Bethany Community Church

Sunday, January 29, 2012 | Pastor Richard Dahlstrom

Discussion Questions by Pastor Nancy Eckardt

1. When have you felt like you were in a place you didn’t want to be?  How easy was it to trust that it was because of God?
2. What does saying yes to God require you to say no to at this point?
3. Who has God used in your life to shape you?
4. How has your brokenness limited your choices?
5. How has your brokenness opened up new opportunities for ministry or service?
6. In what ways have you come to grip with your brokenness?
7. When have you been drawn in your brokenness to God?
8. When have your obligations governed our choices and put you into a deeper dependence on Christ?
9. When has moving towards God’s will become more difficult?
10. How has self-denial led you to step into God’s will and given you a God-ordained voice in your particular context?

Sunday’s Bulletin

Sunday, January 22, 2012 | Pastor Richard Dahlstrom

What sets us apart as a species is our potential to pass truth on to subsequent generations so that they can build on those who have gone before.  Without teaching, each generation starts over. To be effective though, teaching needs not only to be given by the teacher, but it also needs to be received by the student. Because of this, every teacher needs to do everything in their power to help each student receive that which is being taught.  Today we’ll see significant truths about how a person finds their calling, how they sustain their calling, and how effective teaching reflects the character of Jesus.  Sunday Bulletin

 Sermon Discussion Questions | Pastor Nancy Eckardt

1. Can you think of a teacher who has impacted you?
2. What role has teaching played in your growth?
3. How has your teaching impacted others?
4. How have you seen God’s direction in the context of your vocation?
5. Can you think of a time when you had to let go of your expectations in order to embrace your calling?
6. Our calling will be related to what you love to do and what your are good at.  How does this relate to your your sense of calling?
7. What role does joy play in your work?
8. When have you wanted to give up in your job?  What sustains you?
9. Where do you find camaraderie among your co-workers?  How can you cultivate camaraderie in your workplace?
10. How has God used your co-workers to reveal Himself or teach you something about yourself?
11. What are you currently learning in your context?  How does your calling require you to be more dependent on God?
12. How do you incorporate invitation in your your interaction with others?

Sunday, January 15, 2012 | Pastor Richard Dahlstrom

 Discussion Questions by Pastor Nancy Eckardt

1. How would you describe your appreciation for art?
2. Where do you see justice, mercy and/or humility in your experience?
3. How do you paint justice, mercy, and/or humility in your context?
4. In what areas of your life or your relationships do you need to pay attention?
5. When have you missed something important because you really weren’t listening?
6. In what areas of your life might you need to slow down?
7. What questions are you avoiding in your understanding of your faith?  Why?
8. What distracts you from seeing and seeking God’s kingdom?
9. In what areas are you creating?
10. Can you remember when you were more of an artist?  What happened to stunt your artistic ability?
11. When have you become discouraged because your spiritual life is not what you think it should be?  How did you respond?
12. In what area of your spiritual life do you need training or encouragement and how can you get the support you need?  What keeps you from asking for help?
13. What do you need to let go of in your life so that you can embrace all that God has for you?
14. What craft might God be inviting you to develop in your life?  What can you do to begin this week?

Sunday’s Bulletin

Sunday, January 8, 2012 | Pastor Richard Dahlstrom

Discussion Questions by Pastor Nancy Eckardt

1. When has God used an element of culture to reveal himself to you?
2. How easy is it for you to recognize a marker of Christ in culture?
3. How do you see your vocation as a way to create or redeem culture?
4. How do you point to Christ in your vocation?
5. How does your attitude toward your place of work reflect an understanding that it is an extension of God’s kingdom?
6. Read Proverbs 19:21.  Where do you see God fulfilling his purposes in and through you in your plans or in spite of your plans?
7. How has God directed your steps?
8. What might God be calling you to devote yourself to for this season of life?
9. What do you need to let go of in order to be more fully devoted to this call?
10. When have you experienced a door closing for you?  How did you respond?
11. How has a way closed led you to a way open?
12. When has your involvement in culture-reading clouded your understanding of Christ?
13. When have you been united with a group of people different than you, because you were committed to something greater than your differences?
14. In what ways are you working toward reconciliation?
15. What barriers do you see in moving towards reconciliation?
16. How does the analogy of a sporting event as worship deepen your understanding of the purpose of worship?
17. In what ways may you be “far too easily pleased” in your experiences?
18. What does it feel like to be a part of the Kingdom who the King has overcome all?

Sunday, January 1, 2012|Pastor Richard Dahlstrom

Discussion Questions by Pastor Nancy Eckardt

1. Over your lifetime, what are some recurring themes in the area of what you are good at?  How does that play into what you do as a vocation and/or in your free time?
2. “Thou has made us for thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.” (St. Augustine).  How have you seen this as a reality in your own life?
3. When have you seen a desire for intimacy, joy, or meaning, mask a deeper desire for God?
4. Why is it easier to look to other people, experience or things to find the satisfaction that can only be found in God?
5. When have you missed something because you weren’t paying attention?
6. When were you paying attention and as a result, saw something that was priceless?
7. What distracts you from being present in the moment?
8. How are you a recipient of God’s healing work in the world?
9. How are you a participant in God’s healing work in the world?
10. What steps out of bitterness do you need to take to begin the healing process with someone?  What can you do this week to begin that process?
11. In what area of your life do you hope to experience God’s movement this year?  What step can you take to participate in this movement?

Sunday’s Bulletin

Sunday, December 25, 2011 | Pastor Richard Dahlstrom

Discussion Questions by Pastor Nancy Eckardt

1. When have you been profoundly affected by the absence of light?
2. When have you experienced a profound appreciation for the presence of light?
3. What does light looks like to you?
4. How do you turn toward the light?  What blocks the light from view in your life?
5. How are you a light-bearer for others?
6. In what areas of your life might you be resisting the light?  Why is darkness more preferred in these areas?
7. Who is a light-bearer for you?  How honest are you with the areas of your life that need the light to shine into the darkness?
8. How can you invite Jesus, the Light of the World, into your life this next year?  What step will you take?

Saturday, December 24, 2011 | Pastor Richard Dahlstrom

Christmas Eve Bulletin

Sunday, December 18 | Pastor Richard Dahlstrom

Discussion Questions by Pastor Nancy Eckardt

1. When have you been a part of a project that captured your attention?  What made it so captivating to you?
2. When have you experienced overt rejection?  How did it impact you?
3. When have you missed out on a wonderful opportunity because you were distracted by something else?
4. What fills the rooms of your heart, leaving little or no room for Jesus?  What needs to be cleared out?
5. How do you think making room for Christ would help to create order in your life?  How might it create more chaos?
6. What keeps you from stepping into the light?  What are you afraid will be exposed?
7. When has the “light” exposed something you didn’t like in your life?  What did you do about it?
8. What is at risk for you to run toward the light?  What are you afraid of losing?
9. What do you have to gain by stepping into the light?
10. What will you do this week to step toward the light?  Who can you confide in regarding this next step?

Sunday’s Bulletin

Sunday, December 11, 2011 | Pastor Joe Springer

Discussion Questions by Pastor Nancy Eckardt

1. What do you anticipate this particular Advent season?
2. “We are a people that need to be saved.”  What evidence do you see of this?
3. Can you think of a time when Satan was actively resisting the work of God in your life or experience?
4. Where do you see resistance to God’s invitation to salvation?
5. In what areas have you made a list to define and attain salvation?  What might be on your list?
6. Is your faith more about no or yes?
7. What is God inviting you to say yes to that you might be hearing as a no, or where culture might be saying no?
8. How do you see Jesus being the yes to the brokenness of the world?  How can you participate in the “yes” of Christ?
9. How does independence get in the way of following Christ’s example—surrendering to God’s call?
10. What does the fullness of yes in Christ look like to you in your life and endeavors?
11. What do you need to empty yourself of in order to be filled with Christ?

Sunday’s Bulletin

Sunday, December 4, 2011 | Pastor Joe Springer

Discussion Questions by Pastor Nancy Eckardt

1. What do we know at the time of John’s writing of his gospel that wasn’t known when Genesis was written?
2. What is the significance of Jesus being the Word?
3. When has your message been received differently than you intended?
4. Why did God need to reveal Himself in the form of a human?
5. How easy is it for you to understand that Jesus’ self-sacrifice and self-giving reflects the character of the invisible God?
6. Do you see God the Father as having different characteristics than Jesus?  Why?
7. In what ways has God pursued you?  How did you respond?
8. How might God be pursuing you now and how are you responding?
9. Where have you experienced or witnessed God’s reconciliation through Christ in your life?  Your relationships? Your community?

Sunday’s Bulletin