Prof. Matthew L. Skinner - Acts Leader Guide: Catching Up with the Spirit

Acts
Leader Guide

Acts

Catching Up with the Spirit

Acts

978-1-5018-9455-8

978-1-5018-9456-5 eBook

Acts DVD

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Acts Leader Guide

978-1-5018-9457-2

978-1-5018-9458-9 eBook

MATTHEW L. SKINNER

CATCHING UP WITH THE SPIRIT

LEADER GUIDE

BY MIKE S. POTEET

Acts
Leader Guide

Copyright 2020 Abingdon Press
All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission can be addressed to Permissions, The United Methodist Publishing House, 2222 Rosa L. Parks Blvd., Nashville, TN 37228-1306 or emailed to .

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Unless noted otherwise, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. http://nrsvbibles.org/

Scripture quotations noted CEB are taken from the Common English Bible, copyright 2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

In Acts: Catching Up with the Spirit, Dr. Matthew Skinner encourages Christians to read large portions of the Acts of the Apostles in order to discover how the book, in his words, has a way of igniting our imaginations.

For Skinner, Acts asks more questions than it answers, prodding readers to wrestle in deeper and more fruitful ways with who Jesus is, what it means to be Jesus church, and how best to engage with and influence the wider world as Jesus witnesses.

Skinner emphasizes the Holy Spirit in his books title because in Acts, the main way Jesus is present and active is through the Holy Spirit. Far from being the history of the first Christians, Acts is the storyoften a wild and strange oneof how Jesus Christ, active through the Holy Spirit, [is] continuing his work of liberating people from all kinds of oppression and alienation.

This Leader Guide presents outlines and activity plans for six sessions that groups can use to explore the themes Skinner highlights in Acts. The sessions include readings and discussions of many of the same stories (or portions of them) that Skinner presents in his book. You and your group will get the most value from this Leader Guide when you use it alongside Acts: Catching Up with the Spirit. A six-session DVD featuring Skinner is also available to enhance each session of your study.

The following list describes the six sessions for the leader to facilitate in this study:

: What God Has Done helps participants appreciate how Acts defines the Christian message and evaluate how Acts presentation of the good news can inform their own.

: What God Does encourages participants to connect their own experiences of inclusion and exclusion with the Spirits broad inclusion of strangers and outsiders, and to find ways, as the earliest Christians had to find ways, to follow the Spirits lead.

: Discernment and Change prompts participants to consider the similarities and differences between decision-making and discernment, and to examine how the early church sought to clarify its understanding of Gods activity in the world.

: Opposition invites participants to reconsider opposition to the church, both in Acts and in the present day, as opportunities for the church to grow in its understanding of its identity, witness, and work.

: Saints around the Edges asks participants to examine how several of Acts supporting characters offer relevant insights into serving God today, and to offer thanks for individuals in their own congregations and lives who make unique contributions to the churchs witness.

: This Changes Everything challenges participants to examine some practical political and economic implications of the good news in Acts world and in our own.

As you prepare to lead these sessions, you will want to do the following:

Carefully read the chapter of Acts: Catching Up with the Spirit corresponding to each session. Note anything you find confusing or about which you have further questions, and consult trusted biblical resources (study Bibles, commentaries, and so forth) for more information.

Arrange a comfortable and physically accessible meeting space for all participants.

Provide Bibles for participants who do not bring their own, a markerboard or large sheets of paper and markers, and nametags (optional). Most sessions do not call for extra materials.

Unless noted otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible.

May this guide help you and your group discover the Holy Spirits continuing power to use the Acts of the Apostles to spur Christs church toward more faithful living and bolder witness to Gods saving presence.

This sessions Bible readings, discussion, reflection, and prayer will equip participants to

appreciate the nature and purpose of the Acts of the Apostles;

closely examine passages from Acts for definitions of the Christian message and statements of its significance; and

consider where and how Christians today, as communities and individuals, can witness in word and in deed to Gods activity.

On the Acts: Catching Up with the Spirit DVD, watch the video segment for prior to the session. Prepare a question or two to be used for discussion.

Decide when the participants will view the video during this session, whether at the beginning of the session, before or after a discussion time, or toward the end of the session. Allow 15 minutes to watch and discuss the video.

Prepare the means to show the video to the group.

Welcome the participants. Express your enthusiasm for studying Acts: Catching Up with the Spirit with them. Tell them about your own interest in leading the study, and invite volunteers to talk briefly about why they are interested in taking part.

Tell participants that Matthew Skinner, in his Preface, calls Acts one of the New Testaments more neglected writings. Ask participants whether they agree with this assessment of Acts, and why. Then ask them to tell you, without opening a Bible, what they remember, know, or think they know about the Book of Acts. Write a list of their responses on the markerboard or large sheets of paper.

Read aloud from Skinners Introduction:

Acts describes episodes and people from the young churchs history so that communities of believers near the end of the first century would know who they were. Acts tells its stories so Christians would remember what God had called them to do and how God had been faithful so far.

Discuss:

When and how have stories about the past helped you strengthen your sense of identity and purpose in the present?