The Unusual Way
Message Listening Guide
Movement 1| Mending the Brokenhearted
Movement 2| Shepherding the Flock
Movement 3| Embracing the Instruction
Jesus Brings ______________ and _______________
The Six Works of Shepherding are
1. __________________
2. __________________
3. __________________
4. __________________
5. __________________
6. __________________
Submission Is a _____________
The Church Is a ________________, Not a ________________
The Call: ______________________
Questions
1. If your faith is in Jesus, how have you experienced Him bringing wholeness to broken places in your life?
2. What happened to the people of Israel when they lacked faithful shepherds (Ezekiel 34:2-10, Jeremiah 23:1-4)? What can we expect God to use faithful shepherding to do in our lives (Ezekiel 34:11-16, Psalm 23)?
3. What lies or beliefs hinder us in adopting a posture of submission and responsiveness? How can a lack of this posture affect local churches and God's Kingdom?
4. How could a Christian's interaction with a local church look different if he views the church as a team vs. as a gym?
5. What, if anything, do you find challenging about shepherding and/or submitting? How can others pray for you in these works?
Connection Group conversation Guide
The Unusual Way
Get-to-know-you question: What's the most epic comeback win you've ever had in a game—video game, board game, sports, anything, and how did you celebrate?
Pray: Update your prayer requests and begin your time together in prayer.
Review: Scott used the metaphor of luge racing—where athletes must make constant small adjustments to stay on course amid forces pulling them off track—to illustrate life in a broken world and the challenges believers face in remaining in Christ's wholeness and holiness. Turning to 1 Peter 5, Scott emphasized that to endure these pressures and abide in Jesus' way, the church needs elders (ministry leaders) to shepherd the flock like Jesus—through leading, feeding, tending, protecting, equipping, and even suffering for the sheep—while the congregation responds with humble submission to such Christ- like leaders. This communal approach rejects a consumerist "gym" view of church in favor of a committed "team" model.
Read: Have someone read: 1 Peter 5:1-5
Discuss: What stands out to you most from the passage we just read, or that stood out to you from
Scott’s sermon?
Discuss: If your faith is in Jesus, where have you experienced Him bringing wholeness to broken places in your life?
Discuss: How can God to use faithful shepherding in our lives?
Discuss: Of the 6 works of shepherding, (Leading, Feeding, Caring, Protecting, Equipping, and
Suffering), which of these have you experienced, positively or negatively?
Discuss: Why do you think Peter focuses on church leadership and submission in 1 Peter 5 rather than more personal disciplines like prayer or Bible study? What does this suggest about how God sustains believers?
Discuss: Discuss the story of the pastor confronting sin in a staff member. Why is lovingly confronting sin so difficult in churches, and how should Christians respond when it happens to them?
Discuss: What cultural or personal reasons make "submission" to leaders hard for people today? How does the sermon distinguish healthy, Christ-like submission from enabling abuse?
Discuss: Scott contrasts the church as a "gym" (individualistic) versus a "team" (mutually accountable). Which view better describes your current experience of church, and what would it look like to shift toward the "team" model?
Discuss: How does humility (both for leaders and the congregation) serve as the key to staying on course in Christ? In what practical ways can you "clothe yourselves with humility" this week?
Pray: Close in prayer. asking God to guide our shepherds and help us embrace our role in supporting them.