Discipleship group leaders’ hub
We’re so grateful for this collection of Spirit-filled leaders helping us cultivate the community life of Trinity Church. This ‘hub’ is a dedicated web page where you, as leaders, can find all the information you will need to lead your group.
October Content
Spiritual Warfare, Week 4 - THE SHIELD OF FAITH (Ephesians 6:10-16)
This week Amy Hughes looked at the next piece of armour we need for the spiritual battle - the Shield of Faith.
What stood out to you, or what did you sense God speaking to you about from the preach?
The roman shield was the size of a person and was made to defend a soldier from the deadliest weapon of the day - fiery darts. fiery darts can be anything that undermines our faith:
Fear and anxiety
Doubt and unbelief
Identity lies
Destructive behaviours
Division and resentment
Discuss together what fiery darts resonated within your lives as Amy listed them.
Amy talked through how discouraging the arrows can be but often they come when we are taking ground - when we are stepping on enemy territory!
Has anyone experienced the arrows of the enemy coming when you’ve begun to talk some ground? Stepped out in faith, been obedient etc?
God wants to reinstate our confidence. The shield is trust, trust in Him and Him alone. Amy read out a prayer she reads over herself daily as a reminder of the shield of faith around her.
‘I am but a child,
a broken jar of clay,
completely and perfectly loved,
fuelled and filled by the Holy Spirit.’
Discuss together how praying something like this prayer could make a difference.
Amy explained how the shields of faith in battle were intended for protection as a group as well as individually - pray for each other in smaller groups that you would cover one another in the shield of faith.
Pray together — for one another and those you want to come to know Jesus.
Spiritual Warfare Week 3 - BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
What stood out to you, or what did you sense God speaking to you about from the preach?
Amy Jones told a story about how she became free of panic attacks. Would anyone else like to share a story of how you experienced God’s freedom in specific area of your life?
Read Isaiah 64:6 aloud. “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” Isaiah 64:6
In what ways have you been trying to make yourself right before God in your own strength?
Amy Jones spoke about how harbouring sin and shame can cause to us become hard hearted. All of us are guilty of doing this at times.
How can you tell when you’re becoming hard hearted?
Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal where you are harbouring sin and shame.
Invite your group to join you in praying the prayer Amy shared with us — Jesus, I take this (feeling/lie/thing that happened) to the cross. Thank you that when you died on the cross, my sin and same died too. I repent and believe I am forgiven. I stand in your love. Nothing can separate me from you. Amen
Wearing the breastplate of righteousness is like allowing Jesus to stand in front of us and take the bullet for us. What is one practice you could do each day this week that would help you wear the breastplate of righteousness? For example, you could pray each morning, “Jesus I surrender my attempts at making myself right and I receive righteousness by your blood alone. I choose to put on the breastplate of righteousness today.”
** Finish by praying for one another and those you want to come to know Jesus. **
Spiritual Warfare Week 2 - BELT OF TRUTH (Ephesians 6:10-12, Philippians 4:8-9)
What stood out to you, or what did you sense God speaking to you about from the preach?
What is a lie you are believing? We want God to replace our lies with his truth.
Ask the Holy Spirit to expose or highlight a lie you are believing.
As a group, spend a few moments in silence listening to God.
Invite people to confess the lie and repent. This could be done in pairs or groups of 3-4 people or if people don’t want to say it out loud, they could do so in the quietness of their own heart.
After each person confesses, invite the Holy Spirit to replace the lie with a truth. This will most likely be specific and have a weightiness to it. Encourage the person to speak the truth over themselves as a way of receiving it. For example, “I am a beloved daughter of the king.”
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32
What do you need to remove in order to make room for the belt of truth?
For example — in relation to the Philippians 4:8-9, Jonny encouraged us to take a break this week from social media, the news, and youtube. Your group could give this a go together and report back next week with how it impacted your level of peace.
What is one way you want TRY this week to wear the belt of truth every day?
Writing scripture on a sticky note and hanging it on your bathroom mirror, making a list of things God says about you in the Bible and saying them over yourself, repeating the truth statement from question one over yourself, etc
Where are you glancing where you should be gazing? Where are you gazing where you should be glancing?
Pray together — for one another and those you want to come to know Jesus.
Spiritual Warfare Week 1 — KNOWING OUR ENEMY
This week, we started a new series called Spiritual Warfare, based on Ephesians 6:10-12. Throughout this series, we will provide discussion questions to help your group reflect on what you heard in the preach and apply it to everyday life.
What stood out to you, or what did you sense God speaking to you about from the preach?
Where are you partnering with fear? In his preach, Jonny spoke about how the enemy uses fear as one of his primary strategies. Take sometime as a group to explore this together.
Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal where you are partnering with fear.
Take a few minutes in silence to listen to God.
Then give people an opportunity to share with the group. There is power in bringing our fears into the light by confessing them to others.
Ask Jesus to fill you with his perfect love. “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:18
What’s one thing you’d like God to do in or through you in this series on spiritual warfare?
Just a reminder to conclude your group by praying for the people you wrote down last week who you want to see come to know Jesus.
MISSION — Who are the people we know and love who don't yet know Jesus?
Following Invitation Sunday, we're going to spend some time as a group praying for people in our lives who don't yet know Jesus — friends, family, colleagues, neighbours and others.
Why? Because God encourages us to ask, prayer is powerful, and it makes a difference.
Start by welcoming the Holy Spirit and asking, “Who would you like us to pray for?”
Spend some time together in quiet, listening to God.
As a group, share who has come to mind, and write their names down. Then pray for each person by name.
We'd encourage your group to keep the sheet of paper and commit to briefly praying for these people by name at the end of each time you gather over the coming year. We are believing we will see these people come to faith.
LEADERS’ HANDBOOK
For more information on our core practices, what it means to be a group leader and more read our Leader’s Handbook, which includes a guide for the first six weeks of your Discipleship Group.
KEY DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
The next Trinity Leaders’ Gathering is Tuesday the 3rd of November
ATTENDANCE
In order to make sure that our Discipleship Groups are serving our whole church family as best as they can we are asking that you take an attendance for your first, last and mid-term gathering. We’ve made this as simple and easy as possible by setting an email reminder for you each time you need to submit an attendance with simple instructions on it - it should take you less than 2 minutes! If you want to find out more read this article.
PASTORAL 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 Trinity’s Pastoral Care team. There are two options:
PASTORAL PRAYER
Our pastoral prayer team can meet with you 2 or 3 times over a few months. They will listen and pray with you. This is helpful if something in your life is significantly affecting your relationship with God and others. In these conversations and prayer times we hope to stand with you to bring this before God and see Him work.
To request pastoral prayer please complete this form
ENCOUNTER PRAYER
This is a one-hour prayer session with two people who will guide you as you meet with Jesus. Encounter prayer is often helpful if there’s a memory, thought pattern, or belief that is holding you back. Many people find new freedom and healing during this time.
To request encounter prayer please complete this form
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.