Small Groups Resources

Below is a listing of some small group resources, many of which have been used successfully at this and other ELCA Lutheran churches. For a listing of small groups meeting at first Lutheran, click here.

If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat, by John Ortberg. On facing challenges and strangthening faith. Book, DVD, Leader guide, and Participants guides. Reported to be fun and engaging, this resource has been used successfully at a number of ELCA churches, including a Summer 2005 group at First Lutheran and TWO Fall 2005 groups at First Lutheran. Several sets of materials are also available for potential use by a Spring 2006 group.

God Views. Recommended by Intern Pastor Sharon Rogers, each session of this series explores a different image that many of us have of God (cosmic sheriff, manic mechanic, disapproving father, Santa Claus, etc.) and invites us to explore that image while broadening our overall concept of God. Humorous but thought-provoking, the series is based on a one-man show that was inspired in turn by J. B. Phillips's book Your God Is Too Small. Comes with DVD, leader guide, and participants' guides (no separate book to buy).

People of Purpose, by Robert Driver-Bishop. The author of this slim book is co-pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Loves Park, Illinois (just north of Rockford); he is also a former member of First Lutheran Church and former head of the Lutheran Campus Ministry at Northern Illinois University. Inspired by his church's experience of the "Forty Days of Purpose" studies built around Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Life, but wanting more Lutheran materials for follow-up studies, Pr. Driver-Bishop has written 40 brief meditations on various exemplary people from the Bible and from history. The chapters can be read one-a-day in a Lenten study, or can be grouped together for weekly group bible studies. This book is being used in one of the Fall 2005 groups at First Lutheran Church. (book only -- no other study materials)

What's So Amazing About Grace? by Phillip Yancey. From a widely read former editor and still columnist-at-large of Christianity Today magazine, this widely-acclaimed book explores in practical ways the many meanings of "grace" and the many ways we fail to live it out in our churches and lives. Comes with book, DVD, leader guide, and participants' guide.

When God Doesn't Answer Your Prayer by Jerry Sittser. Has been used by a small group at First Lutheran Church.

The Bible Jesus Read, by Philip Yancey. Available with Book, Video, Leaders Guide, Participant's Guide.

HERE ARE LINKS TO SOME PUBLISHERS AND DISTRIBUTORS WHO HAVE GOOD RESOURCES:
Augsburg Fortress
The publishing house of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
Next Step Resources
Distributes a wide variety of popular materials at discounted prices.
Willow Creek Association
First Lutheran members and component ministries are eligible for discounted prices.
Zondervan
Publishes a range of popular materials, including series by Ortberg and Yancey.

CONTACT
For more information on the groups or to suggest another resource, contact the church office at 815-758-0643 or send an e-mail to office@firstlutherandekalb.org. In some cases you can also contact the group leaders directly.