Discussion Questions for Gathering At God's Table

 

On the Road

1. Where do you find companions who can offer confidence and courage? Correction or critique?

 

The Freedom to Serve

1. What are the prisons we see around us, in our own lives? Which of them are self-imposed?

 

Leading into New Waters

1. What creative ways of forming new leaders have you found in your faith community?

 

PART III
The Third Mark of Mission
To Respond to Human Need with Loving Service

Salt of the Earth

1. How have salt and light played a part in your response to human need?

 

Face to Face

1. Think about the ways you've come face-to-face with God in your own community. How has that experience influenced your response to serve others?

 

Healing and Wholeness

1. How is the community you live in affected by connections between health, systemic injustice, and violence? How might your faith community respond?

 

City on a Hill

1. What do we do in our own faith communities to live out this healing mission? How are we giving glory to God?

 

Many Gifts, One Mission

1. What unexpected gifts have you discovered in others-and in yourself? How have you seen these gifts used for the good of others?

 

The Meaning of Mercy

1. Loving our neighbors means recognizing the body by the side of the road as a dignified human being, in need of mercy. What sorts of bodies are especially hard to recognize? Instead of just praying, "Lord have mercy," let your prayer be, "Lord let me be mercy; let us be mercy."

 

Spring Training

1. Where and how is self-concern getting in the way of serving neighbors?

 

PART IV
The Fourth Mark of Mission
To Seek to Transform Unjust Structures of Society

The Quest for Justice

1. Where is compassion moving in your life? What injustice is challenging you to act?

 

Turning the Tables

1. What are you doing to transform injustice in your neighborhood? Your city, state, and nation? What connection do you make with the reign of God?

 

Building Justice

1. Where has creativity helped to heal in your life?

 

Border Crossings

1. What borders have you crossed in seeking justice in your community? How has gratitude motivated you?

 

Minding the Gap

1. What gaps are apparent in your community? Where do you need courage to reach across?

 

Living the Dream

1. What part of God's dream for a healed world most needs to be heard in your own context? Where do your own gifts connect?

 

Enough for Everyone

1. How will you help fill the hunger for justice and peace?

 

Created for Life

1. For what special purpose have we been set apart? What gifts do we bring to this journey toward abundant life?

 

Tending the Vine

1. What branches can you see that have been lopped off? How might you and those around you help grafts to grow and heal?

 

Casting Out Demons

1. What demons of injustice need to be cast out in your community? What demons of injustice threaten our larger communities-our nation and our world?