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Find the way to achieve true Christian growth into a life of confidence and fruitfulness.
Part of the Good Book Guides series.
It happens all the time... People who start out well as Christians can end up light-years from the gospel of Jesus Christ, caught up in weird and not-so-wonderful cults, movements and traditions. They may still talk about Jesus, but their focus has shifted from the fundamental truths of who He is and what He has done to other things: rituals, rapturous experiences, morality, or an intense engagement with ideas and schools of thought. These other things become the focus of our Christianity. It seems that Jesus Christ and His saving death are no longer enough...
This kind of teaching was the reason Paul wrote his letter to the Colossian church. He recognised the fall-out of 'moving on' from the gospel – we become unsure of God's forgiveness because it no longer depends solely on Jesus; we become proud of what we do; and ultimately, these new spiritualities completely fail to deliver the new life that they promise.
Undoubtedly, Christians today face the same danger. These six studies can help us resist the fine-sounding arguments enticing us to add to what Jesus has done. Only if we are convinced about the true identity of Christ, and certain that He alone is all we need to grow, will we mature into confident Christians.
The six studies in this Good Book Guide will help groups and individuals find the way to achieve true Christian growth into confidence and fruitfulness.
Introduction
Why study Colossians?
1. Jesus our confidence (Colossians 1 v 1-14)
2. Jesus our Lord (Colossians 1 v 15-23)
3. Jesus our Rock (Colossians 1 v 24 – 2 v 7)
4. Jesus our fullness (Colossians 2 v 8-23)
5. Jesus our lifestyle (Colossians 3 v 1 – 4 v 1)
6. Jesus our ministry (Colossians 4 v 2-18)
Leaders' Guide
| Contributors | Mark Meynell |
|---|---|
| ISBN | 9781906334246 |
| Format | Paperback |
| First published | July 2008 |
| Dimensions | 140mm x 210mm x 3.4mm |
| Weight | 0.08 kg |
| Print size | 9.0pt |
| Language | English |
| Pages | 56 |
| No. of studies | 6 |
| Publisher | The Good Book Company |
The Good Book Guides have been developed to ensure that each session not only seeks to uncover the meaning of the passage and see how it fits into the big picture of the Bible, but also leads people to apply what they have learnt to their lives. Flexible and practical, the Good Book Guides are ideal for small groups, or individual study.
"The format is very user-friendly and the content is rich and accessible."
- Justin Taylor, Gospel Coalition blogger and Vice-President of Editorial, Crossway
"God-centered, application-oriented, and driven by the text throughout, this resource is a gift to God’s church."
- Matt Smethurst, Gospel Coalition reviewer and Master of Divinity student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Here at Covenant Life Church, we have greatly benefitted from the small group resources from The Good Book Company. Many small groups in our family life ministry have used "Colossians: Confident Christianity" in their study of scripture. Additionally, our youth ministry has used "Romans 1-5: God and You" in their small groups. Both resources were very easy to use, helped the reader engage directly with the scriptures, and had a wonderful pastoral emphasis demonstrated in all the questions.
- Dave Brewer, Youth Pastor at Covenant Life Church, Maryland
Colossians is the 3rd study in this series that we've used with our group of non-native speakers. These questions are clear and make it easier to understand and apply the text. It's led to meaningful and helpful discussions. We love this series and hope to use more guides.
This is a handy booklet to use as a basis for study of Colossians. It is very structured and keeps closely to the bible text. There are questions to consider related to the text and the author gives their answers to the questions at the back of the book.
I particularly liked the introductory ice- breaker question at the beginning of each section, as this invited free discussion. Some of the less open questions rather narrowed conversation down.
Maybe if you were doing this study with a group of theological students then it could work, but my wife and I are leading a Bible study group for young parents who aren't very far on in their Christian walk, haven't had much solid teaching all their lives, and this study was just too complicated for them. In fact we ended up not doing it. Even I found the questions rather difficult to wrap my mind around.
We are using the "Confident Christianity" for our House Group Study and so far have found it inspiring and certainly thought provoking.
it was ok but the questions are again very contrived (this is not the first itme I have found this with the GB gudies. I am an evangelist so get what you are trying to do.. but it is borderline patronising and also can be irrelevant in churches where the mission field is a real mixed bag.. and not full of oxbridge students and academics with 'fine sounding arguments (session 3) The friends of my small group members are not arguing their position so in a sense it sounds like we 'protest too much' .. ie it felt like a course on how to evangelise more than a celebration of who we are in Christ. If we know who we are in Christ then the evangelism will follow naturally,... I felt the passages had been highjacked by a specific agenda.. and belive me this is also my agenda... I love evangelism.. but it was 'too much' for members of my small group... and a tad simplistitc and patronising for the older members..
A super starting point for planning Bible studies on Colossians or for using exactly as printed.
questions not easy to understand by younge christians, would allso be better if leader book seperate.
In a men's (10-12)study group I found it took two meetings, of approx.1 hour each, for each of the 6 studies. Some questions could have been put better, e.g. 3/5, 3/12, 6/11. Felt the stoicheia verses deserved more attention. NIV's 'basic principles' might be easily passed over but 'elemental spirits...' (NRSV+)seems to present a different challenge, especially in the light of Col. 1:16, 20.
We are in the middle of the study. We are all finding it helping, although not all the questions are.
A well laid out and easily navigable study guide. Material is clearly presented, the language down-to-earth and direct, and the study sections are of a suitable length for both one-to-ones and group studies. Questions are 'open', thought provoking, and they promote helpful discussion.
The leader's guide, in it's own section at the back of the booklet, provides helpful themes and application aims.
This is a good, clear, user-friendly study guide, which I highly recommend.
