Session 3 – Relationships Made New

• What has stayed with you from last week?

• Have you felt more ‘inwardly renewed’ or more ‘outwardly wasting away” this last week (2 Cor 4:16)?!

Discuss some or all of the following questions:

• What makes a friendship strong?
• What do you want to get out of a friendship? And what do you bring to a friendship?
• What do you think is the biggest contributor to relationship breakdown in today’s world?

Read the passage aloud together

Colossians 1:15-23

• What things do you think need reconciling to God? What do you think it means by ‘all things’?
• What is the Spirit highlighting to you today from this passage
• How does the passage tell us Jesus goes about reconciling all things?

Relationships made new

Discuss some or all of the following questions:

• What does it look like to be part of God’s work of reconciliation in each of the 4 areas – self, others, creation, God?
• What areas of injustice or oppression concern you most?
• Where is reconciliation happening in your community?

Reconciliation in action – Story of Relationships Made New

Ask some or all of the following questions:

• Do you have a testimony of when you have been part of reconciling a situation?
• Think about people and circumstances you know, is there one in particular that you long to see reconciled?

Pray into the areas you have highlighted. Pray for God to reveal how you can be a peace-maker in that space.

AND / OR

Prepare some pictures and short bios of world leaders on all sides of current conflicts. Set out some pens and sticky notes. Read 1 Timothy 2:1-3. Encourage your group to write down prayers of blessing, wisdom, peace and grace for the leaders, keeping the prayers life-giving no matter how much you may disagree. Afterwards, pray out some of the sticky notes, asking God to reconcile our world leaders to Him.

(This prayer activity has been taken from 24/7 Prayer’s website.)