Lord’s Prayer at 12pm every day, a practice great to establish while we are in this current sermon series.
TRINITY KEY LEADERS’ GATHERING
Our next gathering is on 7th July from 7pm-9pm. We would love for you to be there!
SOUL CARE
While many of you are gifted in supporting and pastoring your Group, this is a responsibility and honour we share together. If you feel that a group member would benefit from some more targeted pastoral support, you can suggest that they get in touch with Soul Care, Trinity’s pastoral care team. They can make a self-referral via this link.
We would also find it really helpful if you could get in touch with us via the same form. That way, we can create as full a picture of the situation as we can to help us respond in the best way.
SAFEGUARDING
We ask that all leaders complete the Church of England Basic Awareness 2024 safeguarding course which can be done here: CofE Safeguarding. Once you have done the course, please send your certificate to groups@trinitychurchnottingham.org.
If you have any safeguarding concerns that come up in your group, no matter how small, please don’t hesitate to pass them on to one of the team. Luke Meadows is the parish safeguarding officer for adults at Trinity and will log or action your concern as appropriate, but any one of the safeguarding team would be more than happy to help.