You Y’all will be my witnesses.
It’s a story too big to tell alone.
We will help you share your faith— together as a community.
Our witness for Jesus is often stronger when it’s spoken and lived out as a family— the Body of Christ.
This training series highlights 4 key practices. Each practice is Biblically rooted. Cru movements that excel in these practices are magnets for changed lives.
BODY LIFE WITNESS
Def. Whenever someone who is not a Christian encounters the gospel as it is spoken and lived out in the communal life of a group of Christians.
Meet your hosts
Madison and Chandler
Madison and Chandler are college students in Boston with roots in Texas, Arkansas, and Germany. They will get us started at the beginning of each practice we are learning together.
BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONOne of the Bible's foundational themes is God's formation of a people—
in this world, for this world.
OUR LIFE
IDENTITY. PURPOSE. CONNECTION
From the formation of the family of Israel
to the formation of Jesus' band of disciples
to the formation of the church by the Holy Spirit.
this one unifying theme of the salvation and formation of a people of God knits 1600 years and 66 books of the Bible in one continuous narrative.
MODEL OF THE DISCIPLESJesus not only stated the importance of this witness and prayed for it, but his discipleship band embodied it.
The community that gathered around Jesus included both:
men and women
Jewish zealots and Roman sympathizers
the honest and the morally compromised
the formerly demon-possessed and the spouse of one of the highest-ranking managers King Herod’s court.
The fact that this diverse and culturally divided group of individuals would gather together for a single meal is remarkable in itself.
But the thought that they shared countless meals and sleeping quarters as they traveled thousands of miles on foot together for nearly three years is mind-blowing.
LOVE AND UNITY
Jesus speaks to the power of an embodied witness.
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
“Father, I pray that all who believe in me can be one. You are in me and I am in you. I pray that they can also be one in us. Then the world will believe that you sent me. ”
SALVATION
We often think of salvation as "inviting Christ into my life."
But what if salvation is also an invitation from Jesus into something much greater?
Meet Addie
Addie’s world began to change when she felt like she belonged to something bigger.
SHARE TOGETHER
Where do you see body life witness show up in Addie’s story?
What are some ways that God used the simple practice of inviting to draw Addie to Christ?
What about you? How has body-life witness, and especially inviting, played a role in your relationship with Christ? Would you be willing to share a bit of this story?
INVITATION
Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
“Come and see.”
INVITATION in the story of Jesus and his followers
John 1:35-50
Read Together
Imagine yourself as one of the people in this story. Then answer the questions as if you were that person.
What person did you choose? What stands out to you about this person?
What did it feel like to be invited? Or to be the one inviting?
What things are already beginning to change about your characters identity as a result of the invitation?
The Bible describes the result of God’s saving work in your life in two ways.
“Christ in you”
Jesus comes into you
Colossians 1:27; Galatians 2:20; Romans 8:9-10
“You in Christ”
You come into the body of Christ
Ephesians 2:19-22; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 3:26-27; Colossians 1:2, 2:6-7
Ponder & Discuss