Grace Group Guide
Growing in Grace and Watching Over One Another in Love · McPherson First United Methodist Church · August 16, 2026
This week in worship. Our church is in a worship series called The Good Life. Your group works great on its own, and you are always welcome Sunday at 8:30 or 10:15 AM. Worship is also online at mcphersonfirst.org.
A Grace Group is six to eight people who meet about an hour each week to grow in faith and care for one another. There is no homework and nothing to prepare. We talk honestly, ask a few questions, and pray. You only need to show up and be honest, and everyone is welcome.
A Methodist Way of Making Disciples
Grace Groups recover one of the oldest Methodist practices. Almost three hundred years ago, John Wesley gathered Methodists into small weekly groups that asked one another, “How is it with your soul?” and watched over one another in love. A Grace Group is that same way of making disciples, brought back for today.
The Five Promises
Our five membership promises are also a simple way to talk about our faith journey:
Prayers: connecting with God through prayer, scripture, and listening
Presence: showing up for worship and the life of the church
Gifts: giving to support the church’s mission
Service: finding where you are called to serve
Witness: sharing your faith in word and action
This Week’s Practice, 10 of 25, Presence: Hospitality. Hospitality is welcoming others the way God welcomes us. It is not the same as entertaining. Entertaining is about impressing people; hospitality is about receiving them. The food does not have to be fancy. Ways to try it. Notice who is new or alone, and walk over. Invite someone over for a simple meal, even leftovers. Bring it to Soul Tending. Share one person you welcomed this week and one person you sense God is asking you to welcome next.
Your Hour Together
Everything for your hour together. The times are a guide, not a rule.
Our Covenant (0 min)
Each time we meet, we say yes to these together.
Show up. Make this a priority. Your presence matters.
Be honest. You can say the true thing here. No performance needed.
Keep it private. Hold what you hear with care. Privacy allows honesty.
Give everyone space. Share, then make room. Listen as much as you talk.
We Begin (2 min)
We’ll begin with a moment of quiet, and then we’ll pray together.
Gracious God, you are nearer than we usually notice. Open our eyes to that nearness, and make this hour a place of honesty. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Getting to Know One Another (5 min)
We’ll go around the circle. Share your name, then pick one of these to answer.
What is a song you always turn up when it comes on?
What is a place near here you love to go?
The Three Questions
These three questions are the heart of our time. We’ll move through them in order, and everyone gets a turn. The smaller questions underneath are just to help, and there are no wrong answers.
Soul Tending. How is your faith journey going? (10 min)
What have you been praying about without much to show for it?
Where do you feel most yourself with God?
Now we’ll notice where God has been showing up.
God Sightings. Where do you see God at work in your life? (25 min)
Where has God met you in something ordinary?
Who has been Christ to you recently?
Now we’ll name what we want to hand to God.
Growing in Grace. What challenge are you giving to God? (40 min)
What are you afraid to hope for?
What is one thing you could hand over this week?
Connect Back (optional, only if time allows): anyone may briefly name something they heard today that stayed with them. Keep it short, for connection, not advice.
We Close (55 min)
We’ll keep a few moments of quiet now, space to allow what you shared and heard, and how God has been speaking, to settle in your soul, so you can carry it into the days ahead.
. . . a few moments of silence . . .
Faithful God, thank you for ears that listened and words that were true. Tend what we planted here through the week ahead. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
McPherson First United Methodist Church · mcphersonfirst.org/gracegroups