Download the resources you need for each session
There are self-printable question cards for every session, to help aid your conversations as a group as you discuss each topic. We have also provided work sheets for the suggested activities that appear in some of the sessions.
These are not necessary to run Koble (the homegroup guide contains all the questions and activities), but we think many people will find these a useful addition.
If you’ve ever travelled on a motorway, you’ll know they aren’t generally designed for enjoying the view. They’re built to get you from one place to another as quickly as possible. And while some stretches might offer glimpses of pleasant scenery, the speed, the need to focus, the signs, roadworks, traffic volume, and embankments usually leave little room to notice what lies beyond the hard shoulder.
But beyond every mile of motorway are places, communities, and lives we don’t notice except from a distance, and with which we will likely never connect.
Sometimes, our personal lives or our church’s mission can start to resemble a motorway journey. We stick to familiar routes, talk with people we know, focus on getting things done, and keep our programmes moving. Yet, do we ever pause to ask where we’re really heading missionally, who we are serving, and who we might be missing?
Even churches with a heart for local mission can fall into a pattern of ‘doing what we’ve always done’ or adding another event or project, but rarely stepping back to ask whether this is making the difference we hoped for, or whether we are noticing what God is doing around us. It’s not that we’re inactive or failing to make a difference; it’s just that we can drift into autopilot, arriving at a destination and realising we don’t quite remember the journey.
In our eagerness to act, to help, to change the world, or simply to keep things running, we risk missing opportunities for new connections, growth, and transformation. We also sometimes forget that mission isn’t just for a few gifted individuals. We all have a part to play, and sometimes we need to stop and ask: Are we letting others take the wheel? Are we confident enough to take the wheel ourselves?
That’s why it’s so important to pause, to reflect, and to ask if there are new routes to explore, fresh stops to make, surprising places to notice, and even forgotten joys to rediscover.
Some people actively avoid motorways. They make it their mission to take the slower road, the one that winds through small towns and past old landmarks. It’s not the fastest, but it’s rich with unexpected moments, people to meet, and stories to share. When people take this route, they become, in a small way, everyday adventurers. What makes that journey meaningful is not just what they discover, but that they chose to take it.
So, as we begin this Koble journey, let this be your invitation to get off the motorway, to take time to reflect on where you are, how you feel about mission, what’s working well, what’s growing, what’s missing, and what might lie ahead.
Whether you feel your mission is thriving, stuck, or you haven’t thought about it in a while, let’s start by simply pausing, noticing, and seeing what God might want to show us next. After all, unless the Lord builds the house, we labour in vain.
In the 1990s, a new bridge was built over the Choluteca River in Honduras. Soon after, Hurricane Mitch devastated the region. While the bridge remained mostly intact, the river changed course and the connecting roads were washed away — leaving the bridge stranded over dry ground. It became known as ‘The Bridge to Nowhere’.
We are living through significant spiritual, social, cultural, and technological shifts, alongside major challenges such as rising poverty and social dislocation, as many people experience disruptions in their sense of belonging, identity, or well-being — often resulting in feelings of alienation, disconnection, or a lack of purpose and meaning. The world is not what it was. For churches committed to sharing the good news of Jesus, this presents both a challenge and an opportunity.
Many in the UK today no longer share a basic understanding of the Christian faith. The world we are called to reach is now spiritually unfamiliar ground, and the church isn’t always making the connections it could. Traditional methods of outreach often assume a familiarity with faith or the church that no longer exists. That means we must begin to think more like missionaries in our own neighbourhoods.
If we were going on an overseas mission, we’d need to spend time learning the language, culture, and worldview of the people we hope to reach if we had any hope of truly connecting. The same is now true in our own neighbourhoods.
The message of Jesus remains powerful and relevant, but the way we seek to share it may need to look different. Traditional attractional methods of mission, such as evangelistic enquiry courses or events, still hold immense value — but for many today, these may feel like starting in the middle of the story. They also don’t require us to make any adjustments; it is those we are trying to reach who need to shift and come to us. We are happy for them to enquire about us, but are we equally interested in them? People may also be spiritually curious but often lack the vocabulary, background, or experience to engage with faith in the ways we’re used to. It is also true that some people remain hostile to faith or have their beliefs deeply rooted in other faiths. Where we are seeing a growth in church attendance, this doesn’t mean deeper faith. Many are just beginning their faith journey and need space to explore, build relationships, ask questions, and see faith lived out authentically.
Despite many missional successes, churches and individual Christians often find it challenging to reach those outside the church or draw people to events and enquiry courses. Even when initial connections are made, helping others grow in their faith or sparking meaningful spiritual conversations beyond the everyday can be difficult. These observations reveal a missional gap — a disconnect between where the church is and where people in the community are. Yet these, and other gaps you may notice, can be bridged.
Notwithstanding that God often breaks through in amazing ways with little intervention from the church, we might still need to adapt, evaluate, rethink and reshape our approaches to mission. This idea of adapting is not a new concept. As the early church made its way into all the world, you can guarantee they constantly had to find new ways to tell the same Good News.
In Honduras they eventually reconnected the bridge. They accepted the reality of what had shifted and found a way to navigate the changes. It is still the same bridge but with new connections. We are the same church, with the same message and the same God; we just have to be prepared to re-evaluate and consider how we make new connections in world that has shifted.
Most Christians know about the Great Commission that Jesus gave explicitly to the first disciples but also implicitly to all of us who follow Him. That Great Commission says we are to go into all the world and make disciples.
Each of us therefore, is called by God to live out our Christian faith and speak about our faith to those around us. But that can be difficult, scary or awkward. For numerous reasons, we can struggle to represent God or find mission a high priority within the many demands of life. Church can also get lost in the busyness of its activities, the job of maintaining our buildings and just keeping what we already do going.
It has been said that ‘the stronger the desire the greater the motivation’. What we desire will often drive our actions and determine our efforts and what we spend our time on. What do you desire? If you had to create a list of 100 things to do before you die what would be on it? Would mission be on that list?
It could be said that when it comes to local mission you either love it, are indifferent to it or just don’t like it. Simply being told to be missional is not likely to be a great motivator. So how do you think we can develop a desire for mission? What would motivate you?
Missional motivation cannot be forced but will often grow from the depth of our own relationship with God. As we read, pray and spend time with those both inside and outside of the church, we become open to seeing the world as He does. As our lives are transformed by His love, we align with His purposes. We begin to notice that God is on a mission and we are called to join in. We are reminded that Jesus is ‘good news’, and we are called to play our part in sharing that news. Ultimately, we have to lean on the truth that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. That new and eternal life is found in Christ. That Jesus taught us to see people differently and has made us His ambassadors in the world.
In this session, we are going to look at how we can develop a desire for mission and connecting with those around us. Hopefully, as we focus on this theme of Desire and how it impacts mission it will focus our prayers for God to lead us and shape us, so in the middle of all that is going on in our lives, we will have a desire to live out and speak about our faith. As we start to live out the various aspects of mission found in Koble and ask God to help us grow our desire for mission, our focus should change. However, one thing is for sure: if we don’t desire it, and invite the Holy Spirit to ignite a desire in us, we probably won’t do it or find it as enjoyable as it could be.
In 1896, minister and preacher Charles Sheldon wrote a book called In His Steps, in which the characters face difficult moral decisions. Throughout the book, Sheldon challenges readers to consider the question, “What would Jesus do?” when confronted with such situations, encouraging them to reflect on how they themselves should respond.
In the 1990s, a movement to help teenagers remember this phrase led to the creation of the popular WWJD bracelet and provided a daily reminder to apply the teachings of Jesus to our actions so that we may be distinctive.
What comes to your mind when you think about what it means to be distinctive as a Christian? What impression is portrayed in the media, or what do people outside the church think about us? Is it one that is reflective of the teaching and attitude of Jesus?
In the Sermon on the Mount, we read examples of Jesus’ teaching about living life God’s way. They essentially offer a description of the qualities and Kingdom characteristics of what it means to live for Christ. This passage, along with the rest of scripture, outlines a set of standards and attitudes that God wants to see in us and then reflected out to the world.
Following the teachings of Christ should make us distinctive, shouldn’t it? Is it true that our words and actions are powerful? Do they matter? If we can say, yes, they do, we should apply caution, and remind ourselves that our true distinctiveness is not just being religious or about what we know, but also who we know. It is, after all, surely Christ’s righteousness that we carry, and it is from our relationship with Him, following His example of love and humility, that we can begin to live out the words of scripture and do as He did.
So, in this session we begin to explore what living a distinctive, attractive lifestyle looks like. As we explore distinctiveness, maybe we could pause the WWJD slogan to ask first, ‘How Was Jesus Distinctive?’, What sets us apart? Where does it come from? What should the wider world see in us? How can I make sure I remain close to Him? What does He want to change in me to make me more like Him, so true distinctiveness flows? Or in the words of the writer and podcaster John Mark Comer, “Be with Jesus, Become Like Him and Do as He Did”.
In the Bible, Christians are occasionally referred to as ‘aliens’ and ‘strangers’. The word ‘stranger’ carried the idea of ‘sojourner’, someone who resides temporarily in a place, with more of a focus on their heavenly destination. The downside of living like someone en-route to somewhere else is they can fail to live deeply with those around them.
In John 1:14 we are told that The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. Out of the 132 contacts recorded’ in the Gospels that Jesus had: 6 were in the temple; 4 were in the synagogue and 122 were out in the mainstream of life. Although Jesus did not start His formal ministry until He was thirty, He spent decades amongst the culturally and religiously diverse people of Galilee. He knew how to be ‘In’ the world, yet ‘not of it’. Jesus loved to reach out and Dwell with people in all sorts of situations, listening to their stories, giving them time and making them feel valued. This dwelling demonstrated the glory of God and transformed lives.
Just like Jesus we have so many connection points, or mission fields where we could dwell. This includes the natural geographical area where we live, socialise, work and study but can also extend to include a sphere of life where we see a need or an interest we want to pursue. The challenge is that we don’t just ‘live’ where we live but that we ‘dwell’ there and yes there’s a difference.
Let’s pause to think about three approaches to mission: Passive, Attractional and Incarnational.
Passive Mission is where we don’t do much to intentionally engage with those outside of the church, beyond hoping people will simply wander into our Sunday services or other events we hold. This can and does happen, especially if your church has a website or online service where people can learn more. God is also at work in people’s lives, and many are searching, sometimes looking to the church for answers even if we have never connected with them before. Even if our approach to mission is passive, it’s valuable to reflect on our welcome and consider how we could make what we already do more missional and accessible.
Attractional Mission is where we intentionally seek to invite people to services, events, programmes and courses that we put on. In these cases, we expect people to come to us. Attractional events often seek to engage with people through advertising or personal invitation. These are the most common of missional approaches used by churches and are a worthy and important aspect of mission.
Incarnational Mission is where we choose to actively spend time with people where they are. We can either get involved in local clubs, or with friends and neighbours socially, or move some of your own events and programmes into the spaces and places people already dwell.
Dwelling means we become good neighbours, we get involved in community life and spend time interacting with people at a deeper level. As we dwell, we begin to demonstrate value, we take notice of others, and they take notice of us. Dwelling builds relationships where people can start to share their stories, and we share ours.
Through the act of dwelling, God uses our lives to communicate the good news and show His goodness. God is a missional God. We see throughout the Bible how God reached out in love. As God stepped out and dwelt amongst us we are called to go and do the same.
To dwell effectively, we need to think about being ‘in’ the world, without denying the call to live distinctively as we inhabit it. We should pause and ask who the people are in our community. Who are we not connecting with? Who are we avoiding? Whose paths do we cross? How deep are the connections we already have? We may need to take time to reflect on our busyness, our priorities, our friendship groups, and where we devote our time. Are we just living, or are we dwelling?
As we think about how Jesus left His heavenly home and came to dwell amongst us, let’s explore what it means to leave our homes and dwell with those around us. If faith is most effectively shared in the context of meaningful friendships and friendships are built over time, then how do we inhabit the spaces in which we find ourselves?
Have you ever tried to avoid someone with a clipboard on the street, or found yourself in a conversation where you felt unheard, uncomfortable with the topic, out of your depth, or where the other person believed they were totally right? People tend to avoid conversations when they feel uncomfortable. While casual conversations about the weather are easy, meaningful dialogue is more challenging.
Our ability to have deeper conversations often depends on the topic, personal experiences, context, and comfort levels. In today’s polarised world, people are also less receptive to being told what to believe, especially when it challenges their existing views. Religious language can also feel foreign, making discussions about faith even tougher. The end result might see people avoiding us, or we might avoid them.
Conversations may end up being stuck on a superficial level, or we can miss the opportunity to talk about what matters to others. We can also forget to truly listen because all we want to do is give people a set message or talk about what we want to say.
“Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words,” is a quote attributed to Francis of Assisi, suggesting that our actions can be our most powerful message. However, relying solely on actions could be limiting — after all, Christians don’t have a monopoly on kindness. Therefore, we surely need to say something.
Missional conversations are likely to be more effective when they are rooted in genuine dialogue, not preaching. Jesus often began with everyday topics, listening first and addressing people’s needs alongside questions of faith.
We live in a time of increasing loneliness, mental health struggles, and spiritual searching. There are lots of situations and topics in life that, given the opportunity and the right environment, people would willingly talk about. For many, life’s biggest questions go unspoken — not because they don’t matter, but because it’s hard to find or create a safe space to explore them.
Meaningful conversations require us to listen to people, consider the context, be attentive to the Holy Spirit, and be patient and open. We don’t have to begin with an agenda; instead, we can meet people where they are. When we focus on listening, asking questions, sharing stories, and showing vulnerability, our conversations can lead to unexpected places, including life’s deeper issues. As you talk eventually something of your faith story will come out and it will happen naturally and authentically. This approach opens space for the Holy Spirit to guide us, and for God to speak through our interactions.
Many people welcome the opportunity to discuss what matters to them if they feel safe and respected. God is a conversational God, we see this in the Trinity and throughout God’s interaction with the world throughout history. God is already speaking and at work in people’s lives; He simply invites us to join in with His big conversation. So rather than panic, preach, or stay silent we can learn how to be ourselves, start where people are, and let God’s voice guide our conversations about the big and not-so-big questions of life. After all, it’s His voice that matters most and is what people truly need to hear.
So, as we reflect on the theme of dialogue, we will think about the conversations we’re having and those we are avoiding. We will consider how with gentleness and respect we can create spaces for deeper, more meaningful dialogue, which may in turn open the door for you to share the reason for the hope you have.
We know from missional research that most people journey toward faith within the context of friendship with a Christian. As we have explored in the previous ‘D’s’, we’ve seen that, through friendship, our love for God and His heart for people should inspire us to live out our faith.
This should lead us to demonstrate a distinctive lifestyle, dwell with others, and engage in meaningful conversations with our friends by listening, asking questions, and sharing our stories. Building this part of our friendships and connections can take time, but what comes next?
It can often be helpful for our friends to connect with other Christians. It is important that we continue to support people towards a greater understanding of faith. The default thought is often to invite them to church or an enquiry course (attractional mission). Conversely, we might assume they’d never attend either and hesitate to invite them to anything at all. However, as we read through the New Testament, we see that a variety of spaces were used to invite people to spend time with those who believed and deepen those conversations that had already begun.
Jesus met with people as He moved through everyday life—on hillsides, fishing trips, parties, meals, the synagogue, people’s homes, and even on the beach. In Acts, we see interactions in lecture halls, prison cells, riverbanks, places of public debate, homes, and the open air—not to mention the countless other places that aren’t recorded. While some of the spaces we invite people to today may not have existed back then, there is clear evidence that faith was lived out and shared in many different contexts and wasn’t limited to one type of setting.
As we think about spaces we might invite people to today, it could be helpful to consider different stages or levels for these interactions across a range of incarnational mission and attractional mission. First, start by engaging with people on neutral ground in the spaces you or they already inhabit and socialise in. Spend more time with them and deepen those conversations. Then you might consider hosting a simple social gathering introrducing them to other Christians in a familiar setting.
Next, you could invite people to a conversation evening in a pub or café, a concert at church, or an event on a thought-provoking topic or start a book club. Later, you might introduce an early evangelism course like the Happiness Lab or Resolve, and eventually, invite them to an event at church, like a carol service or an enquiry course. (In the ‘Play’ section of Koble for this theme, you can explore these stages and brainstorm specific activities for each one.)
As we explore the theme of delivery, let’s consider what spaces we already have, or might want to create, to invite people into. These are spaces that help people engage more with us and with others of faith. We might also think about the spaces that we and our friends already inhabit, and how we could invite other Christian friends to be part of them, so our friends can meet others of faith in that way. In each of these spaces, we can continue developing our connection through dwelling, dialogue, and demonstrating our distinctiveness. We can also be in prayer, knowing that God goes before us, and if we take the plunge, our invitation could transform a life forever.
When people in the Bible make significant life changes in response to Jesus, it often seems to happen very quickly. One moment, they are not followers, and the next, they are.
However, it’s most likely that, alongside those who responded immediately, for some there is back story we don’t know and others may have taken time for the message to sink in, with their beliefs shifting over a longer period before making the big decision to follow Jesus. Indeed, some even made an initial decision before doing a U-turn away from Jesus later.
Historically, Christian mission has emphasised the importance of a decisive moment when someone chooses to follow Christ. This is often demonstrated through altar calls and the declaration of the believer’s prayer. Yet, while some people’s journey to faith can be pinpointed to a specific moment, for others, it’s more ambiguous. Conversion can be quick but for many it is much longer. Some people come to faith suddenly due to a crisis or feel convicted unexpectedly, perhaps at a Christian event or while reading the Bible. Others describe being raised in a Christian home and always believing in God. Still, there are those who say their faith grew gradually over time; they cannot pinpoint a single moment of commitment, yet they find themselves believing in and following Christ today. Can all these experiences be valid descriptions of how people become Christians?
Thinking about how people make a decision to follow Christ is important as it impacts how we help people though the process of discovering faith. Is it defined by saying a specific prayer at a set moment, or can it happen more gradually? Is it one big decision or a series of smaller ones? Could we be missing out on the opportunity to help people make smaller steps towards faith because we become too focused on the big step?
To better understand how people come to faith, the Engel Scale is a helpful tool. It identifies stages in the spiritual journey toward God, acknowledging that people start in different places. While faith journeys may not always follow a straightforward, linear path, the scale highlights how a decision for Christ often comes in stages. Each step along the way requires meaningful support and engagement. Research indicates that, apart from growing up in a Christian family, most people come to faith because they are looking for help in life, (hence the importance of programmes produced by Ugly Duckling like Resolve, The Happiness Lab and 10:10), or, through friendships and engagement with the local church. Here they get to witness faith transformation in action and get to ask questions and explore more. Others have a spiritual experience they cannot always explain, but this sets them on a faith journey. Some people come to faith over a relatively short period, and others over a significant length of time.
What is probably true for many is that the faith journey, albeit short or long, consists of many smaller but pivotal decisions rather than one big moment. Even those who seem to have a dramatic “Damascus Road” conversion can often look back and see God working through many smaller moments leading up to their decision. So perhaps our focus on leading people to that final “yes” moment for Jesus has shaped our evangelistic efforts in ways that limit our vision. Could we be missing opportunities to help people take smaller, yet equally important, steps toward faith? That’s why the dwelling, the dialogue and different levels of invitation matter. These approaches help people to take those small steps, and allow us to share the story of our faith. As we spend time with others the work of God in our lives starts to rub off and this can help them make a decision for faith that otherwise may have been lost.
As we explore the theme of decision and consider how to support people in committing to Christ, we do so knowing that this is ultimately the work of the Holy Spirit. For some, this may involve a clear moment of conversion; for others, it may be a longer journey made up of smaller, incremental steps. Either way, we are all invited to play a meaningful role: walking alongside others, remaining open to how God is working in their lives, however long or short that journey may be.
To fulfil the Great Commission where we live and work, there are two actions we have to do. The first is to go (to share our faith with others) and the other is to make disciples, (to help people become followers and help them grow in their following).
A disciple is a student or learner, like an apprentice. Just as an apprentice learns their trade, a Christian learns what it means to follow Christ. While modern apprenticeships end with qualification (and some learning continues throughout a career), the initial apprenticeship status is complete. Christian discipleship, however, is a lifelong journey of spiritual formation, a continuous process — an endeavour of spending time with Jesus and being transformed into His likeness. We also don’t need to have ‘arrived’ to disciple others; the Christian disciple is both apprentice and teacher.
It’s helpful as we explore discipleship to consider how faith formation occurs at different life stages, both chronologically and spiritually. We should regularly reflect on our discipleship: Where do we need to begin? Where are we growing? In what areas do we feel ourselves deepening? Where is our discipleship evident (or not)? What do we still need to learn?
Referring back to ‘Decision’, you may recall the Engel Scale and how it plots the journey to faith from -10 to 0. It also plots the discipleship journey from +1 to +10. (i.e, joining the church, conceptual and behavioural growth, communion with God, living life as a believer, serving, etc). However, we must avoid the trap of thinking we’ve ‘arrived’. Or that others must arrive. We should cultivate faith communities that nurture believers at every stage, fostering a culture of discipleship for new and seasoned followers alike. We become learners together, helping each other become more like Jesus.
While we often associate discipleship with new or committed Christians, the process can begin before formal conversion. People might follow from a distance or adopt Christian practices before believing. These practices, often viewed as hallmarks of a disciple, can draw those who don’t yet know Jesus closer to Him.
For example, many learn to pray or read the Bible before believing, yet these practices are central to discipleship. Perhaps our mission should prioritise helping people engage with these practices before conversion, not just after.
Thinking about discipleship within mission shifts the focus from reciting a gospel formula (though truth is essential) to modelling the Christian life and inviting others to do the same. This can involve engaging in discipleship practices that lead people to Jesus. If discipleship is about faith formation as well as information, our mission should focus on facilitating formation, not just imparting information.
Our discipleship, therefore, involves personal growth, helping others grow in their faith, and drawing those who don’t yet believe onto the discipleship journey, teaching them the ways of Jesus. The crucial question is: how do we ensure that this discipleship happens? In this session we explore what it means to be disciples and how do we create a culture of learning. How do we make disciples, that go and make disciples?