Week 9 - Why & How Should I Tell Others?
Storytellers
We tell everyone about all the mundane, insignificant great things in our lives already: that old show where you laugh so hard you cry, the new show that you cry so hard you laugh, that incredible brand that’s disrupting the paperclip industry, and the restaurant where they put Korean food into a taco form.
In this late week of Rooted, it seeks to help everyone distill their stories into concise explanations of God’s goodness in our lives. It wants us to develop an understanding of God’s involvement in our lives so we can tell others. Being a storyteller is all about advocating for something by explaining our experience with it and how it’s changed our lives. That’s what we’re trying to do better with something that truly matters. It’s about simply wanting others to taste and see for themselves what God has done for us. It’s an invitation with an explanation. It’s not about being abrasive, having all the right answers, or threatening ultimatusms about Hell. When we tell our story, we’re partnering with what God is already doing in someone’s life to pull them closer to God.
We can argue against straw-men, philosophical ideals, and historical questions surrounding the nature of God and reality all we want. However, none of that matters if our abstract ideas don’t impact our concrete reality. We need to not just believe in God, but also experience him. That’s what this Rooted journey is all about—balancing knowledge with practice.
Make sure to challenge your group to be praying about an opportunity to share their story with someone, if they haven’t already. This is part of the Rooted Experience.
Cards & Rooted Stories
Next week is all about affirming each other by being God’s mouthpiece. Rooted wants the leader to own this, but we really believe this should be a group effort. With discretion encourage your group to point out the qualities, gifts, passion, and potential God has given people in your group. Speak to them and pray over them the identity and calling you feel like God is trying to communicate with them. You can do this as a group, like we did in our pilot groups, or you can own that piece yourself. You know your group well, so use your discretion. My preference is always to share and distribute leadership to empower others whenever possible.
In the final week, 10, take sometime to let everyone share their experiences with Rooted. What pieces was most meaningful to them? Has something changed in their lives? It doesn’t have to be some big revelation, but something most likely has happened that’s moved them a little closer to Jesus.
We believe that “the story you live in is the story you live out.” That’s what Rooted is all about—understanding the story of God and our place inside of it. So, in our before and after cards, we’re asking you to flip from I WAS _______ to JESUS IS _______. It could be a single word or it could be a phrase. Feel free to break the mold and think outside the box. You can see the cards below. These cards could help them both with their bigger story, but specifically for Week 10 help them tell their story when it comes to Rooted too.
Be paying close attention for one or two stories we could tell at the Celebration on 4/7. We want to put a few stories on display for everyone celebrate what Jesus has been doing this season. Send me an email to nominate anyone that comes to mind, by clicking the button below.
Preparing for Week 10
Prep your group to think through one or two encouraging truths they want to share with each person in their group. Maybe encourage them to think of a word, a phrase, quality, or a passion that comes to mind when they think about each individual in their group.