New Believer’s Path · Lesson 1: Being with God · Remaining in the Lord
This lesson in one sentence: Fruit comes from being joined to the Lord, not from gritting our teeth.
Timing (about 60 minutes)
- Opening5 min
- Read Together10 min
- A true story5 min
- Discussion25 min
- This Week10 min
- Pray for One Another5 min
Opening
When is usually the quietest time of your day?
Read Together
Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:4-5 · WEB
A true story (ask a group member to read it aloud)
In seventeenth-century France there was a young man who had been a footman and, by his own account, ‘a great awkward fellow who broke everything’. One winter, at the age of eighteen, he saw a tree stripped of its leaves and thought how before long the leaves would be renewed, and then the flowers and fruit would appear. For the first time he truly grasped the providence of God.
Later he entered a monastery in Paris and was sent to the kitchen—the work he naturally disliked most. By the time he talked about these things, he had been working in the kitchen for fifteen years. He said, ‘In the noise and clutter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquillity as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed Supper.’ He is Brother Lawrence, whose words were gathered in The Practice of the Presence of God.
Source: Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, First, Second and Fourth Conversations
Discussion
- What does a branch depend on to ‘bear fruit’? How is that different from the usual ‘try hard to be a good Christian’?
- Brother Lawrence could be quietly with God even in a noisy kitchen. What does that mean for someone who is busy every day?
- What is your biggest difficulty in finding a set time and place each day?
This Week
Each day, at a set time and in a set place, be still for 5 minutes.
Each person names their ‘time and place’ for this week. Next session, ask each other, ‘How did this week go?’—as encouragement, not inspection.
Closing
In pairs, pray one sentence for each other’s ‘time and place’ this week.
Tips for the leader
- Don’t turn This Week into a test. If someone who didn’t manage it is willing to say so, that is already good.
- People can share their time and place in pairs, which is easier than in front of the whole group.
- If someone says, ‘I don’t know how to pray,’ tell them that this week it is enough to be still for five minutes and say, ‘Lord, here I am.’
General principles for leaders
- The leader is not a teacher but someone who walks alongside everyone.
- Give everyone a chance to speak; with someone who talks a lot, you can gently say, ‘Let’s also hear from friends who haven’t spoken yet.’
- Don’t rush to give answers. If someone is silent, wait a few more seconds.
- For a question you can’t answer, you can say, ‘I don’t know either; let’s look it up together,’ and note it down for next time.
- What is said in the group stays in the group.
- At the opening, the leader can give their own answer first, showing that it can be simple and honest.