📖 The Next Chapter
Life Group Leader Guide
📌 LEADER'S BULLETIN
Leader Heart Check
This week your group gets to do something sacred: look back at what God has done and lean forward into what He is about to do. You have shepherded people through a full year of prayers, victories, and challenges, and none of that faithfulness has gone unseen by Heaven. As you open your group time, trust that the same God who wrote your first chapter is already holding the pen for the next one.
Attendance Reminder
Please log your group's attendance in the Church App or email by Sunday. Your faithfulness in tracking helps us stay connected as a church family.
📢 CHURCHWIDE ANNOUNCEMENTS
Please take a moment to share these upcoming events with your group:
Altar Care Training: October 11, North Park location
YA Worship Night: October 15, National City location
All Teams Meeting: October 19, National City location
Prophetic Night: October 25, National City location
Events link: www.heartrevchurch.com/events
🔑 CONNECTION KEY (Leader Briefing)
Core Theme: As we celebrate one year of God's faithfulness in North Park, we honor the chapter behind us, stay anchored to the mission of Jesus, and step boldly into the future God is writing.
Key Discussion Goals:
Help group members recognize and celebrate specific ways God has been faithful this past year, both in the church and in their own lives.
Invite people to reflect on any season in their lives they may have overlooked or underestimated.
Reconnect the group to the unchanging mission of Jesus: good news, freedom, healing, and favor for the people around them.
Encourage each person to name one step of faith they are ready to take in this next chapter.
Leader Tip: This is a celebration week, so let the energy of testimony lead. Give people room to share stories before moving into deeper reflection, and do not rush the gratitude. Be mindful that some in your group may be carrying disappointment from the past year, or may feel nervous about the unknown ahead. Make space for honesty without letting the conversation settle there. Gently remind everyone that a blank page is not a threat. It is room for God to write.
Key Phrase: "Our first chapter has been written, but our story is still being written."
How We Embrace A New Chapter Together
1. Don't Despise Chapters That Feel Insignificant.
Before we can embrace what is next, we have to honor what was. Jesus walked into His hometown synagogue, did what He had always done, and then rolled up the scroll and sat down. He knew when a moment was complete. We do not dishonor the past by moving forward. We honor it by recognizing what God did through it. We started with faith and now we have testimony. We started with a vision and now we see it becoming reality. The foundation was never the destination.
Reflection Questions:
What is one answered prayer or victory from this past year that you want to thank God for?
Is there a season in your life that felt small or ordinary at the time but that you now see God was using? What changed your view?
How do you honor what God has done without getting stuck in it?
2. The Chapter Changes But The Mission Remains The Same.
Jesus proclaimed a mission of grace, and His mission will always be ours. Our purpose is not simply to have incredible services or to fill a building. It is to let God work through us to turn the hearts of those around us with His message of grace. There are still people in North Park who need hope, healing, and purpose, and who do not yet know Jesus. The time to act is now, not when we are bigger, not when we have more resources, and not when everything is perfect. God has already prepared assignments connected to this church.
Reflection Questions:
Who in your daily life is still searching for hope, healing, or purpose, and how might God want to reach them through you?
What excuses do we tend to use for waiting until someday instead of acting now?
What do you sense might be one of the good works God prepared in advance for you?
How can our group help carry the mission of Jesus into our neighborhoods this season?
3. We Step Into The Future God Has For Us.
The people in Nazareth were amazed, but Jesus was asking them to respond with faith beyond what they already knew. We cannot spend the next year standing at the door of our city talking about how good Year 1 was. We have to step through the door. This next chapter will require perseverance, and the race is already marked out for us. We will not be afraid of a blank page, because a blank page means there is room for God to write. The God who was faithful in Year One is still faithful and is not finished writing our story.
Reflection Questions:
What does a blank page in your own life feel like right now: exciting, uncertain, or a mix of both? Why?
What challenges from the past season are you tempted to let shape your expectations for the future?
What would stepping through the door look like for you personally this month?
Where have you seen God's faithfulness enough to trust Him with what you cannot yet see?
🛠Practical Application
The Challenge
This week, write your own "Chapter One" testimony in three or four sentences: where you started, what God has done, and what you are believing Him for next. Share it with someone outside your group who needs to hear that God is still writing stories. Bring one line of it to your next Life Group meeting.
Audit / Reflection
Take a few quiet minutes this week and honestly ask yourself: Am I living in the last chapter, hoping for what is next, or stepping toward what God has called me to now? Is there a step of obedience, a conversation, or an act of service I have been postponing until the timing feels perfect?
Prayer Focus
Lead your group in thanking God for His faithfulness over this past year, naming specific moments out loud. Then pray over each person as they step into what is next. A guided prayer: "Father, thank You for every chapter You have written in us. We honor what You have done. Give us courage to step through the door, perseverance to run the race You have marked out, and open hearts for the people You have placed around us. Write Your story through our lives. In Jesus' name, Amen."
📣 Weekly Declaration
I honor everything God has done in my life and in my church family. I will not despise the chapters that felt small, because God was writing something good in each one. I declare that the mission of Jesus is my mission, and that now is the time of God's favor. I will not be afraid of a blank page, because God has room to write. I will run with perseverance the race marked out for me, and I trust that the God who started this work is not finished. Amen.
