Abide: Practicing Kingdom Rhythms in a Consumer Culture

Share via:

Looking for a way to help your small groups begin to experience and practice the spiritual disciplines? Abide: Practicing Kingdom Rhythms in a Consumer Culture is a new 5 session study from Threads Media; designed to help group members “subvert the rhythms of suburban culture.”

Abide, by Jared C. Wilson, takes a look at 5 key sections of the Sermon on the Mount and begins to develop 5 new rhythms that will help group members in their struggle against the “subconscious message of the suburbs…self-empowerment, self-enhancement, self-fulfillment (p. 10).”

Most of the Threads Media (a division of Lifeway) studies are designed with a “read-first, do some preparation, come ready to discuss” flow. Abide is no exception. Each of the 5 sessions are about 20 pages that unpack a rhythm through reading, scripture, questions that help explore, references to web sites, and steps that lead to application.

The 5 rhythms are:

Feeling Scripture: Move past just reading
Intentional Prayer: Fight the sickness of hurry
Purposeful Fasting: Deprive with meaning
Joyful Service: Make room for others
Genuine Community: Do it together

The Leader Kit comes with an enhanced CD that includes a Leader’s Guide and Tools, Digging Deeper articles, emailable audio files, and music. Although the study isn’t DVD-driven, there is a short video designed to enhance the experience for 3 of the 5 sessions. In addition to the extensive preparation materials built in to the member book, each session is guided by a 3 to 4 page leader’s guide with questions designed to help the group process and respond to what they’ve learned. Along with the leader’s guide and resources on the CD there is additional leader helps in the Lead section of the Threads Media site.

Although the Threads curriculum line is intended to connect with young adults, the topics themselves are often very appealing to a wider segment. A very important aspect in the design of most Threads studies are that more extensive leader and member preparation required.

There is a lot to like in the Abide study (and in many of the Threads Media projects). Thought provoking preparation sections will provide members with a rich experience. The Leader’s Guide adds a layer to the experience by helping the members to talk about what they’re learning and leads to practical application. Abide will provide a good experience for groups (and leaders) that are willing to do the advance work.

Ready to jump in or pick up a copy for your curriculum library? You can do that right here. You can also take a look at two additional Threads studies I’ve reviewed:

Posted in Small Group Curriculum