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 21st July 2025 - Ephesians (Ephesians 2:11-22)
Sermon Summary: Throughout history walls have divided people, from each other and from God. In Ephesians 2:11-12, Paul speaks to the church and discusses their historical separation from God, living without hope and excluded by Jewish law from going into the temple. Paul called to the Church to remember their exclusion from God and calling them to live in greater unity.
Jonny unpacked Ephesians to show how through Christ we are united and the wall is broken.
1) Christ breaks the wall
Christ broke the wall between the Jewish people and the Gentiles, meaning that nobody is an outsider in the kingdom. Through his life Christ invited the marginalised into his inner circle, turning tables over with moments such as talking to the Samaritan woman, healing lepers and going into the house of Roman centurions.
2) Christ makes a new people
Christ creates a new humanity (Anthropos). In Ephesians 2:14-18, Paul gives us a sufficient enough framework for unity that surpasses the need for any earthly resources.
3) Christ gives us access to the Father
Jesus set aside the law in his death and resurrection to allow anyone who comes through Christ to approach the Father.
4) Christ made us into a Holy Temple
The word for temple used specifically means the Holy of Holies. Paul tells us that we are called to carry the presence of God that previously resided only in the Holy of Holies to people so that anyone can experience the presence of God. The result is that we are a people called to live in unity beyond any divide of gender, race or any other thing that divides us. Only Jesus can bring us unity, and so to live as part of this family that is united, forgiveness has to be central.
Anyone who is in Christ is part of the family, and Jesus wants the whole world to be invited into this family. It is our job to make the presence of God available to the world.
Questions to consider:
1) What walls are there that we see that need to be broken? How do we contribute to these walls being built/ broken?
2) The sermon emphasised that “anyone in Christ is part of the family.” How does this truth challenge the way you see and treat others who are different from you?
3) What role does forgiveness play in building unity in Christ’s family? Are there any unresolved divisions or hurts that need healing in your life or community?
4) What does it look like to be a presence carrier in our lives?
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 21st July 2025
How is fear showing up in your life most right now?
WC 14th July 2025
What emotion have you felt most this week and why?
WC 7th July 2025
What is the worst thing that has happened in the last year and what is the best thing? From which have you learned the most?
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?
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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.