Grace Group Guide — Faithful When No One's Watching
Matthew 25:14-30 (CEB) · The Gospel on Stage and Screen · Week 2 · June 28, 2026
In Jesus’ day a single valuable coin, a talent, was an enormous sum, many years of wages. A master divides his property among three servants, each according to ability, then leaves on a long journey. The whole parable unfolds in the gap between his leaving and his return, in what each servant does with what he was given while no one is watching.
New to Grace Groups? Grace Groups are small communities of 6 to 8 people who meet weekly to grow deeper in faith and support each other. They’re a place to be honest about your faith journey and watch over each other in love, not a Bible study, not a therapy group, not a place to fix each other’s problems. The format is simple, the conversation is real, and over time, these become the people who know your story. Every meeting follows the same five-part rhythm below.
1. Center
Open with prayer or a moment of silence. Take a breath. Let the week fall away.
God of every good gift, you have placed something in our hands and you trust us with it. Free us from the fear that buries what you gave, and make us faithful in the long stretches when no one is watching. Amen.
2. Soul Tending
Check in with where you are spiritually, not where you think you should be. These five areas can help you find your way into the conversation. Pick the one or two that feel most alive, or most stuck, right now.
Prayers — How is your prayer life? What are you reading or listening to?
Presence — How has worship or being with other Christians shaped your week?
Gifts — Where are you giving your time, money, or energy?
Service — Where are you serving? What does that look like right now?
Witness — Where have you shared your faith or lived it out loud?
This week’s emphasis is the promise of service, what we do with what God has entrusted to us in every long stretch when no one is watching.
What has God entrusted to you, a talent, a season, a relationship, that you sometimes treat as too small to matter?
The third servant buried his coin out of fear. Where does fear tempt you to play it safe with your gift?
When is it hardest for you to be faithful, in the dramatic moments or in the long unwatched stretches?
3. God Sightings
Share something from this week where you noticed God moving, in your life, in someone else’s, or in the world around you. Big or small, it counts.
The master entrusts each servant according to ability, then celebrates the faithful handling of what was given. Grace shows up in the quiet, unwatched places.
Where have you seen quiet, unwatched faithfulness in someone else lately?
When has someone named a gift in you that you had not seen in yourself?
Where do you sense God trusting you with more than you feel ready for?
4. Growing in Grace
Name something you’re carrying, a decision, a fear, a next step you’ve been avoiding. The group isn’t here to fix it. Just to hear it, sit with you in it, and pray.
The parable invites a concrete response: dig up what fear has buried, and put it to work.
What is one buried gift you could dig up and put to work this week?
The sermon named acts of mercy and family service. Which could you practice quietly this week?
Whose gift could you call out and encourage, the way the master celebrated his servants?
5. Close
Pray for each other before you leave.
Each person shares one prayer need in a sentence. Then someone in the group prays for them out loud. Keep it simple: “God, I pray for [name]...” and one or two sentences is plenty. Ask God for courage to invest what you have buried.
Faithful over a little. Keep investing in the gap. Grow with us at mcphersonfirst.org/next.