Easter Brunch Lesson 1:
Vision & Listening

LOOKING BACK
Family Time (15 mins)
  • Vision: Invite someone in your lifegroup to share what your Lifegroup’s vision means to them.
  • Connect Question: We'll be talking about Easter today...What are traditions/ways you've typically celebrated Easter?
  • Announcements: See bottom of this page.
  • Check-Ins, answers to prayer, a testimony to share. 

LOOKING UP
Worship (~10-15 mins)
For leaders: We encourage you to set the stage for worship with some explanation. 
Here is an example: “We are beginning our preparation for Easter Brunch (which is at the end of March). As we worship, the first song helps us focus our eyes on who Easter is about - the great and mighty name of Jesus.”“We’ll be listening together to Holy Spirit about our Easter Brunches. Let’s invite Holy Spirit here to let Holy Spirit lead and speak to us as we sing this second song, and say “Holy Spirit, you are welcome here.”
Easter Vision (10 minutes)
  • Introduce what Easter Brunches are. Most people will have heard about it based on Sunday sermons. If people missed it, encourage them to catch up from our 1/28 “Family on Mission” intro here (starting at 1:39:32). 
  • Share a variation of the overall vision for these brunches. (Our overall vision doc can be found here). A few main areas to highlight: 
    • We will not have a large church service on Easter Sunday; instead, Lifegroups will host their own brunches. 
    • Easter brunches are an opportunity for us to live out ECM together as a Lifegroup, as we invite our friends and family in a more relational space, and that we get equipped in the process.
    • In the next two months, through Lifegroup, Sundays, and other spaces, we’ll get equipped on ways to live out Jesus’ love to our communities!
  • If people have questions, feel free to make space for that! (And if you don’t have the answers, reach out to your coach). 

Listening for your Brunch (20 minutes) 
  • Listening to God's Vision: Easter brunches are definitely a change from what we typically do for Easter, and we all may have different feelings on what to do next. Rather than jumping straight into planning mode, or feeling stressed about doing something new, we want to trust and listen to God as our first step. We can trust that God is ahead of us, and He wants to give us wisdom and insight in how to plan. We will begin our planning by seeking the Lord and listening to what He has to say to us. 
  • We can all hear from God: As we see in John 10:27, we believe God speaks to all of us: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” If you are new to listening to God’s voice, start by writing down what comes in their mind as we do this next exercise (without judging what comes to mind). And the more we immerse ourselves in scripture in our lives, the more His Word will be what rises to our minds when we need it. If you want to grow in hearing God’s voice, check out epicentre.org/personal-resources and continue practicing with others in our Lifegroup and discipleship groups!

  1. As a group, ask God to highlight any words, Bible verses, or pictures for a theme or themes that we might focus our Brunch around. Take 3-5 minutes for everyone to individually to listen and write down anything that comes to mind. 
  2. Break into groups of 3-4 to share what we heard. Pick one person per group to share your group's ideas with the whole group. 
  3. Regather as a large group, and have each presenter share. Compile words in one place (physical or a digital doc). 
  4. Discuss: What themes are we noticing? Do any of these words spur more ideas for what God might want to do? (As a leader, encourage group members to make those connections, or share insights you notice). 

LOOKING FORWARD 
Listening for our Community (15 minutes)
  1. Hand out paper or ask people to take out a notes app on their phone. 
  2. Let's all take time to pray and ask God to bring to mind friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, and others we see regularly that He might want us to pray for and possibly invite. Write down their names. 
  3. Brief Discussion: Are there any observations about who God is highlighting that might impact our brunch planning? 

Pray together: End our time by getting into small groups of 3-4 to pray for our Easter Brunch and the people God highlighted. If helpful (especially if group members don’t have large spaces to host), begin brainstorming where your brunch can take place.