Agenda for Just Do It Sessions
Life Season, January 1 - February 13, 2024
Anybody can lead a Just Do It group using the agenda below. It is important to reinforce that by taking turns as the group leader/moderator. My 10-year-old granddaughter did fine when it was her turn. So can you.
Read or skim the agenda ahead of time if you wish, and see FAQs at the bottom if you need more details. However, don't worry if you don't get it read beforehand.
The agenda will work even if you do it cold.The agenda is the same every week. Only the Scripture passage changes as shown in the list below.
Leader's agenda for our Just-Do-It Group during Life Season
Start with icebreaker questions about how everybody is doing
Ask each person, “In a minute or so, what is one thing you are thankful for this week?”
Ask, “What is a challenge you are facing?”
Ask, "How did we do with last week's Just Do It assignments?" (Keep cheering people on as they answer.)
Read this to review the group purpose:
Why did we get together today? To listen for our next assignments in God’s public awareness campaign and to cheer each other on as campaign team members
Pray for good listening and cheering, using the following prayer or your own:
Thank you, God, that we can get together today. Thank you that you masterminded a campaign to connect, heal, and bless the world and that you included us in it through Jesus and his Spirit. Help us listen well for our next assignments, and help us cheer each other on every week. In the name of Jesus and for the sake of his campaign we ask these things. Amen.
Read these bullet points to remind the group about what we have agreed on
-
We want a better world, and it will get a little better every time we listen to God together and cheer each other on
-
Nobody is teaching anything or preparing anything for this group. We take turns leading the group by using this group agenda sheet.
-
We stick to the Bible verses we read; we don’t bring in other verses.
-
Our goal is to hear what God wants us to do this week, not to satisfy idle curiosity or to push our own opinion.
-
We expect that at some point God will nudge us to start other groups to get more people listening and cheering. When he does, we will just do it, even if it means we leave this group.
[Say] Now let's listen for what the Scripture is saying to us.
Use the following prayer or your own, pray that the Scripture will speak to us:
Lord, we are coming to you to listen for your voice in the Bible and through your Spirit. Give us whatever assignments you have for us this week as members of your campaign team, and make them clear enough that we don't miss them. Make your thoughts our thoughts and your will our will so we can just do it. In Jesus' name, amen.
Find this week’s Scripture
Jan. 1-7. Genesis 1.1-13. Creation, part one
Jan. 8-14. Genesis 1.24-2.3. Creation, part two
Jan. 15-21. Psalm 96.1-13. What life is supposed to be like
Jan. 22-28. Genesis 3.1-9. Death gets its foot in the door
Jan. 29-Feb. 4. Deuteronomy 30.11-20. The choice of life or death
Feb. 5-6. (Mon-Tue groups only) John 10.1-10. The shepherd of life
Feb. 7-13. Revelation 22.1-7. The river of life and the tree of life
1. Read the Scripture to the group, then ask, “What stood out to you? It could be a main point or just something that jumped out at you.”
2. Ask someone else to read the Scripture, using a different translation than you read. Then try to summarize it together without looking at it. Pretend you are doing this to inform someone who arrived late. It doesn't have to be perfect.
3. [Ask] “How much would we know about God's campaign if these verses were all we had heard about it?”
[Say] Now let's get ready to listen for our personal assignments
for the week, our Just Do Its.
Read this description of "life-bringer":
Those Bible verses are supposed to help us see ourselves as life-bringers. Jesus called us to authentic, fulfilled living. We receive his life and carry it to others. So let's go on high alert for his Spirit right now. Let's pay attention to whatever he wants to tell us in these next minutes about filling the world with life.
Using the following prayer or your own, pray for the Spirit to speak to us:
Jesus please put our personal assignments into our minds now by the Holy Spirit. We are at your service. Let your life bubble up inside us like a spring. Let us overflow with it so a thirsty world can get a life-giving drink. Give us assignments that will share your life.
Allow time for listening to the Spirit (use your judgment about how long to wait)
[Then ask] What do you feel your Just Do It assignment is?
[Ask] How will we get our Just Do Its done?
[Say] Let's each set a reminder right now (whatever kind works for you)
[Say] Let's pray right now for God's help. Then pray, using the following prayer or your own:
Thank you, Lord, for giving us our assignments for the week. Now please give us whatever courage, skill, and spiritual power it will take to get them done. Please prepare situations for us so that people get connected, healed, or blessed as we do our "Just-Do-Its". Let them be our small contributions to a better world because we listened to you together in this group. In the name of Jesus, the Water of Life, we ask these things. Please let them happen. Amen.
[Ask] Whose turn is it to lead next week? Confirm the meeting time.
Close the session by saying (or having the group say together) the slogan in the box:
Don't forget your Just Do It.
Don't over-think it.
Don't avoid it.
Just do it.
FAQs for leaders
What is Life Season?
The first of the seven seasons in the SYNC annual cycle.
You don't need to know the season or the cycle in order to participate in a Just Do It group, but if you are in a group for more than one SYNC season, you will see that the group "Agenda" changes slightly with the seasonal emphasis.
If you want more details about Life Season, see "Life Tool Kit" under the "Resources" tab, but don't try to teach it during a Just Do It session. That would violate one of the key rules for Just Do It Groups: "Nobody is teaching anything or preparing anything for this group."
What is God's "public awareness campaign"?
See the "God's campaign" tab. God's public awareness campaign is a core idea in Just Do It Groups because all our "Just Do Its" are part of it. But don't try to "teach" the idea during a group meeting or the meeting may get off track. Tell people they can look it up for themselves on this site.
Does God really have a personal assignment for me this week?
Ask him. It's his campaign. What if he does have one
and you have not been listening for it?
Isn't it more authentic to pray in our own words than to read a prayer?
Usually it is. In this case please do at least read through the prayers ahead of time in order to see how they reinforce the core ideas and purposes of Just Do It groups. If you use your own words, be sure to get these ideas and purposes in there.
Why can't we mention any Bible verses besides
the ones we are reading?
Because it interferes with both listening and cheering. When we start comparing verses, our brains take over and our ears get blocked. We start figuring things out, explaining things, studying things, and before we realize it, we are lost in a pile of timeless truths, no longer listening to what God is saying specifically to us in the moment.
The other effect may be even worse. Our extra Bible verses easily make others feel second-class or even excluded. Whether they think we are showing off or just trying to be helpful, the effect is still that they see us way above them and they see themselves as very deficient in biblical knowledge. That never cheers anybody on!
There is a time and a place for comparing various Scriptures to develop our theological knowledge, but a Just Do It group is not it.
Where do we get another Bible translation?
One source (leaving this site) is biblegateway.com. It has a long pick list of translations. Two of the easiest ones to hear read aloud are “The Message” and the “Good News Translation”.
What if someone doesn't hear or sense any Just Do It
while we are listening to the Spirit?
The people who do get some guidance from the Spirit should go ahead and describe it. Sometimes that helps others to realize what the Spirit is saying to them.
If that does not happen, then the person's Just Do It is to stay alert through the week until he/she gets the guidance they didn't get during the meeting.
The person might want to reread the same Scripture, spend some more time praying and listening, or the Spirit may create a particular situation so the person realizes, "Oh, this is God prompting me to do such-and-such."
The person should not fret or be embarrassed as they wait. It is God's job to communicate our Just Do Its, not our job to figure them out. He's very good at it since he knows how we are wired. He customizes his communication, and his timing is impeccable.
Does anyone take notes about our Just Do Its
or other things we share during the meeting?
First things first--set a reminder for yourself so you don't forget your own Just Do It after the meeting. That's the basic problem for most participants.
Taking and circulating a few notes is a nice extra if anyone in your group is good at that. It helps you pray for each other during the week and cheer each other when you next meet. Each group has to figure out whether the help that notes give to their cheering is greater than the harm that note-taking causes as a distraction from listening. Here is a template for simple note-taking to download if you decide to try that.