For the 2024-2025 ministry year, we are encouraging our Small Groups to use two main resources.
Prodigal God by Tim Keller
In this six-session small group Bible study, pastor and bestselling author Timothy Keller uses one of Jesus’ best-loved parables – the Prodigal Son – to illustrate the depth of God’s love and how his grace extends into some very unexpected places.
Taking you beyond the traditional focus on the wayward younger son, Keller helps you glean insights from each of the characters in Jesus' parable: the irreligious younger son, the moralistic elder son, and the Father who lavishes his love on both. Inside this guide, you'll explore questions for group discussion and personal reflection, and exercises that will help you experience the truths of Jesus' parable in your own life. The gospel is neither religion nor irreligion, but something else entirely. Whether you're a devout believer or a skeptic, The Prodigal God will challenge you to see Christianity in a whole new way.
This Discussion Guide is designed for use together with The Prodigal God DVD and book (both sold separately). Includes discussion questions for groups and individuals, suggested resources for further reading, Scripture references, helpful notes for leaders, and much more. When used together with the DVD this study provides users with practical tools that transform their faith.
Sessions include: 1. The Parable The People Around Jesus 2. The Two Lost Sons 3. The Elder Brother 4. The True Elder Brother 5. The Feast of the Father
MCC will provide DVD’s or a thumb drive for each Life Group - contact Pastor Jim Discussion Guides can be purchased here. Companion Book can be purchased here.
Colossians: The New Old Perfectly Imperfect You by Edith Bajema
Paul's letter to the Colossians speaks of a transformation so deep and profound that it can only be described as dying and coming to life again.
Paul's letter to the Colossians in the first century A.D. may be the most important letter you will ever read! This brief letter has affected many millions of people around the world for many centuries. It speaks of a transformation so deep and profound that it can only be described as dying and coming to life again. In this letter we discover the one in whom all things hold together, the one who transforms us and makes us new—Jesus Christ, the living Son of God—so that we can live for and with God forever.
Includes five inspirational readings that follow each lesson.
Study books can be purchased here
Life Group – Additional Study Material
We recommend the use of the following material for any additional study your group would like to engage in.
Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Calhoun
Maybe you long for a more intimate prayer life or deeper insight from God's Word but just don't know how to get there. Or maybe you want to learn about new spiritual disciplines like visio divina, unplugging or attentiveness.
In Spiritual Disciplines Handbook Adele Calhoun gives us directions for our continuing journey toward intimacy with Christ. While the word discipline may make us want to run and hide, the author shows how desires and discipline work together to lead us to the transformation we're longing for―the transformation only Christ can bring. Instead of just giving information about spiritual disciplines, this handbook is full of practical, accessible guidance that helps you actually practice them.
With over 80,000 copies in print, this revised edition of a well-loved resource includes:
Seventy-five revised and expanded disciplines to transform your spiritual life,
Thirteen new disciplines for new readers and those familiar with the text alike, and
A new preface by the author.
Mothers, fathers, plumbers, nurses, students―we're all on a journey. And spiritual disciplines are for all of us who desire to know Christ deeply and be like him. Here is direction for our desire, leading us to the ultimate destination: more of Christ himself.
Spiritual Disciplines Handbook can be purchased here
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer
“Hurry is the great enemy of the spiritual life.”
The book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry is more than just a call to slow down, it is an invitation to pursue a life of deeper intimacy with God. For busy people who are looking for more from life, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry is a fascinating roadmap to staying emotionally healthy and spiritually alive in the chaos of the modern world.
You can purchase The Ruthless Elimination of Hurryhere.
The Prayer Course & The Unanswered Prayer Course
The Prayer Course (eight weeks) and the Unanswered Prayer Course(five weeks will help you and your small group to grow and deepen your prayer life. Led by Pete Grieg, Founder of the 24/7 Prayer movement, these two video courses will inform, challenge, and equip your prayer life.
