Grace Group Guide
Growing in Grace and Watching Over One Another in Love · McPherson First United Methodist Church · August 2, 2026
This week in worship. Our church is in a worship series called Passing the Flame. 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 · 20 of 25 · Service
Visiting the Sick and Homebound. Wesley took this seriously enough to put it on his list of means of grace.
Ask the church office who is homebound or in hospital
Put your phone away and listen more than you talk
Bring it to Soul Tending. Share a visit you made and what you carried home from it.
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. Come each week. Someone here is glad you did.
Be honest. Bring your real self. Honesty is welcome here.
Keep it private. What is said here is held here. That keeps us safe.
Give everyone space. Take your time, and pass the time along.
We Begin 2 min
We’ll begin with a moment of quiet, and then we’ll pray together.
Holy God, you know what each of us walked in with. Make room in us for your Spirit, and make us gentle with one another. 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 are you looking forward to?
What is your ideal way to spend a rainy afternoon?
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
When did you last sense God asking something of you?
What do you wish were easier about following Jesus?
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 been patient with you lately?
What ordinary thing has felt like a gift this week?
Now we’ll name what we want to hand to God.
Growing in Grace. What challenge are you giving to God? 40 min
What worry keeps returning?
Where are you being invited to trust instead of manage?
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, you have listened well. Now send us out to listen well ourselves, and to trust that you are already ahead of us. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
McPherson First United Methodist Church · mcphersonfirst.org/gracegroups