Brave Table (Part 5): Sunday Best

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TO START

Think back through your first Sunday at Round Rock Church of Christ. Were you nervous? Uncomfortable? What was that visit like? Who did you meet? What made you feel at home?

  • What could you learn from your first visit that might help you be more hospitable?

TO DISCUSS

Do you have any stories of a time when someone at a church welcomed you in a “brave table” kind of way?

When you come to church on Sundays, are you looking for outsiders and new people? If so, what does that look like? What do you do? If not, why not?

What one or two things could you do every Sunday to intentionally connect with someone new?

As you listened to Justin run through the list of things we’re willing to change or sacrifice during Sunday morning worship in order to reach, connect with, and welcome outsiders, how did that make you feel? 

  • Did that list help explain anything you’ve been wondering about in RRCOC’s worship? 

  • Did any of it challenge your personal preferences? 

  • What’s something you like to do in worship on Sundays that’s probably pretty confusing for an outsider? What could you do to make that thing more outsider-friendly while also retaining what’s good and beautiful about it?

Make a list of things that might be weird to an outsider visiting church for the first time. Which ones are good weird (as in, these things will help someone see God more clearly/make God more accessible), which ones are neutral weird (not something we should scrap, not terribly hard to overcome for guests), and which ones are bad weird (as in, we should probably change that to make outsiders feel more comfortable)?

Send your list to info@rrcoc.org. We’d love to see what you’re seeing!

TO READ

As we’ve said, we’re spending the length of this sermon series reading positive and negative examples of hospitality. This week,  Acts 16:25-34.

What does hospitality look like in this passage? Would it make you uncomfortable to offer this kind of hospitality?

Why does the jailer choose to welcome Paul and Silas? 

Why might the jailer NOT have welcomed Paul and Silas into his home? What reasons might he have had to be nervous?

TO PRAY

Every Sunday we have at least two dozen visitors in worship. Would you pray for them? Pray that they’d feel welcomed, that they’d encounter God, that they’d be drawn into a deeper relationship with God in the context of this church. Pray for us, too--that we’d steward their presence well, that we’d speak to them, reach them, and help them feel like they belong. 


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