Group Guide
for Just-Do-It sessions
Vision Season, November 24 - December 31, 2024
Anybody can lead a Just-Do-It group using the Guide 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.
If you wish, read or skim the Guide ahead of time, and see FAQs at the bottom if you need more details. However, don't worry if you don't get it read beforehand.
The Guide will work even if you do it cold, as long as you pray all four prayers included. The Guide is the same every week during Vision Season. Only the Scripture passage changes as shown in the list below.
Group Guide
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
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We want a better world, and it will get a little better every time we listen to God together and cheer each other on
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Nobody is teaching anything or preparing anything for this group. We take turns leading the group by using this group agenda sheet.
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We stick to the Bible verses we read; we don’t bring in other verses.
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Our goal is to hear what God wants us to do this week, not to satisfy idle curiosity or to push our own opinion.
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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
Nov. 24-30. Revelation 11.15-19. The last trumpet (the end of the world)
Dec. 1-7. Luke 2.8-20. Glory at the birth of Jesus
Dec. 8-11 (Sun-Thu groups only). Isaiah 60.1-9. God's people shine with his glory
Dec. 12-18. Colossians 1.21-29. Jesus Christ brings glory into us
Dec. 19-25. Daniel 7.9-14. The vision of the Ruler of the world
Dec. 26-31. Revelation 22.12-17. Calling Jesus to come back and fulfill the vision
Optional additional text on the Vision theme on Christmas or New Year's Eve
Revelation 21.1-8. The vision of the New Jerusalem
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 did. 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 "people of the future":
Those Bible verses are supposed to help us see ourselves as people of the future. We are like trailers for a movie about the coming utopia ruled by Jesus the Messiah. Through his Spirit he puts some of the future into us. Then we act like people will act in the future under his perfect rule, and others get a preview of how good that will be. Let's pay attention now to whatever Just-Do-It action he wants to guide us into.
Using the following prayer or your own, pray for the Spirit to speak to us:
Jesus, director of God's Get Real campaign, please bring some of your future down into us now. We are at your service. Put our personal assignments into our minds by the Holy Spirit. We don't want to live in anxiety or despair as if we are clueless about your return to earth or we have no assignments in the meantime. Light up our faces with your coming glory. Please give us assignments that will shine the light of your future into the darkness around us.
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 Coming King, 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 Vision Season?
The last 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 Vision Season, see "Vision 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 "Get Real campaign"?
See the "God's Get Real campaign" tab. God's public awareness campaign is a core idea in Just-Do-It Groups because all our "Just-Do-It" are part of it. But don't try to "teach" the campaign idea during a group meeting or the meeting may get off track. Tell people they can look it up for themselves on this site.
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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 can we find 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.