Can you remember a time when you were listening to a sermon and it really hit exactly in the situation that you were facing? Sometimes that link been Sunday and Monday morning is really straightforward… But, if you are anything like me, it’s not every Sunday that I come away knowing exactly how the sermon fits into my life.

A couple of weeks ago, as part of Co-Mission Sunday, Matt Fuller from Christ Church Mayfair was with us as we celebrated the importance of the Bible in our lives. The full sermon is on the website, but there was one bit that really hit me:

Do you think about the sermons that you hear? I’ve always been struck an old Puritan bloke, Thomas Watson: “If we don’t meditate about a sermon it is like eating a great meal, but never digesting it. We eat food, but it does us no good” I’ve always found that a telling little quote… Mmmhmmm good sermon but out it goes and does me no good, unless you dwell upon it, reflect on the word of God. So are we going to help each other to do just this? To ask one another ‘what has God been speaking about recently?’

Two questions and challenges:

For the last few months we’ve been working on a tool to help us do just this. A tool to help us reflect and meditate on sermons as a church family together and apply what we’re hearing to our lives.

It’s called One21.

The name is a bit of a play on words… firstly as a growing church, how can we grow deeper in God’s word together? What about the one-to-one conversations we have? What would it look like for us to meet up regularly as pairs of friends, to talk intentionally together about what we’re hearing on Sunday and how it applies to our lives?

One21 provides the conversation starters; when you meet together, you open one21 and there will be questions to take you deeper into the sermon, helping you to think though how it applies to your life.

Okay, so what about the ‘twenty one’ bit? Did you know that each week you eat 21 times? Three meals a day, seven days in a week. Could you take one of those meal times and meet up to intentionally have this discussion? That meal could be a breakfast, it could be lunch near work, it could be dinner… you might even want to start adding extra meals into the day… second breakfast, elevenses, afternoon tea, if that doesn’t work there is supper or you could just meet up for a drink together…

Ready for breakfast on Monday morning

On Monday morning, before your breakfast, we’ll load in the sermon and the questions and you can start having your conversations.

Who do you think it would be most obvious for you to do this with?- Who are the people in the church you see most often?- Are you married? Could you do it with your spouse?- Do your house mates go to Globe? Could you you have a house meal together and do One21?- Perhaps there is someone who works near your office?- Or lives a bus stop away?
This is version one of one21, we’re still working on it; and I would love your feedback on it.

We’re praying that it’s going to be a blessing to you.

Ask someone to do it.
Have a meal together.
Open up one21.
Reflect on the sermons together.