Acts 6:8-1
Prentice Park, Lead Pastor Bethany West Seattle, prenticep@churchbcc.org
The story of Stephen teaches us to listen in asking these three questions:
Who are we?
Who is God?
Where do we go from here?
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Discussion Questions
Before questions, attempt to give the group a bit of a summary of the main points of the sermon and then choose a few questions that fit your group’s needs and style. We don’t intend for you to use all of these. Three to five questions may be a good number.
Has there been a moment in the past week that you have been hyper aware of your own discomfort?
Listening will always be the starting place for reconciliation, what do you need to listen to this week? Who are the Stephens in your life?
In Acts, we see Stephen before the religious elite, where he gives a history lesson to point out that the religious people of the day did not listen but rejected the Spirit. What other examples across the history of the Bible do we see this? (ex. the Prophets)
Sitting in the discomfort, can we ask our ourselves to examine who are we in this story of Stephen?
What does it look like to place ourselves not as the hero of the story but properly identify who we are in the story to better listen to those who have been oppressed and marginalized in our own communities?
One quote from the sermon is that “White Christianity suffers from a bad case of Disney Princess theology”. This can feel uncomfortable, be encouraged to lean into that and ask why you’re feeling discomfort.
As you unpack this, what does it look like to view ourselves as Egypt instead of Israel in the story of Exodus as a case study?
How do we appropriately and correctly locate our place in scripture in a way that can lead to repentance and changed hearts?
What have you made an idol in your identity? (i.e. Is it our wealth, our upward mobility, status at a workplace or in society?)
Can you share an example of when theology has gotten in the way of obedience?
In talking about privilege, of which we all have our own to navigate, how are you being a good steward of your own privilege?
Pastor Prentice exhorts that the story of Stephen is pleading for us to let down our defensiveness and confess the ways we have contributed hurt to our brothers and sisters in the black community (consider both overtly and covertly, individually and systematically).
How can we confess our silence and non-action?
What could be one step in moving from not racist to antiracist?
How have we been covering our ears or could we have been wrong?