Reflection Options  

Journal  (reflect on one or more of these questions)

• Make a list with two columns. In one column, list “Things I have believed about what God desires for me relationally” and in the other “Scripture that affirms or contradicts that belief.” Share the results with your mentor/mentee.

• Do you believe that God has “one right person” for you to marry or one right church for you to become involved in relationally?  Why or why not? How does your belief fit into the larger picture of what God might desire for you relationally?

• Reflect on what it means to be “drawn into” the relational community that exists between the members of the Trinity. How does being “in Christ” (Galatians 3:26-28 among others) enable you to have fellowship with God and others?

Quote Interaction (Interact by agreeing, disagreeing or otherwise engaging with the quote/quotes)

• When we enter into the “in Christ” existence we become one with those who are in Christ. Eternal life is received individually, but it is lived out in community. And the community battles sin in the body by confronting sinners and by requiring spiritual accountability.   (Ajith Fernando)

• Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate. The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all our fellowship is in Jesus Christ alone, the more serenely shall we think of our fellowship and pray and hope for it.”(Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together)

• They reminded me that Christianity isn’t meant to simply be believed; it’s meant to be lived, shared, eaten, spoken, and enacted in the presence of other people. They reminded me that, try as I may, I can’t be a Christian on my own. I need a community. I need the church.   (Rachel Held Evans)

Reading & Reflection from the book, Shaping The Journey of Emerging Adults: 

• Read the section on “Intertwined Roots” (pp. 162-163).  How does this analogy speak to you about God’s vision for you relationally?

• Read “Relational Instability” (pp. 31-33). Which phrase did you most relate to: relational instability, relational uncertainty, relational frustration or relational anxiety? What has been your experience with Erikson’s “intimacy vs. isolation”?

• Read “Shift 3: From the Great Untruth to Grace and Truth” (pp. 49-52).  How do you see the “great untruth” operative in your own life? How real does the “spiritual reality” identified seem to be to you? What theological grounding do you think it has?

• Read through either “Negotiating Parental Relationships” (pp. 145-146) or “Friendships” (pp. 146-148) or “Dating, Marriage and Parenting” (pp. 148-150)--whichever seems most relevant. What stood out to you from that section?  What was helpful?