Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Reckless Love Leader Guide: Jesus' Call to Love Our Neighbor
    Reckless Love Leader Guide: Jesus' Call to Love Our Neighbor
    Reckless Love Leader Guide: Jesus' Call to Love Our Neighbor
    Ebook75 pages1 hour

    Reckless Love Leader Guide: Jesus' Call to Love Our Neighbor

    By Tom Berlin

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    How did Jesus teach the Greatest Commandment to his disciples?


    In his latest book Reckless Love, author and Pastor Tom Berlin writes that Jesus taught them to love neighbor first as a way to more deeply love God.


    In his exploration of Jesus’ teaching and travels with his disciples, Berlin suggests that Jesus teaches us how to love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength by showing us how to love our neighbor. While many hope to learn to be better family, friends, leaders, neighbors but finding a deeper relationship with God, what if becoming a better neighbor leads you to that deeper love of God.

    In Reckless Love, you will see the ways Jesus’ care for others disrupted the way his disciples thought and acted so deeply that they learned love God fully and join Jesus mission to share the good news unambiguously. In so doing, you will have the opportunity to consider your life, and learn how loving the people around you will completely renew your faith and give you a new experience of loving God.

    The Leader Guide contains everything needed to guide a group through the six-week study including session plans, activities, and discussion questions, as well as multiple format options.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAbingdon Press
    Release dateApr 16, 2019
    ISBN9781501879890
    Reckless Love Leader Guide: Jesus' Call to Love Our Neighbor
    Author

    Tom Berlin

    Tom Berlin serves as a Bishop in the Southeastern Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church. Prior to being elected Bishop, he served as lead pastor of Floris United Methodist Church in suburban Washington, D.C. Tom is a graduate of Virginia Tech and Candler School of Theology at Emory University. He is the author of numerous books, including Reckless Love, Courage, Restored, Defying Gravity, The Generous Church, and the coauthor (with Lovett Weems) of Bearing Fruit, Overflow, and High Yield.

    Read more from Tom Berlin

    Related to Reckless Love Leader Guide

    Related ebooks

    Christianity For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Nana’s Princess

      Dec 28, 2020

      Nana’s Princess
      2 min read

    • Article

      Don’t Lose Your First Love

      Jun 15, 2020

      Lockdown has forced us all to become accepting of change. During lockdown, most Christians have been logging onto online church services on Sundays, and possibly also their home groups during the week. ‘Doing church’ remotely has become the new norm.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Diana, Princess Of Wales’s Beautiful Niece Lady Amelia Spencer And Fiance Greg Mallett Share Their Engagement Joy And Enchanting Love Story For The First Time

      Sep 14, 2020

      Diana, Princess Of Wales’s Beautiful Niece Lady Amelia Spencer And Fiance Greg Mallett Share Their Engagement Joy And Enchanting Love Story For The First Time
      12 min read

    • Article

      ‘Mum, Please Help Me Die’ A Spiritual Journey With Cancer

      Nov 18, 2019

      My country bleeds and suffers. So why this book at this time? I don’t know – but I ask God to use it to bless and encourage. Five years ago, in my fresh grief, as Shirley had just died, I had a dream. It was a relay race. At the baton exchange, I rea

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Danger Of Isolation

      Jun 12, 2020

      It seems that a new ‘style’ of church has swept onto the scene with some extraordinary success and incredible impact on young and old alike. Steven Furtick is the founder and lead pastor of an ‘off beat’ evangelical ministry called Elevation Church,

      6 min read

    • Article

      Thursday, May 13

      Apr 15, 2021

      ONE MORNING MY DAUGHTER, HOLLY, helped my eight-year-old grandson straighten up his room. Later that day, she glanced in Roman’s room and found it a wreck. Several books had been pulled off the shelf; some were turned upside down to mark the spot whe

      1 min read

    • Article

      WHO’S In The NEWS?

      Aug 25, 2023

      Evangelist Greg Laurie has held what is being called a baptismal service of “biblical proportions” at one of the locations in California where the Jesus Revolution was filmed, in Newport Beach. Media reports reveal that Laurie’s organisation held a s

      2 min read

    • Article

      Saturday, May 1

      Apr 15, 2021

      MY DRIVE INTO WORK TAKES me down the California coastline. The view is spectacular. The cliffs to my right disappear into the crashing waves below. As I drop into the small coastal valley, the beach curves past the mountain range that frames the seas

      1 min read

    • Article

      Reading Ninja

      Feb 1, 2018

      Reading Ninja
      6 min read

    • Article

      Saturday, November 6

      Oct 15, 2021

      Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 (NIV) THERE ARE A COUPLE OF things I really like about this verse. First, it says I can be sure that God sta

      1 min read

    • Article

      Our Christmas Puppy

      Nov 26, 2019

      Our Christmas Puppy
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Note From The Editor

      Apr 16, 2022

      JESUS IS OUR MOST TRUSTED companion and friend, the One in whom we can always confide and find comfort. The writers in this issue of Mornings with Jesus explore how Jesus has guided and uplifted them through the challenges of life, providing them wit

      1 min read

    • Article

      Getting to Know God GOD IS LOVE

      Oct 28, 2022

      Twenty years ago the blockbuster movie Bruce Almighty was released. In it, God gives the protagonist – Bruce Nolan – God-like abilities for one week. The result is chaos as Bruce uses those powers largely for inept and selfish ends. The movie asks, ‘

      5 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday, July 19

      Jun 16, 2022

      We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this

      1 min read

    • Article

      Ask Val

      May 20, 2022

      Ask Val
      2 min read

    • Article

      Getting to Know God

      Mar 16, 2020

      Getting to Know God
      3 min read

    • Article

      Love That Leaves No One Out

      Jun 22, 2021

      Maybe we’re feeling unloved or excluded – or treating others that way, unconsciously or otherwise. But recognizing that everyone is included in God’s love brings joy and healing to our hearts and to our interactions with others.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Theology: Why Do We Need It?

      Nov 27, 2020

      Theology: Why Do We Need It?
      3 min read

    • Article

      3 Points To Ponder On Biblical Love

      Feb 10, 2023

      In February we celebrate love – this is a great time to reflect on the relationships in our life and gauge if we are still ‘loving’ the way that we are instructed to in the Bible. This introspection is usually not a pleasant one. If we are honest, I

      2 min read

    • Article

      Ask Val

      Oct 22, 2021

      Ask Val
      2 min read

    • Article

      ‘Socially Acceptable’ Sins

      Apr 22, 2022

      In the church today, there are many sins that are seen as ‘socially acceptable’. Are we changing the Bible to fit our culture, or are we changing our culture to fit the Bible? While the sin of worry, for example, may not seem as severe as murder, it

      6 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Jul 21, 2023

      D ear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to editor@joymag.co.za for a chance to be featured – please try to k

      6 min read

    • Article

      Enjoying Your Relationship With The Lord

      Sep 24, 2021

      Do you ever close your eyes and just go and sit (in heavenly places) on Jesus’ lap and feel His loving arms around you? I call it my safe place. When I pray, I try to imagine that I am sitting with the Lord and then just share my heart and requests w

      1 min read

    • Article

      In The Face Of Violence, Build On A Model Of Love

      Apr 24, 2019

      When today’s contributor was robbed and assaulted, the idea that God is all-powerful Love itself prompted him to forgive rather than to react in kind. The situation turned around completely, and his wallet was returned to him right then and there.

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Importance Of Finishing What You Start

      Feb 10, 2023

      “It is better to finish something than to start it.It is better to be patient than to be proud.” – Ecclesiastes 7:8, NCV Have you noticed others not finishing what they start, or not honouring what they say? Sadly, it seems to be so prevalent in

      1 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Reckless Love Leader Guide

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Reckless Love Leader Guide - Tom Berlin

      INTRODUCTION

      In Reckless Love, the Rev. Tom Berlin challenges readers to consider, extensively and at a personal level, how radical the biblical command to love God and to love our neighbor really is.

      Deeply rooted in Hebrew Scripture and cited by Jesus in the New Testament as the Great Commandment, the directive to love God and neighbor may sound simple on its surface. But any amount of time spent reflecting on it reveals its complexity. How do we love God and neighbor? Who is the neighbor we are to love? Can love be commanded at all?

      Reckless Love touches on these questions and many more, but never shies away from the conviction that the life of love God commands is, in fact, the life God created all human beings to live. Pursuing it is worth any discomfort, any confusion, any cost. This life of love transforms us into the people we were always meant to be.

      This six-session study guide gives small group leaders a resource they can use to spur their own reflections on Reckless Love and to guide discussions of its content in adult Christian education settings.

      The six sessions directly correspond to the six chapters in Reckless Love.

      •Session 1: Begin with Love

      •What does the Great Commandment actually call us to do? Participants will explore the concept of love and take practical steps toward beginning their days and encounters in loving ways.

      •Session 2: Expand the Circle

      •Who is the neighbor God commands us to love? Participants will take a close look at their relational circles and consider how they need to expand those networks in order to fulfill the Great Commandment.

      •Session 3: Lavish Love

      •What does God’s love look like on a day-to-day basis? Participants will look for answers in Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain and will commit themselves to small but significant acts of love.

      •Session 4: Openhearted Love

      •What social barriers too often keep us from loving our neighbors? Participants will challenge social ideas about gender and race that contradict God’s call to a radically inclusive love.

      •Session 5: Value the Vulnerable

      •Are there any outsiders where God’s love is concerned? Participants will confront religious people’s tendency to divide the world into us and them, and will examine specific groups of vulnerable people whom Jesus engaged, as well as those groups’ modern counterparts.

      •Session 6: Emulate Christ

      •How do we continue to grow in love? Participants will think about what it means to emulate Jesus and will look ahead to the transformation his command to love can bring.

      Each session contains the following elements:

      •Session Goals: Feel free to choose the goals you and your group deem most relevant, or touch on them all in your time together.

      •Biblical Foundations: The key Scripture passages discussed in each chapter of Reckless Love, presented here in the New Revised

      •Standard Version translation.

      •Chapter Summaries: Not intended to replace the text, but to present important points in a concise format leaders and participants can review and refer to during each session.

      •Materials You Will Need: No session requires elaborate or hard-to-find materials, but these lists will help you organize the simple supplies you will want. Many are optional, ensuring the study can be used in a variety of church or home settings.

      •Opening and Closing Activities: These activities are usually, though not always, discussion-based, and help introduce or summarize the themes of each session.

      •Opening and Closing Prayers: Leaders may read these prayers aloud verbatim or use them as models for their own prayers.

      •Video Presentation: The 10- to 12-minute video presentation gives space for discussion and flows into the book conversation.

      •Book Discussion: Questions designed to provoke discussion of Reckless Love, often quoting directly from the text.

      •Bible Study: Use some or all of these questions to dig deeper into the Biblical Foundations of each session.

      •Extra Activity: An optional activity described at the end of each session may be added if time allows.

      May your group’s study of Reckless Love empower you to love God and your neighbor more boldly and faithfully than ever before!

      SESSION 1

      BEGIN WITH LOVE

      PLANNING THE SESSION

      Session Goals

      The conversations and activities in this session will equip participants to:

      •Articulate their own biblically informed definitions of love and contrast these definitions with culturally prevalent definitions of love.

      •Reflect on the ways love for God and love for neighbor intersect with and influence each other, and contribute to our continuing transformation into the people God wants us to be.

      •Explore the tension in Christian life between committing ourselves to lives of love and depending upon God’s love and grace.

      •Plan to begin each day, encounter, conversation, and

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1