LIFE GROUP LEADER GUIDE

For the week of September 14, 2025
This guide is designed to give helpful hints in preparing & leading your group in discussion.

Watch this video from Dave Enns!

THIS WEEK’S QUICK LINKS

LEADER GUIDE:

• Leader Guide PDF
• Leader Guide DOC

• Submit Your Attendance
• How to Post Attendance

UPCOMING EVENTS

North Coast Men’s Conference – October 24-25

Join us Friday evening, October 24 & Saturday morning, October 25, for the fourth North Coast Men’s Conference held at the Vista Campus! Come ready to recharge and refocus on God’s call for us with teaching led by pastors Chris Brown and James Griffin, along with worship, activities, and tourneys! Register at northcoastchurch.com/mens-conference/.

LEADER NOTES

 Goals of the First Meeting 

• Re-connect with existing members and meet new members
• Cast vision for the quarter with your group
• Clarify your group’s direction/expectations/commitments using the Life Group Commitment Form 
• Briefly discuss the sermon topic (if there is time)
• Pray for the building of relationships and the spiritual growth of the group

 Items Needed for the First Meeting 

• Life Group Commitment Form– Review this with your group. This was mailed to you last week in your leader packet, and can also be found online here:  northcoastchurch.com/life-group-covenants/
• Nametags for in-person groups (print or write them out ahead of time).

 Contact Your Group in Advance 

• Contact all members before the first meeting to welcome them to the group. You can check your roster online to see all the members of your group and their contact information. Simply login to your account and look for Groups on the bottom right of the screen.
• In-person groups – Inform members of the location and time of your group and how you’re handling food.
• Online groups – Make sure you send the link to your meeting well in advance and preferably again on the day you meet. 

Pro-Tips to Maximize the Online Groups Experience   

1) Shorten meetings to 75 minutes or less.  
2) Use break-out rooms to personalize conversation. (If possible, try to do this at least 5-10 minutes every meeting.) 
3) Coach people on how to engage and speak up online. (Practicing this can really help.) 

* More how-to’s at this link:  Pro-Tips & Facilitation Tips to maximize your Online Experience. 

ABOUT POLITICS IN LIFE GROUP – We believe it is important for Jesus followers to think through and process how they are going to vote and engage in politics. But due to the polarizing nature of our current political climate, we want to keep our Life Group meetings free of politics and focused on relationships with each other and God’s Word.

Presenting the Good News of Jesus’ saving grace to all, and the unity we have as believers is vitally important to us. In light of this, remember to keep politics completely out of your Life Group discussions. We exist to minister to everyone who wants to know Jesus. Every election cycle we have Christians who become divided over issues and can be deeply offended by comments, jokes, and even prayer requests. We do not want to send the message that people who vote a certain way or have differing political views are not welcome. If someone in your group starts to take things in a political direction (be it with humor, a rant or even a “prayer request” for a specific outcome), gently remind them that the body of Christ (and North Coast Church) is made up of followers of Jesus – some of whom are Republicans, Independents, Democrats, etc. 

AGENDA for your first meeting

Looking for more guidance on your first meeting? You can find the “First Night Agenda” on how to make your first night great on the Leader Tools page of our website. (lifegroups.northcoastchurch.com/make-your-first-night-great/)

How We Measure our Success Week to Week: Hearing from everyone at every meeting and keeping God’s Word at the center.

Make sure you leave plenty of time to go over the Life Group Commitment Form with your group.

• Welcome & Eat – Potluck is a great option. Online groups can try a virtual dinner option if they would like.
• Group Sharing—Discussion Priority: Because you will spend extra time getting to know each other and reconnecting, make sure you have enough time to spend on Warm Up #2 and then transition to the Purpose of Life Groups and Life Group Commitment Guide.  
• KNOW, SHARE, LIVE IT Sections (optional – only if you have time)
• Go over the Life Group Commitment Form – Use question #2 in the Warmup section to go over Purpose of Life Groups and Life Group Commitment Form.
• Close in prayer.
• Mingle afterwards
• Need help? Reach out to your Life Group Pastor any time!
• You don’t have to answer every question. Pick the ones that fit your group best.
• Encourage everyone to share. Set time limits if needed.
• Use the audio guide for more insights: Leader Tools
• Finalizing social and service projects? Check out:
  • Service project ideas
  • Social ideas

Leader’s Guide to Life Group Commitment

• Download this and other Commitments: northcoastchurch.com/life-group-covenants
• When discussing, use the proactive leadership style – clear direction, yet flexible

Small groups thrive on participation! The purpose of this commitment is to help you to discuss and  clarify your group’s goals, expectations and commitments.

 

LIFE GROUPS: THEIR PURPOSE

Life Groups exist to promote spiritual maturity and personal growth through meaningful Christian relationships and the study of God’s Word (Romans 8:29 & Hebrews 10:24-25). We’ll do this by focusing on four primary activities:

SHARE

Each week we’ll take time to share what is happening in our lives. At first this sharing will include planned “sharing questions,” but after the first few weeks, it will become more informal and personal as we feel more comfortable.

STUDY

Each week we’ll study a section from God’s Word that relates to the previous weekend’s sermon or an appropriate personal growth topic. Our goal is to learn how to live out our Christianity in everyday life. Our goal is to interact interpersonally on the topic and how we can practically follow Christ, not to answer all the questions.

SUPPORT

Each week we’ll learn how to take care of one another as Christ commanded (John 15:9-13).  This care can take many forms, such as prayer, encouragement, listening, challenging one another and meeting real needs.

SERVE

Spiritual growth is fostered not only by what we gain through the support and input of others, but also through service to others. The role each of us fills is important to the health of the church and for us to be the hands and feet of Jesus to our community (Ephesians 4:11-16). Throughout the quarter, it is our hope you can find and/or be affirmed in the ways God has designed you to serve and make a difference in God’s Kingdom.

 

FIVE MARKS OF A HEALTHY GROUP

For our group to be healthy, we need to…

1. Make spiritual growth our number one priority (Romans 8:29).

• Tangents – they are okay sometimes, but sometimes we need to be refocused. We’ll need to keep spiritual growth our focus and stay on topic.

2. Accept one another (Romans 15:7).

• We will have different preferences.

3. Take care of one another (John 13:34).

•  When crisis happens, we’re there to help with support, prayer, encouragement, listening, meals etc.

4. Treat each other with respect (Ephesians 4:25-5:2).

• Listening to one another, if one’s talking let’s all listen, nothing worse than two conversations going on at once.
• Our goal is to listen, not give advice. (Advice is given when asked for) We are not here to judge or fix – unless someone asks. An example of giving advice is by saying, “Well this is what I think you should do.” On the other hand, that doesn’t mean we can’t question what is said or what someone is doing.
• Some of us have the gift of gab, also known as a dominator – be careful, I as a leader might have to help you.
• Be careful of gossip prayers. For example, “we need to pray for (person’s name) because they are doing this …”
•  No put-downs.
• What is said here, stays here – of course we never promise confidentiality if something shared would be harmful to yourself or someone else and/or if I, as the leader, need to seek counsel on how to respond to an issue in the group.

5. Keep our commitments to the group (Psalm 15:1-2, 4b).

• Please give us a call if you can’t make it to Life Group so we know what’s going on and how to pray for you.

GUIDELINES & COMMITMENT

1.	Dates	We’ll meet on ______________ nights for _____ weeks.  Our final meeting of this quarter will be on ___________. Fill in blanks
2.	Time	We’ll arrive between _______ & _______ and begin the meeting at _______.  We’ll spend approximately _____ minutes in singing (optional), _____ minutes in study/discussion and _____ minutes in prayer/sharing. Fill in blanks
3.	Children	Group members are responsible to arrange childcare for their children. Nursing newborns are welcome provided they are not a distraction to the group.
4.	Study	Our studies will focus on the same topic covered in the previous weekend’s sermon or an appropriate personal growth topic. Our goal is to hear from everyone every night and keep God’s Word at the center. Not to answer every question.
5.	Prayer	Praying for one another. You’ll go over tips on topical prayer the second week of group. Remember – being forced to pray in a group or just the idea of it can cause people to not want to come to your group. If you have new people in your group, you might want to say something like this: “It’s exciting to see how God works in our lives through prayer. We also realize prayer in groups is something many have never done. Know that you will never be forced to pray.” Let them know you’ll talk more in the weeks to come on how we do group prayer and that we break a lot of the stereotypes of what it means to pray.
6.	Questions & Attendance	Joining a Life Group requires a commitment to attend each week and do the discussion questions ahead of time. Obviously, allowances are made for sickness, work conflicts and other special events—but not much more! This commitment is the key to a healthy group. If we cannot come to a meeting, we will call or text ________________________. Emphasize the importance of the commitment to attendance and preparation. (A good group starts with good preparation) Make sure that everyone is with you. (Do we agree? Is this what we want? Make eye contact, etc.) Most weeks require 20-30 minutes of homework to prepare for the group study and discussion.
7.	Dessert	Have everyone sign up for a night to do dessert.
8.	Social & Service Projects	Emphasize the importance of a quarterly social and service project. As a leader and host, have 2 or 3 suggestions ready and 2 or 3 potential dates. Choose a date or ask the group to bring their calendars next week. New groups are preferred to have their social by mid-quarter.

 

We agree to honor this commitment throughout the quarter.

(To be decided by each person on or before the third week.)

DISCUSSION/LEADER GUIDE

SERMON NOTES

Pastor Chris Brown
September 13, 2025
Message #21 / Matthew 8:28:-34
northcoastchurch.com/sermons

What Is Wrong With The World?

A dark story in dark times:

Matthew 8:28-34

Note: It is impossible to get a story more UNGODLY and EVIL than this in JEWISH culture.

 

Matthew’s answer that everyone needs to understand:

Matthew 8-9, James 1:19-20, Ephesians 4:26, Proverbs 29:11, Romans 12:17-21

There is one God over all creation who has incomprehensible POWER and AUTHORITY.

 

This God comes wrapped in unimaginable GRACE and MERCY.

 

His purpose is to FORGIVE SINS and FREE PEOPLE from darkness.