Week One
What Makes A Church Worth Imitating?
Everything worth imitating in a church is the fruit of one thing — a gospel that came not in word only, but in power. Everything begins there, or it does not begin at all.
OPENING PRAYER
Father, we thank You that we belong to You — loved by You, chosen by You, held in Christ. As we open Your Word tonight, we ask that it would come to us in power and in the Holy Spirit. Search us, and grow in us the kind of faith that works, love that labours, and hope that endures. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
ICEBREAKER
Think of a person or community whose faith you have quietly wanted to imitate. What was it about them — and was it something they did, or something they were?
When someone asks “how is your church doing?”, what is the first thing you instinctively reach for as an answer?
SCRIPTURE READING
1 Thessalonians 1:1–10. Read it aloud slowly. Consider a second reading of verses 4–10, listening for what the gospel actually produced in this church.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Paul praises the Thessalonians for a “work of faith, labour of love, and steadfastness of hope” (v. 3). Notice each one is bolted to something visible — faith works, love labours, hope endures. What is the difference between faith that is merely felt and faith that works? Where do you see that difference in your own life?
2. Paul says he knows they belong to God because “our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power” (v. 5). What do you think it looks like for the gospel to come “in power” rather than “in word only”? Have you ever witnessed the difference?
3. Every church keeps a scoreboard — some measures written down, some never written but consulted all the same. What are the unwritten measures we are tempted to trust? Why might a church be “settled, comfortable and cruising” and still not be deep?
4. The Thessalonians “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son” (vv. 9–10). Our idols are rarely made of wood; they are usually respectable — success, security, approval, the next achievement. Which idols does our city train us to trust, and what would turning from them actually cost?
5. Paul never says the Thessalonians went out preaching — he says their transformation itself “sounded forth” (v. 8). What might it mean for our life together, and not only our words, to be the message?
PERSONAL REFLECTION
Ask honestly: is there anything in my life right now that could only be explained by the power of God? Or could most of it be explained by good habits and my own effort?
PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Name one “idol” you are tempted to serve, and take one concrete step this week to loosen its grip — a prayer, a conversation, a decision that treats God as more real than it.
Do one thing that lets your faith “work” and your love “labour” visibly — a hidden act of service, told to no one.
CLOSING PRAYER
Father, we cannot manufacture what we have spoken of tonight, so we simply ask You for it. Let the gospel come to us again this week not in word only but in power. Turn us afresh from every respectable idol to serve You, the living and true God, and send us out as people whose changed lives quietly sound Your praise. In Jesus’ name, Amen.