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 19th May 2025 - TRY Witness (Luke 10:1-12; Psalm 107:1-9)
Summary: This week Amy Jones preached about how we can Try Witness. A witness is someone who sees something amazing and important, and they bear witness by making a statement of what they have seen. The Gospels are witness statements about Jesus.
In Luke, Jesus is sending out the 72 as witnesses to tell others what they have seen. Early Christian evangelism happened by witnesses telling others about their own lives and how Christ had changed them. We are all Christians today because someone told us and we have all seen God move in different ways. God’s plan is for us to share this news - to tell these stories. How can we go about doing this?
Be obedient - live your life in a way that raises questions. “I love Him, I follow Him, I obey Him, I talk about Him.” These questions allow us to point people to Jesus.
Be available - We have to see others, look out for others, and be interruptible.
Be filled with the Spirit - Jesus said we will receive power and be witnesses for Him to the ends of the earth. God has to fuel it; we cannot do it by ourselves. Ask God into your conversations and for His eyes to see people.
Be practicing – this is an easy framework to concisely share your story of how Jesus has changed your life:
a. “It's funny you should ask that. There was a time in my life when…”
b. “But then…”
c. “And now…”
It is easy for us to be bogged down in apathy, fear, and selfishness, which inhibits our evangelism. But Christ calls us “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14) and asks us to let our light shine before others so that they may glorify God. All we can do is be faithful to Jesus and what He has commanded us to do.
Questions to consider:
Where can you practice this conversation framework over the next week?
What stories can you tell which will point others to Jesus?
What has been your experience with evangelism? Have you been actively sharing your faith, or have you been silenced by apathy, fear, or selfishness?
Practice: with the Holy Spirit, spend some time thinking about how you can concisely say what Jesus has done for you using the conversation framework, and pray for an opportunity to use it this week.
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.
WC 19th May 2025: Bread Devotional
Read: 1 Peter 2:11-25
'Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbours. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honourable behaviour, and they will give honour to God when he judges the world.' (v12 - NLT)
Encounter: As followers of Jesus, we often feel the tension of living in a world that does not share our values. For those who don’t yet follow Jesus, the world is a playground and a place to indulge in every desire and passion. But for us, it’s a battleground. Peter calls us to live in a way that is set apart and not driven by things of the world, but by a higher calling. And, because we are called to something more, the world often misunderstands us. We will also find that as we become more like Jesus that our values, attitudes and actions will rub up against the ways of the world.
The reality is that the world is watching us. They pay attention to how we speak about others, how we treat other people and how we behave in different environments. People who aren’t followers of Jesus yet are looking to see if our walk is the same as our talk. Therefore, Peter encourages us to live according to the life that Jesus has called us to live. It is when we live according to the way of Jesus that our lives become a living testimony to those who don’t yet know Jesus.
The way we live our lives has an evangelistic dimension. When we live like Jesus lived, we can soften hearts, challenge preconceptions and, ultimately, point people to Jesus himself. The way we live today may be the seed in someone’s heart and mind that blossoms into salvation tomorrow. We may never know the full impact of how God uses our lives, but we are called to trust that He will work through us.
Apply: Are there areas of my life that need to be challenged and changed? Lord, I’m open to what you want to say to me.
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Conversation Prompts
WC 19th May 2025
What was the last moment that caused you to experience awe or wonder?
WC 12th May 2025
What is a place that holds significant meaning for you, and why is it so special?
WC 28th April 2025
What is one mistake that you have made that you have been scared to address or reconcile?
WC 21st April 2025
What advice did you get from someone earlier in your life that you followed that you now wish you hadn’t?
WC 14th April 2025
What is other people’s biggest misconception of you?
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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.