ENGAGEMENT QUESTIONS:

• What is your relationship with waiting? If you were to review your life, how has waiting played a role in where you are today?

• Do you think there is a temptation in narrowing the borders of Gods reign to a specific nation?

• How is the story of Jesus continuing through you?

ENGAGEMENT:

• Engaging in prayer, meditation, and community can heighten our awareness of the Holy Spirit's presence. What practices have helped you tune into God's voice?

• Looking over your life what resonates with you as divine encounters?

• Reflect on your own experiences-how have you felt empowered to share your story or faith? What are the barriers that prevent you from speaking?

ENGAGEMENT

How comfortable are you in being able to explain the good news to someone?

How might this message have given you a fresh perspective for doing that?

Who could you actively be praying for and building a relationship of trust with, to share God's good news?

How is it that you came to faith in Christ? OR, Where do you find yourself in considering Jesus offer of forgiveness and redemption?

How do you see yourself most effectively being on mission with God as one sent to heal?

ENGAGEMENT

Where do you think our comfort/discomfort zone is for sharing the gospel: word, practice, or together?

How can we work together to make the temple gate beautiful?

Do we have avenues of exchange for the poor to interact with us?

ENGAGEMENT:

How can we, or how do we, steward what we’ve been given?

Is there anything you’re holding back from God?

In what ways are the mindsets of the pharisees and sadducees in Acts 5 (control, legalism, power over others) showing up in the American church/Christianity today?

What would flourishing in your relationship with God look like? How would it impact the other areas or relationships in your life?

ENGAGEMENT:

• How can you / we build trust and ensure that all voices - especially those who feel overlooked - are heard and valued?

• What barriers or fears might prevent people in our community from sharing their concerns?

• What practical ways can we foster active listening and mutual understanding between those who have been here for some time and those who may be newer?

• In what ways might god intentionally move beyond the boundaries and expectations we set, inviting us to embrace a broader vision of divine purpose and creativity?

• How can recognizing God's willingness to "draw outside the lines" of our plans challenge us to trust in a greater wisdom and remain open to unexpected paths of growth and transformation?

• How might our attempts to contain or control God lead to idolatry in the faith?

ENGAGEMENT:

• What does this term "making room" mean for you? What does it not mean?

• Where do you struggle to make room? Why? Are there places you feel like you shouldn't make room?

• When has following Jesus felt like a map, when has it felt like a compass?

• Recall a time you felt the nudge of the Spirit through the actions of someone else?

ENGAGEMENT

• How does Saul's dramatic transformation challenge our willingness to accept that people-especially those with a troubled past-can truly change?

• What can Ananias' hesitation to accept Saul teach us about the difficulty of embracing those who were once seen as enemies or outsiders?

• In what ways do Ananias obedience and Saul's transformation call us to make space in our communities for people who are different or unexpected, even when it's uncomfortable?

ENGAGEMENT:

What boundary places do you live in?

Prayer drew Peter & Cornelius to participate in God's mending of the divide. How does this challenge your conception of prayer?

What do you think of David Brooks question, "How did you come to believe this?"

Can we desire a common faith without first offering a common humanity?

When do you give up on dialogue?

ENGAGEMENT

• What communities might be reaching out to yours in an effort to build a bridge or what community is yours reaching out to?

• What bridge building aspect does your community do well? What might they need to work on? ( i.e. Patience in criticism, contextualizing experiences, leaving space… )

• Who might the "Gentiles" or "Outsiders" be to your community?

ENGAGEMENT

• How do you think of power? Which power seems more unstoppable to you?

• When is the immovable object within you? When is the unstoppable force?

• Are you tempted to dehumanize the dehumanizers? How?

• Are you prepared for what/who you pray for to knock on your door?

• Is there anything you don't understand or don't like in this passage?

ENGAGEMENT

• What has "co-mission" looked like if your life?

• Elymas looks for others to lead him by the hand, but we don't know what happens. Who do you think he finds to lead him? Does it matter? Why?

• What is hard for you when you receive correction?

• What is hard for you when you give or feel you need to give correction?

ENGAGEMENT

• Where might god be calling you back to places of pain and hurt to reclaim the story that He was writing, that at that time you were unable see or understand?

• How might your personal story of pain and redemption serve to stengthen the soul or encourage the faith of another?

• How does this message help shape your perspective and expectations of any future challenges you will face?

ENGAGEMENT:

Like Peter, Paul, and Barnabas, do you have stories where your perspectives changed or were in some way altered due to personal encounters with people different from you? If so, share those stories with the people around you, or sit and recall their influence, and consider how the effects of their lives and your encounter with them still linger with you today.

ENGAGEMENT

• Is it strange for you to connect the biblical stories of spirits to everyday motivations like money? What do you make of this? Do you agree or disagree with my interpretation of Acts 16?

• What is your general history with money? How does this affect your ideas around generosity and conscious consumerism?

• How do you respond to this saying, "It's not how much I can get, but how much I can give?"

EUCHARIST AS ENGAGEMENT:

Jesus, hammer out in me The violence of my heart

Transform all judgements into curiosity

All animosity

Into altruism

Until my life

Every broken and wounded piece

Becomes an instrument of peace.

ENGAGEMENT:

What can we learn from the unexpected relationship of Paul, Aquila and Pricilla?

What have you learned about being a friend and being befriended?

There's an underlining truth in this chapter - we are created for relationship, and the Christian faith is that not meant to be lived solo. Does this ring true for you? If yes, how, if no why not?

ENGAGEMENT

What is your idea or perspective of evil? How or where do you see evil in the world?

What do you think about this idea that the evil spirit knew Jesus because Jesus knew the spirit of evil?

Do you find it easier to relate or talk with people who have already been through, or going through, something you're experiencing. If so. why?

ENGAGEMENT

What's a hard thing you've been avoiding or delaying, but you know you need to face? What would it look like to turn and "set your face" to this hard thing?

Who in your life has determined to turn and set their face to a hard thing?

How can you be a companion of grace to them in this season?

ENGAGEMENT:

• How does your community (mentors, advisors, friends, family) currently participate in your discernment process of decision making?

• When someone’s sense of calling or decision making risks harming themselves or others, what concrete steps would you lovingly hold them accountable while still honoring their dignity?

• When you hear or read the word “accountable or accountability” what is your response? Why?

ENGAGEMENT

When you recount a time God showed up, or stayed with you, what details stand out the most-and how do those details change the way you see God now?

Which past wound or scar, if remembered rightly today, would shape or reshape your faith in God and help you face your future?

Lamentations 3:21-23 says "This I call to mind, therefore I have hope" - What would you call to mind to incite hope?

ENGAGEMENT

• Share what scares you about vulnerability. why?

• Share what "armor" is most tempting for you. Bitterness, blame, numbness, clinging to control, or something else?

• Share the difference for you between the Lord standing near, saying "take courage", and another person "standing near".

ENGAGEMENT

• Despite the overwhelming danger and despair, Paul chose to encourage others and remained anchored in God's promise rather than his own strength. In what ways can you identify with Paul's call to "take courage," and how might faith shape your decisions during crisis?

• Paul warned the sailors to stay together for survival and trusted God's word above visible circumstances. What keeps you connected to faith or community during struggles, and what steps might you take to seek God's presence when the storm is at its fiercest?

• Paul invited everyone on the storm-tossed ship-sailors, soldiers, prisoners, and strangers-to share a simple meal, giving thanks and breaking bread in the presence of all. What do you notice about the significance of eating together in this moment, especially when fear and uncertainty could have kept people apart? How might this act of communal nourishment and gratitude, inspire us to embrace unity and hospitality with those who are different from us when we are facing our own storms?

ENGAGEMENT Can obstinate hope be a conscious choice, even when our emotions or reasoning say otherwise? Yes? No? Explain.

In what ways can we support each other when the outcomes we hope for feel far off? Do you find Paul's reminder that Love Never Ends reassuring when you don't see outcomes? Why or why not?

Miguel De La Torre says the best alternative to hope is not despair, but desperation, "because desperation propels me toward action." Do you agree?

ENGAGEMENT

• What do you make of this idea that "God is everywhere waiting for us to arrive." Do you believe hospitality makes a space for God to heal?

• Have you had a time where you had nothing to offer and others showed you kindness? Consider sharing why it mattered to you.

• What is hard for you about welcoming "all" who come to your doors?