Heaven
When you think about Heaven…what comes to mind? For most of us, even those of us who have been walking with Christ a long time, Heaven is a only a very vague concept. Is it a real place? Will there be clouds? Will we have wings, play harps and walk on streets of gold? Will it be boring? Will we do a lot of singing? Sound familiar? Ever wondered what Heaven will really be like?
God has put eternity in our hearts. This group discussion guide will help bring eternity to light in a way that will surprise you, spark your imagination, and change how you live today. Randy Alcorn
Based on Randy Alcorn’s best-selling book Heaven, the new Small Group Discussion Guide is designed as a companion to the Heaven DVD, which is currently available in the back of the book itself. At seven sessions, it is long enough to provide a thorough examination of the topic and yet short enough to encourage every group member to complete it.
If you’ve used Lifetogether’s Doing Life Together or Experiencing Christ Together, you’ll find the basic format very familiar. Each session begins with a CONNECTING with God’s Family section, designed to prime the pump of conversation and warm up the group. After watching the DVD segment (featuring Randy Alcorn and interspersed with a steady dose of man-on-the-street comments), you’ll find a well-developed GROWING to Be Like Christ segment as well as PRAYER and SURRENDER.
A great addition to the format is the Reflection segment that provides a daily opportunity to continue to learn about and reflect on the topic. This makes the Study Guide a really good value and more than a source for the questions.
Finally, you’ll want to take advantage of Leaders Sessions on the DVD and features like the health assessment and health plan, leader’s notes, calendar, and prayer and praise report in the Heaven Small Group Discussion Guide.
One of the challenges in this topic is its someday orientation. Although it’s an important topic, and one that group members should find engaging, I didn’t expect it to have as much present day application as I found it to have. In fact, this is a study that will have appeal to the believers in your groups and many of their friends.
Can it be used successfully as a church-wide study? Absolutely. Although this is not a great outreach topic, it still is somewhere in the middle on the Easy/Hard Continuum. As such, it would make a great follow-up study to a more outreach oriented ministry season beginning.
