A Small Group Bible Study
We are so excited you are joining us to study the book of Acts! This fall will be different for all of us in ways we could have never expected. Work, school, and community all look different than they did a year ago. And yet, for us as a church, this fall might actually be closer to who we were in the very beginning. This year, North Way will turn forty. And although North Way, by God’s grace, is now many campuses all across the Pittsburgh region, it began small and simply with nine young couples meeting in a basement. These couples gathered together for prayer and Bible study and to dream about what a church in today’s culture could look like if built around the foundational principles of the early church. Any time these young couples were unsure how to move forward, they would return to the book of Acts to seek God’s wisdom and design for the church.
Our prayer is that as we unite together through the book of Acts, this would be a time for us to remember our roots, to meet in homes, to meditate on God’s word with our families and small groups, to pray and fast as one, and to once again dream and consider who we are called to be as one church united across the Pittsburgh region.
What to Expect
Reading and Discussion Questions
Each week there will be a section of reading assigned from the book of Acts. During the week leading up to your small group discussion, read through the assigned reading at least 3-4 times. Ideally, each read-through would be on a different day. This will help you see different facets of the passage and get you ready for a deeper discussion in your group. Before you start, take a moment to ask God to speak to you. As we prayerfully approach the study of His word, God shows up! As you read, take time to make notes of anything you observe, sections that stick out to you, or questions that arise. It might be helpful to dedicate a specific notebook to your studies or use a Bible that has margins for notetaking.
The discussion questions for each week will never change. They are:
- Describe what is happening in your own words.
- What stood out to you as you read?
- Did these verses raise any questions as you read?
- What can we observe from this story about God the Father, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit?
- What can we observe from this story about people?
- What can we learn from this story about who we should be as believers and who we
should be as a church? - Why is this passage in this particular book of the Bible? What might the Bible lose if
this passage was left out? - What is something you sense the Spirit leading you to do in obedience to this text?
Think through these questions as you read. Our goal is to begin to observe everything that is happening in the text so we can come to a faithful interpretation – and then – to allow that interpretation to transform us to become more like Christ.
Going Deeper
You’ll also notice a section each week titled “Going Deeper.” This is an opportunity for you to go outside of your reading for the week and take your study a little further. Sometimes this will be another section of Scripture that correlates to that week’s reading while other times it might be a short video or story for you to consider.
Weekly Teachings
Each week we’ll provide a 10-15 minute teaching from a North Way leader that will align with that week’s reading for you to watch together with your small group. These teachings will provide context for your readings and help answer some of the questions that might come up. We really encourage you to complete your own work before watching. We understand how appealing it might be to want to go directly towards the weekly teaching, especially during the most difficult passages. However, we believe that doing this work independently first, with the help of the Holy Spirit, will help equip us with Bible study skills that will last a lifetime.
An Invitation
Some weeks you’ll notice there is an invitation to an extra gathering happening either at your campus or online. These gatherings go along with your Acts study and work to supplement what you’re learning in new and creative ways. While your entire group is invited to come to these together, you don’t need your group in order to take part. We’d love to have you join us for as many of these as you can!
Our Schedule
- Week of Sept. 28: Acts 1-2:13
Sept. 28 – Oct. 9: An Invitation: Upper Zoom - Week of Oct. 5: Acts 2:14 – 5:42
- Week of Oct. 12: Acts 6-8:3
- Week of Oct. 19: Acts 8:4-8:40
Oct. 19: An Invitation: Spiritual Gifts Workshop - Week of Oct. 26: Acts 9 – 11:18
November 1: An Invitation: Baptisms - Week of Nov. 2: Acts 11:19-12:25
- Week of Nov. 9: Acts 13 – 15:35
Nov. 13-14: An Invitation: Imagine Conference - Week of Nov. 16: Acts 15:36 – 18:23
Week of Nov. 23: Thanksgiving week off!
November 24: All Worship Night - Week of Nov. 30: Acts 18:24 – 23:35
- Week of Dec. 7: Acts 24 – 27:44
- Week of Dec. 14: Acts 28
*The Invitation dates listed above are for gatherings designed for all campuses to participate together in.
Kids Bible Study
We believe that a child’s family plays a crucial role in developing children who have a deeper faith, make wise choices, and build strong relationships both inside and outside of the home. So each week, North Way Kids has highlighted a smaller chunk of that week’s Acts reading for you to go through with your children. Also provided are an activity and prompting questions designed to help your family grow in faith together in a meaningful way.Then take what your family learned into the rest of your week by focusing on the week’s “bottom line” and how it impacts each of you.You’ll find that studying God’s Word with your family can be simple, engaging, and fun for all of you!
Read: Acts 2:1-13 and John 14:26
Activity: Flashlight Tag –Choose one family member to be “it.” Then run away as fast as you can as “it” tries to tag you by shining their light on you with a flashlight. If you’re tagged, either switch who is “it” or join them by being another “it” with a second flashlight. You can do this either outside under the stars or inside with all the lights off!
Prompting Questions: How is the Holy Spirit like the flashlight from our game of tag? How does the Holy Spirit help us?
Bottom Line: God will send us the help we need.
Read: Acts 3:42-47 and Acts 4:32-36
Activity: The Snowball Effect –Set up dominoes to create a chain reaction. For an extra challenge, see how many you can set up or create fun patterns. If you don’t have dominoes,try usingbooksor cereal boxes.
Prompting Questions: How are the dominoes like the people who believed in Jesus from Acts? Who or what caused the first “domino”to fall from what we read? What do you want God to say someday about the way you treated others?
Bottom Line: We have the power to love others.
Read: Acts 6:8-15 and 7:51-60
Activity: Trust Fall –Timber! Ask your child to stand facing away from you as you stand behind them. Ask them to fall backward. And even though it may be scary, ask them to trust you to catch them.
Prompting Questions: How did it feel doing the trust fall? From what we read, how do you think Stephen felt? Why do you think he stood up for what he believed, even when it was dangerous?
Bottom Line: We can trust God no matter what.
Read: Acts 8:26-40
Activity:
- 20 Questions – Questions are an important for learning, like how the Ethiopian used questions to learn more about Jesus. To play this game, first ask someone to think of an object and keep it a secret. Then the rest of your family will ask up to 20 yes or no questions to try and figure out what the secret object is.
- Follow the Leader – For younger children, practice following the leader as the leader does fun movements such as skipping, hopping, and wiggling. Take turns being the leader and see how wacky you can get!
Prompting Questions: For the Ethiopian, the questions he had kept him from following Jesus. Do you have questions that keep you from following Jesus? Baptism is a way we show others that we follow Jesus. What is a way you show others that you follow Jesus?
Bottom Line: You can tell others about how to follow Jesus.
Read: Acts 10
- Pro Tip: This week’s Family Guide reading is a larger chunk (47 verses total) than in previous weeks. Feel free to break it into 2-3 sections and read it together over several days.
Activity: Wait, what did you say?! – Let’s sharpen those listening skills. Choose someone to be the “speaker” and make up a funny sentence for the rest of the family to listen to and then guess. But it won’t be that easy! The speaker can’t just speak their sentence out loud. He/she either has to mouth it with no noise (while everyone else lip reads) or talk with their mouth full of food (gasp!). Feel free to come up with your own wacky ways for the speaker to speak!
Prompting Questions: God wants to speak to us through the Holy Spirit. What are ways that we can listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying?
Bottom Line: God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit.
Read: Acts 12:1-19
Activity: Story Re-Creation – This week’s story is an amazing way God did the impossible! To help your family picture how amazing it was, re-create the story using play-doh, markers, sock puppets, costumes, or anything else that sparks your family’s creativity.
Prompting Questions: Has God helped you before? What happened? What do you need help from God for now?
Bottom Line: God can do the impossible.
- Read: Acts 13:4-12
- Activity: Sailboat Challenge – Paul and Barnabas sailed to new places to tell others about God. Challenge everyone in your family to make their own sailboat using just supplies you have in the house. Will aluminum foil or plastic sandwich bags work? How about a cereal box or sponge? Once everyone has built their sailboat, see which one can hold the most coins or Lego people!
- Prompting Questions: Why do you think some people don’t like God or want others to follow Him? What are some of the things that come between you and God? How can you get rid of those things?
- Bottom Line: Nothing can separate you from God’s love.
- Read: Acts 16:16-40
- Activity: My (paper) chains are gone, I’ve been set free! – Cut construction paper into long strips. On each strip, draw each scene of this week’s Bible story. Then using a stapler, tape, or glue, create a paper chain by looping each strip into a circle that’s connected to the other paper loops. Chain your arms together of each person in your family. At the same time, have everyone break their chains and celebrate God’s power to do the impossible!
- Prompting Questions:
- Pretend you’re the jailer who was guarding the prisoners. How would you have felt when the earthquake came? How would you have felt when you saw all the prisoners had stayed? How would you have responded to what Paul and Silas said?
- Now pretend you’re Paul and Silas. How would you have felt when you were thrown in jail? Would it have been easy or hard for you to sing to God and pray while in jail? What would you have done when the earthquake came? How would you have treated the jailer?
- Bottom Line: God does the impossible to that people will believe in Him.
- Read: Acts 22:1-21
- Activity: Blindfold Obstacle Course – Build an obstacle course using items around your house. Pillows are great stones to hop to and from. Chairs and blankets make great tunnels to army crawl through. Pool noodles are the perfect balance beam. Let your family’s creativity flow! Once the building is done, use a scarf or shirt to blindfold each family member as they go through the obstacle course with the help of someone else guiding them by voice or by holding hands.
- Prompting Questions: Paul told the story of how God changed his heart. What was Paul like before God changed his heart? What was he like after? Why did Paul tell others about his story?
- Bottom Line: God can change our heart, and we can tell others about what He did for us.
- Read: Acts 27:21-44
- Activity: Rock the Boat – Arghh, are we goin’ overboard mateys!? It’s time to turn you sofa or bed into a ship! Pretend to be Paul going through the storm with the ship’s crew. Have one person sit on the sofa or bed, while the other family members jump around to make it a rocky place to sit.
- Prompting Questions: Why was Paul not panicking during the storm? How did Paul encourage the other people on the boat during the storm? How can you encourage others when they’re going through a difficult time?
- Bottom Line: The Holy Spirit helps us encourage others in difficult times.
- Read: Acts 28:17-31
- Activity: Go, shout it out on a mountain! – Write a letter, draw a picture, make a Lego scene, choreograph a dance, record a video, etc. to tell other people about Jesus and what you learned from this Acts study. Let your creativity flow!
- Prompting Questions: Paul was imprisoned for the past couple of weeks in our Acts study, but he still found many ways to tell others about Jesus. How can we tell others about Jesus even when things are tough for us? If you haven’t told others about Jesus, what do you think is stopping you from sharing?
- Bottom Line: You can point others to Jesus.