You can use Koble on your own, or as part of a group, to think about mission within your church as well as your own life. Everything you need to explore the themes in Koble is contained within the personal study guide. However, check out the themes page for additional material for each section to support you on your journey.
Forming missional habits (the practical ways we live out God’s mission in the world) takes time. To get the most out of Koble, we suggest moving through the themes in order and giving yourself time to explore the content. We suggest allowing between 1 to 1.5 hours for group work during each session, before committing additional time for further study, reflection, prayer, and any ideas you might want to practice.
You may choose to work through a theme in one sitting or spread it over a couple of sessions. You may want to work through each theme once over a few months and then revisit them all a 2nd time over a longer period. You may want to journey with Koble over a year and take a theme each month. You could also dip in and out of Koble to explore any themes that are of particular interest to you — or reflect what is important to you and church at this time.
Whatever way you choose to work through Koble, do try to give yourself time to digest the content, discuss the ideas and then practice them.
Ideally, a whole church will go through Koble together, so if that is the case, you may be encouraged to use the Study Guide alongside your wider church programme so you explore each theme at an agreed pace. There is a Leader’s Pack to accompany the Study Guide for equipping those leading a church or group. As well as additional background information to each of the themes, the Leaders’ Pack provides access to larger copies of the ‘play’ pages found in the Study Guide and the ability to print out the questions onto discussion cards. There is also a range of PowerPoint templates and other helpful materials. The Koble approach is designed to be easy to use, adaptable, reflective and practical.
The idea of the theme is laid out through a short introduction to read.
Choose a Bible passage from the list provided and ask a member of the group to read it out loud, slowly and carefully. Then ask someone to read it again. Finally, read it on your own. Listen for any words or phrases that strike you. Take time to consider what the word, phrase or passage means, for you personally and for your church. Consider how God is speaking to you and how you might need to respond.
This is an opportunity to do an activity together that helps to unpack the theme. Each activity is different, and the instructions are alongside. Larger copies of these activities can be printed off from the Leaders Pack.
There are 16 questions to discuss around the theme idea. Some questions may benefit from supplementary exploration, like why, why not, how and in what way etc. You are unlikely to get through all the questions and may only mange a couple depending on the time you have together. However, you could revisit the questions at another time or discuss them with a friend later to keep the conversations going.
If you are reading the questions from this guide, it is best to ask someone in the group to pick a number between 1-16 at random and then discuss that question, and then ask someone else to pick a number, and so on. The questions can also be printed out as cards (available in the Leaders Pack) If you are using the cards place the cards face down on a table. The idea is that anyone can choose any question and pose the question to the group or answer it themselves.
To pray together around the theme. Here you will find pointers for prayer. Take time together as a group to pray for each other; for more people to come to know Jesus; for your community. This is about inviting God's presence into the physical spaces and among the people you encounter every day.
Ideas to go and try to put things into practice. In this section you will find several spiritual practices and exercises for you to do in between each session. Although, if time allows, you might choose to do one of them together as a group, before moving on to the next D.
A space to record what is being learnt and discovered. As you take time to read the bible passages, pray, implement and practice the what you have learnt you might find it helpful to jot down your reflections. What is God saying to you? This can be done during or after a session. You may want to record any specific actions you think either yourself, or church may need to take regarding the D you are looking at. This could be helpful information when you reach the final D on Direction.