1. Why are you here?

Why are you here?

~ simple answers accepted!

Although I asked this question in a very specific way, in many ways this is the BIG question we are asking in our lives. This will be a group about Big questions. I have questions to ask of you, but these are only to help you think about the things that really matter to each of us. Each of you will probably have questions too. Sometimes we will take time to answer them there and then. Some times they will deserve more time and we will go away and think about them.

What is a Christian/ what makes a Christian?

This group takes the name “Journey”. It's about exploring the big questions in life together. Each of us has many observations, thoughts and questions, I would like to suggest that this group could be a safe place to bring those deep questions and puzzles from inside of us and share them in a place where we will be listened to and understood. For each of us this will mean not only sharing things, but allowing others to share and be willing to take the time to understand and not make quick judgements. Not one of us has all the answers, knows what is at the end of this journey for sure- we have hopes and hunches, clues and observations to help us along the way~ so let's be honest about that and seek to humbly help one another along this stage of the journey that we share together.

“Even a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step”.
Mark 1:16-20
(this is how the journey starts from Mark's perspective)

What does it look like to follow Jesus?
~ How does it begin? How did it begin for you?
Why is Jesus so important to you?

Mark 1:15

What does “to repent” mean?
What will it look like in our lives?
Each of us was quite young when we became a Christian
- in many ways it is not like we have to turn away from a lifestyle of drink and drugs to follow Jesus - however I think that as we follow Jesus, we discover there are things in our lives that do not mix well with following him, that distract us or take us of course
have a moment to think: what are those things in your life?

Repentance means to turn back to something, to “re-turn”, or to “turn again”. Is it possible that when Jesus asks us to repent, he is asking us to return to our beginnings in God?

How can we know what God is like?
What words would you use to describe God?

John 14:1-14

How have you experienced what God is like in your lives?

Exodus 33:19-23

How does this match up to your expectation of what God is like?

Colossians 1:15-20

“There are lots of religious teachers in the history of the world. But there is none who makes the claims Jesus made about Himself, or who are described by their followers in this way. “