A six session, Bible-centred course for small groups – from Biblical Counselling UK and New Growth Press.
As Philippians reminds us, God is going to bring to completion the good work he has already begun in us (Phil 1:6). But how does this process of change work?
Based on the “three trees” model from CCEF, Real Change is a course for anyone who wants to find out how the gospel changes us from the inside out – anyone who wants to take a look at what is going on in their heart and grow with God’s help to see Real Change.
The course is available in two formats – one for adults, and another for young people aged 15-19+.
“Excellent short course for applying the truth of the Bible to the struggles of everyday life”
(church leader)“Encouraging, manageable, and thoroughly biblical exploration of spiritual growth”
(church leader)
Course Content
- CHANGE
- God is changing each of us
- God is changing us through our relationship with Jesus
- God is changing us through our relationships with other Christians
- A model for understanding change from Jeremiah 17:5-8
- HEAT
- God understands my situation
- God enables me to grow in response to my situation
- THORNS
- I produce thorns
- My thorns come from my heart
- CROSS
- Christ wins over my heart
- I live by repentance and faith in Jesus
- FRUIT
- Fruit comes from a changed heart
- By grace I can bear the fruit of Christlikeness
- REAL CHANGE
- What does real change look like?
- How do we keep going?
- This is real church!
Looking to run Real Change in your local church? Or use it one-to-one with a friend? Here is everything you need to know in order to run the course well.
Real Change is a 6-session course designed to be used within a local church (or other grouping of Christians). It can be used with groups as small as 2 or groups as large as 40 but the ideal size is probably in the region of 10-20.
It is a course that is designed to be led from the front – that means that you will need one or two people from you congregation to lead each week: giving biblical input and facilitating discussion.
Each week the leaders will need to explain aspects of the model of change, encourage people to chat in pairs about their understanding and experience of change, enable students to engage well with God’s word and answer questions from group members. The good news is that there are full leaders notes in the back of the study guides!
The course requires participants to be sharing aspects of their lives. Each person chooses a “change project” – an aspect of their life that they want to work on – and they have an opportunity to talk about that with another participant each week. It is highly recommended that leaders set the tone of the course by engaging in their own change project too. In that way, everyone together learns about change and engages in change as brothers and sisters walking alongside each other in humility and love.
Please note: you will need a study guide for each participant (including the leader).
