Bethany Community Church

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

Sunday, November, 27, 2011 | Pastor Richard Dahlstrom

Discussion Questions by Nancy Eckardt

1. In what ways does science influence your view of humanity, God and the potential for relationship?
2. How do you see the influence of the Spirit in your life?  In your creativity?
3. We are created to be image-bearers of God.  When have you seen the glory of Christ in another? How do you see Christ’s glory in your own life?
4. In Genesis 1 – 3, God reveals to His people who they are.  What do you learn about yourself in this passage?
5. How is obedience challenging your appetite these days?
6. In what ways have you chosen against what is best?
7. How do you address failure in your life?
8. How do you address failure in those you love?
9. How does the presence of Christ redeem your failures?
10. In what area do you need Christ to save you?
11. What do you hope for during this Advent season?

Sunday’s Bulletin

Sunday, November 20, 2011 | Pastor Richard Dahlstrom

Discussion Questions by Pastor Nancy Eckardt

1. What role does nature play in your worship?
2. What role does consumption play in your worship?
3. When has natural beauty invited you to God?  When has it distracted you from God?
4. When have you seen God do something that humanity can’t do?
5. How does relationship influence your holidays?  How do gifts play a role?
6. What does dominion bring to mind for you?
7. How have you seen an attitude of dominion be destructive in nature? In relationships?
8. How might your subtle acts of dominion be impacting others?
9. What would it look like for you, as God’s image-bearer, to love the earth as God loves the earth?
10. How can you practice contentment?  What are barriers to contentment for you?
11. Read Psalm 73:25.  How are you doing in moving toward contentment with Christ? What step can you take?

Sunday’s Bulletin

We often read the Bible through a material lens, so when we read about God creating the heavens and the earth, we presume that what we’re talking about is physical creation. But there are other ways to talk about creation.

Sunday, November 13, 2011 | Pastor Richard Dahlstrom

Discussion Questions by Pastor Nancy Eckardt

1. How has your identity as a materialist impacted your understanding of God?
2. What would it look like for creation, i.e. moving from non-functional to functional, to happen in your life?
3. What would you like Christ’s life in you to make functional?
4. When have you been tempted to define yourself materially?
5. When have you played a role in bringing order out of chaos?
6. What meaning do you find in Genesis 1 when you read it without a scientific lens?
7. How do you play the role of priest in your work and context?

Sunday’s Bulletin

Sunday, November 6, 2011 | Pastor Richard Dahlstrom

Discussion Questions by Pastor Nancy Eckardt

1. Why do you think theology is so slow to change?
2. How do you reconcile what you read about science and what you read in scripture?
3. Is there a time when you had to let go of a notion that you believed based on your reading of scripture because of something you learned in science?
4. Where do you see God’s truth in the sciences?
5. How does your life benefit from generations of scientific discovery?
6. When have you resisted new discovery because of fear that it may challenge your beliefs?  What ultimately ended up happening?
7. What’s at stake for you to learn more about your world?
8. What have you learned about God through science?
9. What needs to change in your heart in order to embrace the truth that God is revealing to you?

Sunday’s Bulletin

Sunday, October 30, 2011 | Pastor Richard Dahlstrom

Discussion Questions by Nancy Eckardt

1. When have you felt isolated?
2. When have you had to leave something behind in order to move into something new?
3. How is your relationship with Christ reflected in your relationship with others?
4. Is there a horizontal relationship that is getting in the way of your relationship with God?  What do you need to do about this?
5. When have you stepped out of your comfort zone to help someone in need – financially, relationally, or spiritually?
6. When has it been easier to meet someone’s financial need than their relational need?  What makes one easier to meet than the other?
7. How do you see your finances as causing isolation for you?
8. What makes it difficult for you to be vulnerable with others?
9. What do you see as your role in caring for the Bethany community?

Sunday’s Bulletin

Sunday, October, 23, 2011 | Pastor Joe Springer

Discussion Questions by Pastor Nancy Eckardt

1. What are you watching and associating yourself with without actually participating in?
2. What are you truly participating in?  What does that look like?  What does that say about you and your values?
3. When have your plans been changed?  How has that led you into God’s desire for you?
4. How do you respond to changed plans?
5. How do you respond to interruption?
6. When has God revealed His character to you in interruption?
7. What detours have you experienced?
8. In what way are you in a detour now?  How is it drawing you into an encounter with God?
9. When have you entered into a situation that ended up being messy?
10. In what ways does your life reflect hospitality?
11. What scares you about hospitality?
12. When has an experience of extending hospitality been transformative for you?
13. When have you received hospitality in a transformative way?
14. How might God be calling you to risk interruption by extending hospitality in a new way?

Sunday’s Bulletin